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big problems, please help!


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#1
jarveye

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Hi, i was trying to sort my boss's computer which was running really slow, i did a simple disk cleanup, disk deragment and uninstalled some programs he never used, then did a windows update, cant remember in which order.

the problems started when i tryed to restart, and i got a message saying i did not have permission, i logged out instead and shutdown from the log in menu

when it rebooted i got an error: "lsass.exe - system error" - "object name not found"

i did some searching and found it was quite serious and i needed to do a manual restore and got a a link to these instructions:

microfsoft instructions

anyway all went well untill it told me i had to use a restore point - but of course because i did a disk cleanup right before, i didnt have any except for after manual restoration,

now im at an inbetween stage where when i turn it on it automatically goes into a new administrator account in some sort of safe mode i think, i can access most files but everythings wierd and i dont get the old log in accounts or half the programs/drivers which used to be there

i also couldnt find old e-mails anwhere when i thought about just grabbing all files, uploading them to a safe place and wiping my computer

any ideas what i can do?
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#2
ranisa

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have you tried a new restoe point, if not go toprograms accessories restore and back up your computer

to a previous time , hope it helps ranisa
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#3
tallin

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Hello jarveye,

Welcome to Geeks to Go.

Are you in a large office environment or is it just you and your superior wanting help here?

Please post back with more information...........thanks

kind regards,
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#4
jarveye

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im in a small office, where im the only one who knows anything about computers
how would making a new restore point help?
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#5
tallin

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Hello Jarveye,

I think we need to make sure your computer is clean of any Malware so I suggest you do the following.

Before you do anything else, please go to this LINK and follow accordingly..........thanks.

kind regards,
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#6
The Skeptic

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How did you perform the cleanup. Did you use the disk cleanup tool in System Tools? If that's what you did then you should have some restore points. If, however, you deleted all restore points in Control Panel > System > Advanced etc. then there are no restore points left.

I never tried what I am going to suggest here: If you performed Microsoft's instructions then, in the first stage, you performed a backup of the registry hives (bak). If you can restore the backup files then you will bring the computer back to where it was, probably with lsass problem. As bad as it is it's better then your present situation because, at least, you can backup your data.

My idea is to restore the bak files by reversing the commands. For example: The first bak file was created by:

copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak

If we reverse the command to the form:

copy c:\windows\tmp\system.bak c:\windows\system32\config\system

we could restore the registry hives.

As I said: I never did it, I never had to do it, I never read about it. Just an idea.

I think you have nothing to lose.
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#7
jarveye

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right firstly, i cant run many programs atall except basic e-mail and internet explorer, it is as i said almost like some sort of safe mode, i cant burn cd's or attach external hard drives or USB pendrives to save stuff unto, but i can access all my files and have got them all into one folder, so if i could just figure out a fast easy way to get them all safely off the computer i would just do a wipe. any ideas?

i did use the system tools disk cleanup and system tools disk defrag, then i did the windows update but i dont think it worked correctly, and i think if i reversed what i have done so far it will just mean i cant log in atall like before
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#8
The Skeptic

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I am pleased that you can recover the data. When you perform the first step of microsoft's instructions you repair the registry hives but they take the form of a registry of a new computer. The second stage, the restore, should bring the computer to it's last state. If the restore is not done everything can be lost.

Can't you copy and paste the data at the present state of the computer? If you can't, use this link to create BartPe bootable disk. This is a small, xp based operating system that loads into the memory of the computer and enables many recovery options. Boot with the CD and go to A 43 ...... option in the main menu (I don't remember the exact name just now). This will open windows explorer and will enable backing up to an external storage device. If you use such external device please connect it to the computer before you boot up.

Edited by The Skeptic, 11 February 2008 - 01:52 PM.

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#9
jarveye

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ive tryed a million and one things, last problem i got was when trying to repair the installation and getting an error "the file 'asms' on windows xp professional service pack 2 cd is needed" which is precisely the cd i have in installing, looked this up on google, tried microsoft's solution along with others and had no luck - this of course meant i couldnt get to the files again...

what i did was take the HD out of the machine, home, set it as slave and copied the folder which i put my bosses files into (hope i got them all) and now im trying a complete format re-install, im just wondering if even with a complete format/re-install ill get the same error about the 'asms' file...

not having alot of luck here...

being in a design office with mac's and pc's its at times like these i just want to snuggle up with my mac and never work with a pc ever again lol!
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#10
The Skeptic

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If you have the data saved then just run clear format. If the missing file is part of sp-2 then you will get it in the fresh installation.
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#11
jarveye

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Ok, clean format of XP - backed up files safely transfered back onto computer, thanks for help so far guys.

a couple of things:

1) i havent installed any security/antivirus etc software yet, what do you recommend that i can get for free?

2) do i have to manually create restore points? or is this done automatically?, dont want a repeat of this!

3) a small but annoying problem with clean installation, (had same problem at home) everything went fine except now when you turn on the PC it asks which operating system you would like to start with and gives you 2 options the same "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" and i know this is just going to annoy my boss, any ideas how to make it start normally?

4) when i first installed XP i set up outlook express for my boss, it imported all his recent mail, then i installed microsoft office 2003, this installed microsoft outlook 2003 and seems to have overwritten the outlook express which comes with xp and i had to re insert all his account details and his recent mail seems to have been lost in the process, can i get this back?

if you can help me with those 4 points id much appreciate it!
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#12
The Skeptic

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Regarding question 4: What you did was to parallel install XP. Now you have two installations. You can remove the old installation but that involves some modification of the boot.ini file. If you really want your boss to be happy I suggest that you start from scratch and reinstall XP. Read carefully the instrutions in each step to avoid a third installation.

Question 1: You will find different opinions. There is no other subject that people like so much to express opinion. That's understandable, because I myself change my opinion every now and then. What I use (at the present) are: AVAST as an antivirus, Spyware Terminator as a real time antispyware protection, AVG antispyware for periodic scans.

Notes:
  • Avast gives you a free licence for about a year. After that you have to renew the licence (free of charge)
  • Spyware Terminator: I used to love this program but it fell out of favour because of some serious problems that evolved in some older versions. Nowadays I reinstalled it. It's paractically the only free tool that gives you real time antispyware protection. If you install it, do not install the antivirus option and do not install the Web Security Guard.
  • AVG antispyware: when you install it disable the automatic updates and real time protection. They will become deactivated after 30 days anyhow, and you don't want it to interfere with Spyware Terminator.
  • For a long time I used Spyware Search and Destroy. However, their last version is a big disappointment.

Question 2: Restore Points are created automatically. Many people, for the bad reasons, disable this option.

Question 4: Office Outlook and Outlook Express are two different creatures with almost similar, confusing, names. The data and address books are located in entirely different locations in Windows.

The address book of Outlook Express is in: documents and sttings > user account > application data > microsoft > address book. Save this folder.

The data folders of outlook express are in: documents and sttings > user account >local settings > application data > identities > {.............} > microsoft > outlook express. Save this folder.

Note: to see this folders go to My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > view. Check hidden files and folders, apply > Ok

Since you still have the old installation in place you can retrieve the mentioned folders, save it to a safe place and import into outlook express when you finished everything.
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#13
jarveye

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are you sure that there are 2 operating systems installed?

i deleted all partitions (there were 3 for some reason) then chose the single partition which was labelled as empty, formatted it and installed windows XP once..

if that is the case i dont see where it went wrong...
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#14
The Skeptic

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If I understansd correctly then, upon bootup, you see a menu with two XP options. That means that there is a double installation.
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