[KyloRilee]

I'm having a major problem with my computer. It will not startup in Normal Mode. I've been getting help over at the Malware forum for ridding my system of some problems. Then without warning, it just started giving me this error screen everytime I tried to startup normally.

But the odd thing is, it was starting up fine, and then it started messing up without me having done anything to the computer in between the time of it working, and now that it's not.

I've described the problem more in depth on the other forum, which can be found here:

http://www.geekstogo...83

The person helping me with my malware problem suggested that I do an XP repair, but we do not have a boot disc.

I've searched for the 0x0000008E error code, and the Microsoft site says to download the Server Pack 2 to fix this error, but we can't get online to download that, obviously.

As I said in the other forum, the CWShredder keeps trying to remove an entry called "CWS.MSConfig" which will remove an entry from the System Configuration Utility Startup tab called:
dumprep 0-k %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0-k

But everytime I restart, that entry reappears.

What are my options? Thank you in advance.

[Advertisements]

Click this link and give Microsoft's instructions a go. They claim that it could be a RAM issue.

I know it seems like it started after the fixes, but let's work through the suggested fixes first, then treat other possiblities.

[Guse]

Click this link and give Microsoft's instructions a go. They claim that it could be a RAM issue.

I know it seems like it started after the fixes, but let's work through the suggested fixes first, then treat other possiblities.

[KyloRilee]

It's even worse now, it won't even start up in Safe Mode. No matter what option we choose, we get some kind of error. Now we're scared that we won't even be able to get our files off of the harddrive.

I'm still not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do here. Am I supposed to do this myself? I honestly don't feel comfortable with the hardware aspect of computers.

I'm thinking of just paying someone to come and look at it.

Is there some kind of website where I can search in my area for tech/computer support for home computers?

Edited by KyloRilee, 18 October 2005 - 10:56 AM.

[KyloRilee]

No I didn't.

As I said, I'm not all that familiar with hardware, so I don't really feel comfortable messing with the inside of the computer.

[KyloRilee]

Update -- why it won't boot, even in Safe Mode:

A friend of the family gave me an XP CD, but it was Professional, and we have Home. So we tried to install it anyway, and it started, but later came up with an error.

So now when we startup, we have the option of selecting Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional. If we choose Professional, it wants to finish the installation, but it can't b/c it still says that error.

If we try to startup using the Home edition, we now get an error that says that a System file is missing, and to run a repair.

It seems like the only thing I think we can do now is find a Home Edition CD and run that XP repair. I tried looking for that on the Professional CD, but couldn't.

Is it still possible to run an XP repair if we can't startup? Or if we find a Home Edition CD, would we be able to do a boot from the CD?

[wannabe1]

Hello KyloRilee...

Yes, if you find an XP Home Edition CD, you will be able to run the suggested repair as you will be booting from the CD. You will have to use the Product Key Code from your installation of XP Home (the one installed on the machine) in order to activate it.

wannabe1

[KyloRilee]

Update:

Whenever I try to run the Recovery Console (by hitting either F10 or F12 at startup) I get a different error message:

Stop c0000218 {Registry File Failure}

So I searched for that error at the Microsoft site, and found this.

I'm still trying to find a friend that I can borrow an XP cd from. I know of a few, so now it's just a matter of meeting up with them, and getting the cd from them at some point.

Once I get through with that, I'll update again with my progress.

Thanks for all of the help!

[KyloRilee]

I FINALLY got an XP Home Edition disc! ^_^

I haven't done much yet. I ran the R (repair) utility, and it then asked me to choose which drive to repair, or something. I chose C, obviously. Then it came to a prompt. I didn't know what to do, so I just did "chkdsk" and then it told me to do "chkdsk /p" so I did.

It said that it fixed/repaired "one or more errors."

That was late last night, and I ended up going to bed, so I'll work on it more this evening.

I'll update tomorrow. Thanks!

Edit 10/28: Still haven't worked much on it... but I will be this weekend.

Edited by KyloRilee, 28 October 2005 - 08:08 AM.

[KyloRilee]

I got the computer working again. In fact, I'm posting this from it now, as opposed to posting from work. =)

I was unable to check the hardware for errors. I did open up the computer, but I had no idea what I was looking for. What I thought was the RAM, there was only one of, not two, so I didn't try and remove it.

So I ran the XP repair from the disc and that worked.
All day today (and part of yesterday) I have been doing Windows updates. Except for now, it seems to be stuck on teh XP Service Pack 2. It gets to the Installation Wizard, and it now says: Finishing Installation -- Performing Cleanup.

The only thing is, it has been on that step for over an hour now, and there had been no movement on the progress bar. Did it freeze up? Will I have to restart the process??

That took FOREVER to download, all day practically. Please tell me I won't have to go through the whole download again. =(

Edited by KyloRilee, 30 October 2005 - 03:56 PM.

[wannabe1]

Hello KyloRilee...

SP2 does take a long time to install and the cleanup operation towards the end sometimes appear to hang. I've only had it actually hang (really hang) a couple of times in the many times I've installed it. If you do run into this situation and have to download it again, Download This Version for IT professionals and save it to your hard drive. Burn it to a cd and run it that way (you may have to open the folder and double click the icon to start the install).

Let me know how you fare...

wannabe1

Edited by wannabe1, 30 October 2005 - 04:22 PM.

[KyloRilee]

Thanks, wannabe1, for the fast response!

It actually JUST finished. Over an hour since my last post, so almost 2 whole hours... yikes!

Anyway, I rebooted, as it said, and then the security window came up to tell me to check my security settings. It said that automatic updates were on, and that my Antivirus was up-to-date. But then it told me to turn on my Windows Firewall.

I couldn't though. When I open it through the conrol panel, it said this:


I don't understand why that won't let me change it, because the account I'm running now has Administrative options.

Any advice?

[Retired Tech]

I would use Zone Alarm anyway, the XP firewall only blocks incoming data, Zone Alarm will block incoming and outgoing data when necessary and it will take care of the XP firewall setting for you

http://www.filehippo...alarm_free.html

[KyloRilee]

Actually, I wanted to use ZoneAlarm anyway, so you just confirmed my opinion on what to do.

Thanks! ^_^

I still seem to be having troubles with trojans though. I did a virus scan after finally getting the computer up and running again, and it found 6 trojans! How was I infected if the computer wasn't even working?

My other thread at the Malware subforum was closed... should I request to have it reopened, or just start a new one?