[linda69]

I kept getting the "system registry is full of errors, download the fix" message whenever I brought up my computer. Last night I logged on to Geeks to go and downloaded "Clean Up". I ran it exactly as told and then shut down my computer and tried to boot it up like "Clean Up" said to do. I can get to the Windows XP screen, then after a few seconds, I get a totally black screen with my mouse curser in the center of it. I tried to recover my HP Pavilion system using my system recovery disks, but it gets to where it wants to create a user partition and says it can't do that. I've tried the Windows recover -- doesn't work. I've tried the regular recovery -- doesn't work. It seems the only thing I can do is reformat my hard drive and start over. Any suggestions about what's wrong with the thing. Is there anything else I can do besides reformatting and starating over? Help me....

[computerwiz12890]

Hello and welcome to Geeks to Go.

When you used the recovery CDs, were you able to get anywhere at all, or did they fail right at the start?

[dsenette]

Quote

I kept getting the "system registry is full of errors, download the fix"

that doesn't look like a standard windows error code....what was the real error that you recieved?

[linda69]

When I tried to use my system recovery disks, it asked me if to enter "R" for regular system backup, "F" for formatting my hard drive or "Q" to quit. I tried "R" and I would get the screen saying it couldn't find my user partition, so had to create a new one. Then I got the error message that it couldn't create a user partition. Then I was thrown back in the "R", "F", "Q" loop. The only way out was to power down my computer.

Also, I don't think the registry full error was real -- think it was bogus. Hopefully, that wasn't what did in my hard drive.

[computerwiz12890]

Are you able to get into Windows at all right now? Can you log on with Safe Mode?

[dsenette]

Quote

Also, I don't think the registry full error was real -- think it was bogus. Hopefully, that wasn't what did in my hard drive

unfortunately...it wasn't real...it's not possible to "fill" the registry...and..well..it probably is what did in the system....but..not a very valid explanation of why a repair won't work

[linda69]

About logging into Windows. I tried to log in using Safe mode. It seems to be doing it, but I get to the safe mode screen and I have "Safe Mode" in all four corners of my screen and nothing else. I can't do anything from there. It almost feels like everything is really there, I just can't see it or access it.

[gerryf]

where do we stand with this issue right now? What are you trying to achieve? Do you have things on the harddrive you need to save?

What is the make and model of this pc (hp?)

[linda69]

It's about a 3 year old HP Pavilion computer (don't have the model number with me). I've got digital pics on the hard drive that I would like to save if possible. I'm beginning to think it won't be possible to fix this without reformatting the hard drive. I'm just wanting information about anyone else encountering this issue.

[gerryf]

It's difficult to say what you encountered

First, as noted already, registry full is not a windows error. It is pretty clear you were infected by some sort of malware. There are many unscrupulous software makers who will crate an issue on your pc and then sell you the solution...it sounds like you had a variant of that.

If it were me, I would pull the harddrive and place it in another machine, recover the photos and other data, and then wipe out the drive and install fresh.

Trying to untangle the mess that is your computer sounds not unlike me putting up Xmas lights the year following my wife taking them down....

[linda69]

So, if I pull out my hard drive and put it in another computer, it will work? If so, why won't it work in my current computer? In case you can't tell, I'm not that computer literate. After I do that, do I then reformat the hard drive and start over?

[gerryf]

no. no, no...it will not work.

I'm sorry I was not clear. What I mean is put it in another computer as a second harddrive, and access the files from the second drive and copy them to the other PC....(must be windows xp or 2000 if the faulty drive was formatted as ntfs)

then format the drive and reinstall

[linda69]

OK, I've got a friend who can do that for me this weekend. So, the Clean Up software I installed from Malware on this site didn't do any of this damage, did it? Was it just coincidental that I had just run it and was trying to boot up after that this occurred?

[dsenette]

anything is possible...but i doubt (HIGHLY DOUBT) that cleanup did this....it just cleans out temporary files and what not...i h aven't seen this issue caused by cleanup yet...so it's my inclination to blame the malware...