damn win2k wont boot!

[lozina]

I got some vague problem with my computer just randomly today. It's the good 'ole "Windows Could Not Start Because the Following File Is Missing or Corrupt: \Winnt\System32\Config\System.ced" problem. I read how to fix it on the microsoft site- havent tried it yet since I'm at work now but I have to wonder HOW the hell this could happen! Last night I didnt install anything new or had no problems before shutting down. What could possibly create this problem with the system hive, and how do I prevent this from happening again (since I don't have backup files I'll probably have re-install win2k from scratch now >:| )

Could it be a virus? I havent had a virus in a long time- maybe a week ago though Panda antivirus picked up some hostile .js script but renamed it before it was executed (i believe). Other then that nothig unusual.

Could it be faulty ram? I have 2 sticks of cruicial RAM- 2 months old. Anyone know a simple RAM testing program I can try hopefully in DOS since I cant run windows at this time! =\

What else could possibly have gone wrong and how do i prevent another silly disaster like this again?!

 

[Asghar]

damn...

 

[Ausm]

Try booting off the Win2K CD and do a repair on the OS


Ausm

 

[Snapster]

Here is something I picked up from a tech support forum



<<
Well its not missing and its probably not corrupt. You get this message if something is writing too much data to the System subkey in the registry. Think about what you have installed lately.
Intel and ARC (RISC) systems have a design limit such that 16 megabyte (MB) of memory is available at this stage of the boot process and the following must fit in that available 16M RAM :

loader
kernel
HAL
boot drivers
system registry hive
If the System registry hive exceeds 13MB, you get that error. To resolve the problem, you have to replace it with a backup version. Use the Repair Console tool to replace the backup copy of the System hive from the repair folder. If you do not have the Repair Console tool installed, you can run it from the Emergency Repair process:

Start the computer by using the Windows CD-ROM or the Startup disk.
When you see the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R for "repair."
Press C to run the Recovery Console tool.
Select the installation that you want to repair.
Type the administrator password. If this is a domain controller, you need to supply the password for Directory Services Restore Mode.
Log on to the Recovery Console tool and type the following commands:
cd system32\config
ren system system.old
ren system.alt systemalt.old
Copy the backup of the System hive from either the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder or the %SystemRoot%\Repair\Regback folder if you run the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard from Windows Backup and Recovery tools.
You will need to restore the most recent copy of the System hive. Any programs that run as a service or hardware device drivers that you installed since you last ran the Emergency Repair Disk need to be re-installed.

To copy the default System hive, type the following command:

copy c:\winnt\repair\system to copy the default system hive

To copy the System hive that was backed up the last time that you ran the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard, type the following command:

copy c:\winnt\repair\regback\system

After you run these commands, type exit at the command prompt to restart your computer.


>>

 

[lozina]

Yes I read this too, from the MS website. The thing is though, how the hell does my system hive get too big? I don't have that many programs installed, and this thing seems to be a LIMIT on how many programs I can have- which is ridiculous. I can easily replace the old registry but I am just afraid that the alternate registry is from when I first isntalled, so all my programs I installed or anythign which needs the registry will need to be re-installed. I might as well then just reinstall the whole OS

 

[Snapster]

I wish I knew. I easily have about 60 programs installed and I've never heard of this problem before. One thing I've always done though is to try to keep my WinNt folder size to a minimum as it has a direct bearing on the speed of Windows. So regular cleaning of temp files, wallpapers, fonts, icons etc that I have installed are kept tabs on.

 

[lozina]

well, i did the necessary steps to fix the problem last night but when I booted with the alternate system hive and tried to load my old system hive in order to edit it, it said 'not valid registry file' so i guess it became corrupt instead of just getting too big like i had thought.
Now of course I gotta wonder how the hell it got corrupt in the first place..

bad RAM? i cant find a free ram test (software) for win nt/2000- and i dont have the time to send it into crucial for their tests
hard drive error? i never found where nt/2000 keeps their scandisk program... whats the name?
HD controller error?
chipset problem?
fabled cosmic ray flipping bits around?!

ugh i hate not knowing whats up!

 

[Snapster]

As far as I know, scandisk/checkdisk is part of the explorer shell, and defrag is part of the management console snap-ins.

To scan your disk, just right click on a drive in my computer/explorer and select the tools tab.

I did a quick search on downloads.com for memory checkers. Such ones like DocMemory RAM Diagnostic Software and BurnInTest might help you have a quick check.