Windows XP Service Pack 3 problem

very much for trying to help I really appreciate it.

I did as you advised and after I put in:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

I read that:

it does not recognize as an internal or external command, program or batch file.

(I hope that I have the computer language correct as I am using a Dutch language computer and my native language is English so I translated it as best that I could)!

Again,
Thank you

see if you can boot into the Safe Mode GUI and try this.


Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and select System Restore.



If that doesn't work you may have to consider removing the drive and either Slaving it or putting it in a USB enclosure to recover the Data. You can also use the UBCD4Win. I don't know how you will be able to do a repair on this PC without a CD. Is it a Notebook. If it is it may have a Recovery feature.



http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm



Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.



If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome.

I have come to the conclusion that I am probably going to have to have the CD to reinstall I suppose.

I did go to the:

Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and select System Restore

And believe it or not System Restore is not there!

I have looked everywhere that I can think of to find it somewhere on this computer but the only thing I found was in:

C WINDOWS System 32 Restore

but when I opened the file, it was empty!

I'm definitely no whiz kid when it comes to computers...like you sound to be:) but I don't see any other option than reinstall.

I am pretty sure of the answer to this question but I will ask anyway...

I don't suppose you want to fly a few thousand miles and find it for me do you?? (just kidding)!

no, my question is:

if XP is reinstalled I will loose all of my old "stuff" won't I or can it possibly be reinstalled without doing that??

I just tested this on an AMD based PC with XP Pro SP3 and it booted back up OK. Mind you the hard drive is in good condition. If SP3 couldn't write to the hard drive properly when it was installed you may still have problems. You may have to do what I suggested above to retrieve the data. I will add some links below for testing the hard drive.



Boot into Safe Mode


Click Start, and then click Run, type appwiz.cpl and then press ENTER:


Click to select the Show Updates check box.


Click Windows XP Service Pack 3, and then click Remove. Click OK to remove the files that won't work without SP3.


Click Finish to restart the computer after the removal process is complete.



You can use the Hard Drive Makers Testing Utility to Test the Drive



Hitachi / IBM - DFT "Drive Fitness Test"



http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm



Works with all manufacturers



Western Digital "Data Lifeguard"



http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools



Works with WD drives only



Fujitsu "FJDT"



http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/drivers.asp?L=en&CID=1



Works with fujitsu models only



Samsung "hutil"



http://www.samsung.com/Products/Hard...ties/hutil.htm



Compatability unknown...



Seagate "Seatools"



http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools



Works with Seagate drives only




Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.



If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome.

I am beginning to think I am in the Twilight Zone!

Almost every thing I try to open or use says it won't open etc.

I went to the first link you gave and I tried to read the user guide so I clicked on the link and even the Adobe Reader won't open. Something about now the PDF is closed...I don't know.

But I do thank you so much for all of the information. I am just going to call a computer guy over here and have him reinstall XP and start all over again I guess.

As I said before I'm no genius when it comes to the computer but I must tell you...when I get it straightened out I am going to come back over here and reread all of your posts to me and then check out your information...hopefully there will be no next time, but if there is, you have generously given me a lot of information I can learn from and hopefully put into action!

Thanks again for being so great I truly do appreciate it, I've just messed it up so bad this time that I can't get your advice to work!

Can you right mouse click on the Clock in the right hand corner and select Task Manager. Then click on Processes and list them for us please.


Or you can see if you can generate a text file to save typing. Click Start, Run and type cmd and press Enter. At the command prompt type wmic /output:C:\process.txt process get description,executablepath and press Enter.

but I could not post on your last reply because it said I had reached my limit.

I did as you said and also tried to get the information on a notepad as you told me how to do but it didn't work so I typed out all of the information by hand...I hope it works and it makes sense as these little boxes look smaller than the information!

Anyway, here it is:

firefox.exe Administrator 05 39,744kb
taskmgr.exe Administrator 00 4,888kb
alg.exe Local service 00 80kb
uphclean.exe SYSTEM 00 288kb
explorer.exe Administrator 00 10,960kb
LEXPPS.EXE SYSTEM 00 68kb
svchost.exe SYSTEM 00 4,480kb
nvsvc32.exe SYSTEM 00 200kb
avgemc.exe SYSTEM 00 556kb
avgwdsvc.exe SYSTEM 00 2,448kb
svchost.exe Local Service 00 48kb
Memento.exe Administrator 00 1,580kb
PackethSvc.exe SYSTEM 00 200kb
svchost.exe Networkservice 00 1,132kb
avgrsx.exe SYSTEM 00 12,648kb
svchost.exe SYSTEM 00 11,476kb
svchost.exe Networkservice 00 1,336kb
svchost.exe SYSTEM 00 976kb
lsass.exe SYSTEM 00 1,048kb
services,exe SYSTEM 00 1,228kb
winlogon.exe SYSTEM 00 3,088kb
csrss.exe SYSTEM 00 1,6796kb
smss.exe SYSTEM 00 36kb
ctfmon.exe Administrator 00 392kb
PDVDServ.exe Administrator 00 272kb
rundll32.exe Administrator 00 276kb
lxczbmon.exe Administrator 00 996kb
lxczbmgr.exe Administrator 00 324kb
GrooveMonitor.exe Admin. 00 644kb
avgtray.exe Administrator 00 476kb
DTClock.exe Administrator 00 940kb
devldr32.exe Administrator 00 272kb
System SYSTEM 00 36kb
Not Active syste.. SYSTEM 99 16kb


Thank you very much again for taking so much time on this.

nothing out of the ordinary in there that I can see. Looks like you will have to go to plan B. Good luck.

Rob

1. AVG;
2. MS Office and Groove;
3. DTClock.exe or at least rename it so that it can not start.
4. check uphclean.exe for corruption.
Reboot.

Any of those, or none, can cause the problem you are experiencing, esp. AVG and Office 2007. The reason I suggest DTClock.exe is because I can find no reference to it. You may also need to uninstall your Lexmark printer.

I can't tell everyone how much I appreciate all of your help, looks like I brought a real loo loo of a problem here!

The guy that fixes my computer when I seem to mess it up once in a while was here today.

He checked and moved a few files, deleted some that were causing problems I suppose and then he was finally able to update Windows, (the updates weren't updating either after the SP3 fiasco), after it updated properly it seems to work fine now and I don't get anymore warnings that there are missing files or pieces of files missing so hopefully all will be fine from now on.

Again, thank you so very much all of you for your time and help,

You've all been great!

XP Pro on Pacard Bell 1 Pentimum 4

Hope I put that right!

so I tried what you just suggested and when I typed in:

chkdsk volume:/r

I got the message:

The station, the path of the file is not valid.

After hearing this I HOPE I'm up and running well!!

Sorry it takes me so long to respond but I'm not receiving notices every time someone responds...only once a day it seems.

It feels good too!

For some odd reason this time I was able to post directly to you instead of like the last couple of days when I had to post my replies on my own area!

Thanks so much again for all of your time and help, it is truly appreciated!

haven't access to a recovery CD it might be a good idea to take a copy of the Operating System by cloning it. That way if you have problems in the future you can reapply the image.



Free Hard Disk Backup / Restore and Image / Cloning Utilities



The HDClone Free Edition


http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html#free



http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml



http://www.gmgsystemsinc.com/fau/



http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115587



g4u - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs



http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/#reqs

Sorry it took so long to get back to this message!

Thank you for this information. I have downloaded the first one:

The HDClone Free Edition
http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html#free

and am going to install it as soon as I get to the store and get a USB stick large enough to keep hold files, (I don't know how to put it on a floppy, and probably don't have one large enough, or put it on a CD)!!.

This sound great to me and like you said, if I have problems in the future, (which I'm sure I will because I'm always trying new things and sometimes...most of the time, I goof up the 1st, 2nd & 3rd time!), it will come in most handy!

All of your help has been so welcome as I'm sure you have realized by now I'm definitely no computer genius...I've taught myself everything I know which trust me isn't much!

a fool will say that I know everything. But a wise man will say that I learn something everyday.

I must be the wisest "man" on Earth with all of the mistakes I make, but each time I do learn something...what Not to do!!

and you catch on quick. If you find something that interests you study up on it and get to know it. Read the manual first to avoid hidden pitfalls even if you are familiar with the previous instructions as they may have been changed. If you have a choice of a Custom install always use it as it will give you more control. It will eventually fall into place for you. Good Luck.

Rob

Thank goodness we never stop learning otherwise life would be very boring wouldn't it?

Thanks for the catching on quickly compliment and thanks also for the tip about using a custom install whenever available. I've never done that before but will try it next time!