System won't boot: "missing or corrupted \WINNT\SYSTEM32\config/system"

[germeten]

I have a Gateway 500S, Pentium IV computer preloaded with XP Home
Edition, SP3 (never had an installation disk.) I use antivir and
zonealarm over
the OEM antivirus/firewall, have updated spybot and adaware, checking
from
time to time. sometimes I forget to defrag, and have most of the
automatic
updates turned off because these slow me down (using dial-up) and
something always seems to be updating in the background.

Was downloading different metatrader4 platforms only to discover many
contained trojans, antivir caught them.

Still, system bogging down, a tech friend thought might have malware,
found
5 administrators (I run without password) and deleted some. Now the
system
won't boot, gives the above prompt.

Gateway suggested I secure an XP CD without reg code (these exist?) to

repair the missing or corrupted files, restore administrator
priviledges. Another
friend lent me his XP corporate copy, tools load, but when I opt to
repair, "A
problem has been detected and Windows shut down to prevent damage to
your computer. BAD_POOL_CALLER."

Since windows won't boot, we can't determine what most recent software

installations (or possible malware) might be causing this. I don't
know DOS to
use command line tools. One possible saving grace is I have Ubuntu on
separate partition and same HD, but doesn't communicate with XP; the
two
OS are mutually exclusive.

Too much critical data on this computer, a clean fdisk/reinstall is out
of the
question. Can I overwrite the corporate XP to my Home Edition and then

change the key code back, without losing data files & apps? Can someone

lead me through this?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"germeten" <germeten.4gv88f@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:germeten.4gv88f@no.email.invalid...
>
> I have a Gateway 500S, Pentium IV computer preloaded with XP Home
> Edition, SP3 (never had an installation disk.) I use antivir and
> zonealarm over
> the OEM antivirus/firewall, have updated spybot and adaware, checking
> from
> time to time. sometimes I forget to defrag, and have most of the
> automatic
> updates turned off because these slow me down (using dial-up) and
> something always seems to be updating in the background.
>
> Was downloading different metatrader4 platforms only to discover many
> contained trojans, antivir caught them.
>
> Still, system bogging down, a tech friend thought might have malware,
> found
> 5 administrators (I run without password) and deleted some. Now the
> system
> won't boot, gives the above prompt.
>
> Gateway suggested I secure an XP CD without reg code (these exist?) to
>
> repair the missing or corrupted files, restore administrator
> priviledges. Another
> friend lent me his XP corporate copy, tools load, but when I opt to
> repair, "A
> problem has been detected and Windows shut down to prevent damage to
> your computer. BAD_POOL_CALLER."
>
> Since windows won't boot, we can't determine what most recent software
>
> installations (or possible malware) might be causing this. I don't
> know DOS to
> use command line tools. One possible saving grace is I have Ubuntu on
> separate partition and same HD, but doesn't communicate with XP; the
> two
> OS are mutually exclusive.
>
> Too much critical data on this computer, a clean fdisk/reinstall is out
> of the
> question. Can I overwrite the corporate XP to my Home Edition and then
>
> change the key code back, without losing data files & apps? Can someone
>
> lead me through this?
>

In view of the checkered history of this machine, a complete rebuild is
probably the only viable option. About your "critical" data that you cannot
afford to lose: Since is it critical, have you considered backing it up
regularly? If not then you could boot the machine with a Windows 7 Repair CD
(http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/), then save
your irreplaceable files to an external storage unit. And yes, this repair
CD will give you a fully operative command prompt on a WinXP PC.

 

[Paul]

germeten wrote:
> I have a Gateway 500S, Pentium IV computer preloaded with XP Home
> Edition, SP3 (never had an installation disk.) I use antivir and
> zonealarm over
> the OEM antivirus/firewall, have updated spybot and adaware, checking
> from
> time to time. sometimes I forget to defrag, and have most of the
> automatic
> updates turned off because these slow me down (using dial-up) and
> something always seems to be updating in the background.
>
> Was downloading different metatrader4 platforms only to discover many
> contained trojans, antivir caught them.
>
> Still, system bogging down, a tech friend thought might have malware,
> found
> 5 administrators (I run without password) and deleted some. Now the
> system
> won't boot, gives the above prompt.
>
> Gateway suggested I secure an XP CD without reg code (these exist?) to
>
> repair the missing or corrupted files, restore administrator
> priviledges. Another
> friend lent me his XP corporate copy, tools load, but when I opt to
> repair, "A
> problem has been detected and Windows shut down to prevent damage to
> your computer. BAD_POOL_CALLER."
>
> Since windows won't boot, we can't determine what most recent software
>
> installations (or possible malware) might be causing this. I don't
> know DOS to
> use command line tools. One possible saving grace is I have Ubuntu on
> separate partition and same HD, but doesn't communicate with XP; the
> two
> OS are mutually exclusive.
>
> Too much critical data on this computer, a clean fdisk/reinstall is out
> of the
> question. Can I overwrite the corporate XP to my Home Edition and then
>
> change the key code back, without losing data files & apps? Can someone
>
> lead me through this?
>
>

You have Ubuntu. Now, at least, you have an environment to work in.

1) *Buy a new disk* . The new disk capacity should be the same size, or a
little bit bigger than the old disk. For this exercise, an external disk
with USB2 interface is an easy solution. This will be your *backup*
disk, for all your important data.

I prefer disk enclosures with a cooling fan on them, for best disk
lifetime. But it isn't always easy to find an enclosure like this
when you're in a hurry.

http/images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-182-192-Z04?$S640W$

Connect up the new disk and switch it on at the back.

2) Boot Ubuntu.

3) Use the "dd" command, to copy the *entire* internal disk to the new
external disk. Each disk has a physical address, such as /dev/hda
or /dev/sda and so on. The kind of command you'd use to copy the
entire disk, would be something like this. Note - if you get the
syntax of this command wrong, it'll *erase* the original disk.
Make sure you know which disk is which! Here, I am copying from
hda to sda.

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/sda

Before using that command, you can use

sudo fdisk /dev/hda

and use "p" command to print the partition table, then "q" to quit.
Looking at the partition table for each disk, you should be able
to re-assure yourself, which is the original disk, and which is
the new external disk. The new external disk is likely to have one
partition, placed there by the factory. The "dd" command will blow
away the factory partition, and copy all the partitions from the
other disk. So you don't need to erase the external disk at all.
The dd command will overwrite everything on the new disk.

That command will run, until it runs out of sectors to copy from
hda to sda. In my example, I'm assuming the new external drive on
USB2 is mapped to /dev/sda. It might be /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc or so on.
It could take several hours to complete. Typical performance level
of that command, without tuning, is about 13MB/sec, so it could take
a while.

4) Now, you have two exact copies of the same info. The new, larger
disk, will have all the same partitions as the original disk. The
new larger disk will have some left over space at the end, which
for the moment is unimportant.

5) Reboot your Ubuntu, one more time (this is easier than learning how
to mount the new partitions). Now, Ubuntu should see the partitions
on both disks. If one disk had a label of "WinXP" on one of the
partitions, you'll see a second partition present with the same
kind of "WinXP" label. The reason you're doing this second boot
of Ubuntu, is to visit *all* the copied partitions, and check to
see if all the files are present. You want to reassure yourself,
that all your data is *safe*.

6) Now, shut down Ubuntu, turn off the computer, turn off the external drive.
Disconnect the external drive. That has your backup copy, with all the important
files on it.

7) Obtain the Gateway recovery CD. Blow away "C:" on the original disk.

There might even be a recovery partition on the original disk,
and pressing a certain Function key at startup, will trigger a
recovery. (This should have been documented in the computer manual
that accompanied your 500S purchase.) After the recovery operation is
completed, you'll be using a fresh copy of WinXP. You'll have to
reinstall your trading programs and so on.

This is an example of a typical set of instructions for restoring
from the hidden partition. Press F11 at startup. Notice, in this
example, there are two options for the restore type. I would
*not* use either of these, until your backup data is safely on
the external disk and the USB2 drive is disconnected! That is
to prevent accidents.

http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Desktops/8510497.pdf

Once the system is fully re-installed, you've been to Windows Update
to get all security patches and so on, your antivirus software is
reinstalled, now you're ready to connect the backup disk. You can
scan the external disk for viruses. Your important data files will
be on there, and you can fetch them as needed.

9) Once you've copied all the important data from the external USB2
interfaced drive, you can erase that drive and use it for holding
fresh backup copies of your internal disk. Disconnect and unplug
the USB2 drive when you're not using it, for best safety. That helps
prevent accidents from wiping out all your data.

HTH,
Paul

 

[germeten]

Thanks for the advice and link, I will follow up with the repair CD,
as for back-ups, some of us do best we can within our budgets,
and take the best care we know how, very grateful when someone
can show us the way out of a jam.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"germeten" <germeten.4gx280@no.email.invalid> wrote in message
news:germeten.4gx280@no.email.invalid...
>
> Thanks for the advice and link, I will follow up with the repair CD,
> as for back-ups, some of us do best we can within our budgets,
> and take the best care we know how, very grateful when someone
> can show us the way out of a jam.
>

Backing up your data is often a "business" decision, i.e. the cost of
purchasing a 2.5" backup disk in an external USB enclosure versus the "cost"
of your time when recreating files or repeating a major university project.
In these forums we often see cases of files that cannot possibly be restored
such as wedding pictures, baby pictures, holiday photographs with
sentimental value etc. All of these issues need to be taken into account
when deciding whether or not to purchase a $80.00 backup disk.