Re: Corrupt system.sav

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Dave Patrick (mail_at_NoSpam.DSPatrick.com)
Date: 09/05/04 

Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 08:51:39 -0600

If you survived any the damage to other hives from ChkReg then this will
work. If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It
may be possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

************************
* This is where you're at. (note you'll probably want to delete or otherwise
rename system.sav)
************************
If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir% 

-- 
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
"Carlos" wrote:
|I am very upset and dissapointed with Windows 2K. I can
| not believe that Microsoft has developed a so vulnerable
| system. The registry is the heart of windows and it seems
| so vulnerable. No protection at all from the OS. having
| said that... here is my story.
|
| I have been using my win 2k for a while and on Aug 25 I
| got one of the infamous black screens:
| TRAP 0000000D ==== GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT =======
| ....
|
| I researched in MS KnowledgeBase. It pointed to BIOS. I
| upgraded to latest Dell BIOS for my laptop. Same problem.
| Called DELL... Hardware Diagnostics.. Ok...Troubleshot...
| We were able to pass the TRAP error. Then I got the
|
| " system.sav missing or corrupted" error. Which seems to
| be very common these days, even with teh so adverstised
| secure XP.
|
| We tried the varios forms of windows 2k recovery with
| Chkdsk /r under recovery console, and the original win 2k
| cd boot disk. Did not fix it.
| We tried a Win 2k upgrade in place.. Did not fix it.
| Dell Tech recommended reinstall win 2k.
| I do not want to do it. I loose almost a year of
| application installations, etc. Besides I had had to do it
| before. I checked the HD for viruses with latest (Aug
| 25/04) virus definitions. No virus found. ( I placed the
| HD as slave to another PC). I do not have registry backup
| or ERD disk.
| In my WINNT\system32\config directory I have
|      system
|      system.alt
|      system.sav
|      system.log
|      system.tmp.log
| I made copy of the whole directory to another directory as
| backup again placing the HD as slave of another PC.
| For each of teh follwing tries  I restored the original
| files...
| 1. Tried the ChkReg utility for win 2k. 6 diskettes to
|    boot XP...etc. It said it repaired something. But I
|    got the same error (system.sav missing or corrupt).
| 2. I replaced system with system.alt... same issue..could
|      not boot because system.sav is missing or corrupt.
| 3. Replaced system with system.sav.
|      Same issue
| 4. Replaced system.sav and system.alt with system.  Same
|      error.
| 5. Finally got article 168646, which explains how to
|   view/update an external registry file. Loaded system
|   and system.sav using regedt32. I was able to browse
|   pretty much all the entries, which means to me that
|   the structure of the file seems to be sound. I made a
|    small change (nothing that would cause a problem..
|    just a parameter to a service I know).
|   Unloaded the hives, rebooted and still got the same
|   error.
|
| I noticed that
|     system and system.alt have keys
|          controlset002
|          creative tech
|          mounteddevice1
|          mounteddevices
|          select
|          setup
| but system.sav has keys
|          controlset001
|          controlset002
|          controlset003
|          creative tech
|          mounteddevice1
|          mounteddevices
|          select
|          setup
|
| I am asking someone who really knows the details of how
| the system hives work as far as maintaining these key sets
| and tell me what may be wrong with these files. It seems
| to me it is possible to determine why they are corrupt and
| fix them?
| So that windows does not complain at boot time that
| system.sav is missing or corrupt.
|
| Also why is Win 2K looking for system.sav. Isn't system
| enough for it to load windows? What is the sequence. What
| is the relationship between system .sav .alt and .log
| (please do not tell me .sav .alt .log are transactions, I
| am asking the real relationship) Are they like system =
| system.sav + .log and system = system.sav ?
| Is system.alt just a copy of system before or after a
| successfull boot?
| Is system.sav a copy before shutdown? and system is the
| hive copy after shutdown?
|
| What are the minimum set of files to be in winnt\system32
| \config for win 2k to be able to successfully boot.
|
| It may help make a decision on where to put the effort to
| fix the appropriate one and delete the others.
|
| As you can see. I have done some homework. I think I
| passed the simple tries. I need someone with real deep
| kmowlegde please.
|
| Please read this post carefully.
|
| Thank you very much for your understanding. If you have a
| solutions, please do not assume I know a lot and give me a
| simplified set of instructions. I'd appreciate if you do
| not assume much, except that I can work with regedt32 and
| regedit, I know how to find files and use utilities if
| they are MS delivered.
|
| Carlos

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