Re: Are Windows Updates Hosing System Restore??

Hi Bert:

On Feb 25, 8:27 pm, Bert Kinney <b...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi,

TomYoung wrote:
Hi all:

On the first bootup of the day on 2/17/2007, the day after Windows
downloaded and installed a bunch of updates, I got a black screen with
the message that Windows did not start successfully. It gave me
several options for attempting to recover from this, including using
the last known good configuration. I selected this option and got the
same error screen. After several times of doing this Windows finally
booted.

The last known good configuration option is not System Restore. Choosing the
Last Known Good Configuration startup option provides a way to recover from
problems such as a newly added driver that may be incorrect for your
hardware. It does not solve problems caused by corrupted or missing drivers
or files. When you choose Last Known Good Configuration, only the
information in registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet is restored. Any
changes made to other registry keys remain.

Question: I would have thought Windows would have asked me to select
from recent restore points, but it didn't. Is this the proper
behavior?

System Restore can not be accessed if the system will not start. System
Restore can be run from Normal Mode and Safe Mode. The following page will
show you how.

All About System Restore in WinXPhttp://bertk.mvps.org/index.html


As I said below, when I actually tried to boot into Safe Mode - and I
tried many, many times - from the black screen I was never able to do
so.


I couldn't stop to mess with the computer at this point, so the
computer continued giving me this error for several days, though it
seemed like I had to select the option of restoring from the last good
configuration more and more times as the days wore on. I also noticed
that sometimes the first Windows splash screen - the one that says
"Microsoft Windows XP" and shows 3 blue boxes running across a box
outlined in white below this - would come up and either freeze or
cause the computer to reboot.

I finally got around to working on this more seriously (2/23/2007) and
booted up from the Windows CD but was unable to run rstrui.exe.
Although the file was clearly there - I could do a dir and see it -
the operating system didn't recognize it as a valid command. So, I
went back to the opening black screen boot up message and tried -
probably for a couple of dozen times - to boot up, using all the
options available on the screen (different safe modes and last known
good configuration) before it finally booted up using the last known
good configuration option. I immediately restored the computer to the
day before Windows downloaded all the updates. I also ran a complete
virus and spyware scan.

On the morning of 2/24/2007 the computer booted up fine. During the
day Windows downloaded its updates again so today, 2/25/2007, I
encountered the black screen again on bootup.

Can anybody give me guidance on what steps I might take here?

Run System Restore as instructed above to a time just before 2/17/2007.

As I said above, that's exactly what I did once I finally got the
system to boot up, and I thought all was good. However, Windows once
again downloaded the updates and after that the black screen re-
appeared. I don't really know if it's the updates that are messing up
the system or if the system got screwed up right around the same time
the updates appeared and it's just coincidence. I'm going to asume,
for the moment, that it's just coincidence because I'm not seeing a
rash of posts about this problem. What's the proper course of action
in this case?

TIA.

Tom Young

.

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