Success beyond expectations, based on precincts heard from so far. knoppix
was much easier both to obtain and use than the instructions appeared to my
novice eyes. Worked like a charm, very intuitive interface, and i saved all
my data and essentially evrything on the hard drive to an external hard
drive.
Then the recovery disks from HP arrived ahead of schedule. They offered the
option of full recovery (destroying data) or "standard recovery" which said
data files would be intact. i chose the standard option (belt and suspenders
person that i am). The instructions were highly detailed and the process
took a half hour, and only used 1 of the 12 HP disks sent. This restored
XP, apparently with all data files intact. Many applications including
Norton and current versions of Office did not make the jump-- the computer
thinks it is 2005 or 2003, it seems, and restored long-replaced versions --
but i should be able to uninstall the old software versions that are now
resident and reinstall my current versions. I dont even want to open files
until i have current software running, just to be careful, but the files are
showing up. not sure about outlook files, and i suspect i will need to
reinstall my broadband account. Just noting this for the record,it is not
hard to do. Do you think i need to do anything about the potential malware
source of this problem, other than running a scan with NIS2009 once it is
running? i wanted to get this off to you with heartfelt thanks for your
advice and encouragement. I learned a lot from this. You have a favorite
charity, I'll donate as soon as i can swing it. i'd like to mark this solved
as soon as we complete that detail. You cannot imagine how grateful I am.
"Lem" wrote:
> Aqueous wrote:
> > No, wait, there's more.
> > I apparently was too fast in stopping the auto reboot and did not see that
> > the blue screen warning has changed. now it says "stop c0000135 (unable to
> > locate component)
> > this application has failed to start because winsrv was not found.
> > Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
> > This is good news, I hope? Can you walk me through the re-installation?
> > Also, i ordered from HP a "recovery disk" which will take a week to arrive.
> > i should have the resources to download knoopix tonight.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "Lem" wrote:
> >
> >> Aqueous wrote:
> >>> at the expand step, response is
> >>> "unable to create file gdi32.dll.
> >>> 0 files expanded"
> >>>
> >>> I hope you have more thoughts on this.
> >>> Kernel32 issue: Your analysis prompts my recall of the history of this
> >>> system. This is an HP box from 2005 with XP factory installed. I now realize
> >>> I am using for my boot disk an older upgrade version CD of XP that i bought
> >>> for a previous computer. In my state of mind I did not stop to think it was
> >>> for the old system, was just glad i had an XP CD on the shelf...so it is
> >>> possible the version of kernel32 onmy recoverey console is incompatible with
> >>> this system. I simply have to hope that is not the case and as you say forge
> >>> ahead. Or do you think i need to address this possibility first?
> >>>
> >>> The HP did not come with a boot disk, but has some kind of recovery space
> >>> allocation. However, i think using that recovery mode restores factory
> >>> settings and wipes all data. I do have a backup of most critical personal
> >>> files. most, not all. I do not think i have the technical facility to take
> >>> out the HD and put it in another device. i'll have to think about that.
> >>> Malware: I have most current norton version running with all standard
> >>> protections in place, did a full scan a week ago, and regularly use adaware.
> >>> I practice very safe computing--no guarantee but i am not the at-risk profile
> >>> by any means.
> >>> Precipitating event: I ran chkdisk more or less out of precaution since i
> >>> had not done so in a long time. i was getting a minor annoying glitch in
> >>> Word, so i was not totally feeling complacent about the system but figured i
> >>> would start with routine maintenance before troubleshooting that. i think i
> >>> will never run it again.
> >>>
> >>> I hope you can still guide me out of this mess. I appreciate all the time
> >>> you are putting into it.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> "Lem" wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Aqueous wrote:
> >>>>> Lem, belay that last post, i am teaching myself DOS, kind of... I know how
> >>>>> to copy the file, but there is no such file on c: and no i386folder on c:
> >>>>> either. on the cd drive (e in my case) i found I386\GDI32.DL_ and GDI.EX_
> >>>>> should i copy the DL_ file only and place it in the c: location you
> >>>>> indicated?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "Lem" wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Aqueous wrote:
> >>>>>>> I have a blue screen with this message: STOP: 0000269 illegal system dll
> >>>>>>> relocation kernel32.dll ...C:windows/system32/gdi32.dll occupied an address
> >>>>>>> range reserved for windows systems DLLs The vendor should %%" I dont know
> >>>>>>> how to troubleshoot this. Background: ran chkdisk as a routine maintenance.
> >>>>>>> XP went to endless reboot. i tried booting from original XP disk, going to
> >>>>>>> recovery console and I guess reinstalling kernel32.dll. still cycling. i am
> >>>>>>> unable to reach safe mode but advanced options menu allows me to disable
> >>>>>>> automatic restart so i could see the blue screen warning. Going to las known
> >>>>>>> configuration has no effect. i have SP2 XP home edition. What do i do now?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> Try the following:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> 1. boot from a Windows CD and go to recovery console.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> 2. Copy gdi32.dll from c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\gdi32.dll to
> >>>>>> c:\windows\system32\gdi32.dll. (Do keep a backup copy of the old
> >>>>>> gdi32.dll in c:\windows\system32 directory)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> 3. Reboot normally
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Lem -- MS-MVP
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
> >>>>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
> >>>>>>
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
> >>>>>>
> >>>> I'm not really sure what you did with respect to kernel32.dll. In
> >>>> particular, I don't know what you might have been attempting to do with
> >>>> the "map" command. Further, kernel32.dll is an integral part of
> >>>> Windows. If you overwrote it with an incorrect version, you may have
> >>>> terminally corrupted your current installation.
> >>>>
> >>>> In addition, you haven't addressed what caused your problem in the first
> >>>> place (possibly a malware infestation). However, forging ahead ...
> >>>>
> >>>> The first thing you should do is to make sure that any data that you
> >>>> care about is preserved. Assuming that you do not have a full backup
> >>>> (or otherwise you probably would simply have restored your drive from
> >>>> the backup), you can either remove the drive from your computer, put it
> >>>> in an external usb drive enclosure, hook it up to a second computer, and
> >>>> copy off the data, or build yourself a Knoppix CD, boot from that, and
> >>>> copy the data.
> >>>>
> >>>> Putting aside data preservation issues, whether messing with
> >>>> kernel32.dll has created a problem, and whatever caused your initial
> >>>> problem, here are steps to replace gdi32.dll.
> >>>>
> >>>> If there is no C:\i386 or C:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ folder, that
> >>>> suggests that your installation of Windows XP began with sp2 (which fits
> >>>> with you having an sp2 cd).
> >>>>
> >>>> Assuming that Windows is located in C:\Windows and that your CD drive is
> >>>> E:\ go to the Recovery Console and type
> >>>>
> >>>> cd C:\Windows\system32
> >>>> ren gdi32.dll gdi32.dll.old
> >>>> expand e:\i386\gdi32.dl_ c:\windows\system32\gdi32.dll
> >>>> attrib -r c:\windows\system32\gdi32.dll
> >>>>
> >>>> exit from Recovery Console and reboot.
> >>>>
> >>>> If the above doesn't fix things, then you should probably try a Repair
> >>>> Install. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
> >>>>
> >>>> Note that a Repair Install will likely *not* remove any malware that may
> >>>> have infested your computer and caused your problem in the first place.
> >>>> If you do a Repair Install and successfully get back to Windows, you
> >>>> should do a thorough check for malware, starting with a full scan with
> >>>> an up-to-date reputable antivirus app and again with a more generalized
> >>>> antimalware app such as MalwareBytes Antimalware (
http://malwarebytes.org/).
> >>>>
> >>>> Be aware that although a Repair Install is supposed to preserve your
> >>>> data and installed apps, things have been known to go wrong, which is
> >>>> why you should back up your data first.
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Lem -- MS-MVP
> >>>>
> >>>> To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
> >>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
> >>>>
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
> >>>>
> >> You are correct that using the recovery partition on the hard drive will
> >> wipe out everything. It restores the computer to its out-of-the-box
> >> condition.
> >>
> >> Also, I'm not clear if using a retail XP CD to do a repair install will
> >> work on your factory-installed system.
> >>
> >> My bad. I gave you the wrong syntax.
> >>
> >> cd c:\windows\system32 [This command changes the directory to
> >> c:\windows\system32]
> >>
> >> ren gdi32.dll gdi32.dll.old [This is intended to save a copy of the
> >> existing file. If you already have done this, this command will fail
> >> because it won't find gdi32.dll]
> >>
> >> expand e:\i386\gdi32.dl_ [The destination is optional. If you don't
> >> specify a destination, the expanded file goes into the current folder.
> >> The error in my previous post was that I specified the file name as the
> >> destination, rather than the folder into which the file goes.]
> >>
> >> Don't bother with the attrib command I previously suggested.
> >>
> >> The recovery console is somewhat limited. Commands work somewhat
> >> differently than they do at a normal Command Prompt. For more detail on
> >> using the Recovery Console, see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
> >>
> >> You should look into burning a Knoppix "live" CD, which is a free
> >> download as an ISO image. It is a large download, about 700 Meg for the
> >> CD and a few Gig for the DVD. The difference is that the DVD has more
> >> applications. The CD will suffice for rescuing data. KNOPPIX is a flavor
> >> of LINUX, with very good intrinsic support for much hardware, in fact,
> >> better than XP itself. "live" means that it runs from CD without
> >> installing on the hard drive. KNOPPIX has a windows-like file manager,
> >> supports USB and firewire, and version 5 can write to disks formatted as
> >> FAT32 or NTFS, among others.
> >>
> >>
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
> >> --
> >>
> >> Lem -- MS-MVP
> >>
> >> To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
> >>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
> >>
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
> >>
>
> Very first hit from Google:
>
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885523
>
> However, you will be unable to remove SP2 (because it wasn't installed
> as an update but as the initial OS). See some of the other hits from
>
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wi ... 9&aq=f&oq=
>
> Be sure you know what the HP recovery disk is intended to do (and how to
> do it). I suspect that it is like the hidden partition -- and will
> restore your computer to a "like new" condition, with none of your
> applications or data.
>
> Knoppix is pretty easy to use. You might want to do some reading here
> first:
>
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Main_Page
>
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_FAQ
>
> --
> Lem -- MS-MVP
>
> To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
>
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
>