Tricky combo? power failure, xp wont boot, damaged registry, also maybe haxdoor?

maxwelltf

sending this from my laptop. I've run into a serious problem with my desktop PC. I hope someone can help. I've read through many related threads here, many talk about 'parts' of my problem/conditions, but not the combination I seem to have. I'm afraid to make any moves beyond what I describe below, don't want to create a ton of extra work or lose data/apps.

desktop PC
windows XP SP2
C: drive is 100GB drive connected to a PCI card IT8212 controller made by ITE
(www.ite.com) (note: my desktop PC's motherboard does not support BIOS for 100GB drives, but the IT8212 controller PCI card does, so this is why the C: drive is attached to it.)
system restore has always been turned ON.

Today, "windows update" did an update and asked for a reboot. I did.
During reboot we had a power failure. ARGHHH!!!
Now xp wont boot! It says "windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\sytem32\config\system

So, attempting to follow instructions on Microsoft KB article 307545, it says I need to use recovery console to replace reg hives. So I proceed. During boot from my orig Windows CD, I have to use F6 to install non-standard IT8212 controller drivers. I have them on a floppy disk. That all seems to work fine. When the Recovery Console starts up, the part where you choose which windows installation you want to log onto, there is only 1: C:\WINDOWS. so I hit 1 and enter.

It goes immediately to blue screen with the following error...
a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down.
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xC62B8FCC, 0x00000001, 0x809904F2, 0x00000000)

At that point, I don't know what to do. I looked up that error code on my other PC and it says one possible cause is the HAXDOOR virus. scary. I have AVG installed on that PC and it is updated and scans the HD frequently, but it has said nothing about Haxdoor.

Help!
Fingers and toes crossed.
-Tom

Leonardo

Follow these easy instructions in Thrax' excellent article, Repairing Windows XP in 8 Commands, and your problem should be gone. This is assuming that the problem is Windows related, and is not a mismatched driver. The ITE 8212 controller is a very common chip, so I would imagine the drivers installed for that (if any such updates) were correct. This most certainly is not a hard drive problem and is also probably not related to hard drive and hard drive controller drivers.

maxwelltf

Hi Leonardo - do you think the Stop: 0x00000050 is not related to some virus like the HAXDOOR virus that Microsoft says it might be? Because I cannot get past the step in the Recovery Console that requires me to choose a Windows Installation to log onto. It blue screens.

Leonardo

"windows update" did an update and asked for a reboot. I did.
During reboot we had a power failure. ARGHHH!!!
Now xp wont boot! It says "windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\sytem32\config\system

That to me is the explanation of the problem - heavily corrupted system files caused by the power outage at the worst possible time.

Virus? Perhaps, but it seems too much of a coincidence that a malware problem would manifest itself only after a Windows update at reboot at the time of a power failure. A virus could/would have caused problems without such dire circumstances.

maxwelltf

I completely agree. Timing is everything. The problem is I can't proceed withing the Recovery Console to do the repair becuase it blue screens the moment the Recovery Console attempts to log onto the 1 Windows installation. I am stuck at that point.

Thrax

If you can't even get to the recovery console, you may have hardware issues. Can you run DFT and memtest? Need guides for them?

maxwelltf

Thrax - thanks for the reply. I'm not familiar with those tools.

Thrax

http://icrontic.com/articles/hard_drive_diagnostics
http://icrontic.com/articles/diagnose_with_memtest86

Leonardo

it blue screens the moment the Recovery Console attempts to log onto the 1 Windows installation

Ohhhh. I'll have to think about this for a bit. Hmm, sounds like more than a Windows installation was hosed. Go into the BIOS and see if it correctly identifies your hard drive.

You could also try: shut down computer - unplug wall power - remove IDE/SATA cable from the hard drive and motherboard - remove hard drive power cable - reattach cables - attempt again to boot into Recover Console and perform the files repair.

Do you know the factory settings for your BIOS? If so, boot into BIOS and set to conservative/default settings. Although it's unlikely that the power failure would have screwed up BIOS settings, it just might be possible.

maxwelltf

Thrax- I have created the boot CD's for DFT and Memtest and will run those tests now. Any suggestions regarding that? Thanks.

Thrax

Ah, no suggestions from me. The guides say what I would say.

maxwelltf

I think I'm having some trouble getting the DFT to recognize my C drive which is attached via the IT8212 controller PCI card. the DFT program hangs on "Detecting IDE secondary master". strange because the system and BIOS can see the C drive (it shows up on the screen when the system boots and goes through it's hardware scan) and the recovery console can see the C: drive as well.

I'm sorta thinking that DFT doesnt work so well with add-on drive controllers inserted in PCI slots. It seems like it just looks at the motherboard controller. Is this correct?

Leonardo

You may be correct about detection-PCI controller card. I've never used one so have no first hand experience.

Thrax

It works okay with most third-party PCI controllers, but DOS apps are always fickle about them, and you may just have one it doesn't like.

Seagate Seatools advanced/extended test functions in much the same manner as DFT if you'd like to try that instead.

maxwelltf

Ok - I'll give the seagate tools a try. but what are your overall thoughts on this. do you doubt there is a haxdoor virus issue that has been uncovered?

Thrax

The issue you're describing has never been nailed down to an exact cause. There are many fixes, and the success rate is as ambiguous as the problem; the only sure-fire fix is a repair install or reformat.

maxwelltf

I'll be out of the office all day today (Aug-4) - have to go to a friends wedding. but I will be back at this problem tonight and again ALL day tomorrow (Aug-5). Need to get this thing resolved. I prefer to avoid a format since I dont want to lose data nor reinstall all those pesky applications. ugh! hopefully, there is a process of elimination and path forward to solve this.

maxwelltf

Well folks - it looks like problem solved. There were no hardware issues - I removed the HD and connected it externally to another PC, copied the default registry files from the repair folder, reinstalled the HD, it booted fine, got a set of registry files from a snapshot folder, moved them into the system/config folder, rebooted and did a system restore to a previous point. so she's funning fine. I never did detect the Haxdoor virus - none of the recommended tools seemed to find anything - I still have my doubts though because the PC freezes for about 20 second during bootup (just after desktop icons appear) and then it passes. This seems like strange behavior and it has done this for several months now. anyway, unless someone has an idea about that, all is well.