System Restore is not able to protect....

Hi,
This is a second hand computer, which I've had for more than six months. It is otherwise ok, but, in trying to reach system restore via start>programs> accessories>system restore, I get an immediate popup titled system restore, which states: "System Restore is not able to protect your computer. Please restart your computer, and then run system restore again. "
Restarting accomplishes nothing. The system restore wizard, etc, appear in the background, but this popup demands a click on the OK box. Once you do that, you are taken to the desktop.
I have never tried to use system restore before. I am trying to update DirectX 9.0b to 9.0c, and Microsoft recommends that I create a restore point first. I have Norton Internet Security, Adaware, Spybot, and spyblaster. They are all upto date. As I said, so far as I can tell, the computer behaves normally otherwise.
Thanks,
Vic

 

Is it possible that System Restore is turned off? Check admin tools> Services and scroll to System Restore. Right click and check "properties ". By the way, if you enable it, it is only necessary on the OS partition.

HTH
Johanna

 

System Restore problem

Hi Johanna,
Dylan has visions of you(one of my favorite songs).
I thought that system restore was on simply because the box on the system restore tab under system properties which states Stop system restore was unchecked.
When I followed your route, under service status it was indeed stopped, and the service type was automatic. the start button was enabled, but the stop, pause, and resume buttons were greyed out. When I click start, I get an error tone, a popup box entitled SERVICES comes up. It reads: "Could not start the System Restore Services service on Local Computer. Error 1359: An internal error occurred.
For a second after pressing the start button, a progress bar begins, and grows to about 33%-then the tone and the message.
Thanks Johanna,
Vic

 

Mayhap your free drive space is lacking?

Then try doing a search for sr.inf and when found, right click it and select "Install" You may be asked for the XP install cd.

 

Thanks surferdude2!

I have only 22 of the available 120gigs used up. But, finding the sr.inf file and extracting the sr.sys file seems to have worked! I successfully created a restore point. Now I can proceed to download and update DirectX 9.0b to 9.0c.
Thanks again,
Vic

 

Great, glad SR is working for you now! Thanks for posting back with your success.

Johanna