Need Firewire 800 drivers

Another possibility -- and I do apologize for burdening you ... maybe I can repay you with my wife's butterscotch carmelitas or buy you a drink if you're ever in Portland -- is that I just ran registry fix, and while I didn't correct anything yet, it indicated there were a whole mess of problems.

1 error in startup programs (msmsmgs does not exist at the specified location), 15 active x/classes problems, 2 application paths problems, 202 shared program problems, 5 program ID problems, 32 invalid references throughout the registry, and 16 invalid shortcuts.

Would it be wise to have registry fix correct these problems now?

 

Okay, I downloaded and ran power tools.

I didn't know whether to set the engine to include windows-related data or not, so I left it at the default (excluding windows-related data).

It found 649 severe errors, corrected 10 and deleted 639 errors.

That makes me extremely nervous.

Should I go ahead and reboot and see what happens? Or run the backup to reverse the changes made while I still can?

In other words, what if the changes made make it unbootable?

Breathlessly waiting...

 

Okay, thanks. I'll reboot.

Once I do, should I re-run power tools and correct the medium and low problems as well? Should I also set the engine to look at windows-related problems?

Btw, I don't know who my hard disk manufacturer is -- it's not listed in my dell purchase documents -- although disk management says the disk is healthy. But I went to Dell to run their diagnostics, and it was interruped by a warning for "high risk" that listed 3 scripts it recommended I stop: sprtcmd.exe, sprtsvc.exe and bcont.exe.

What does that mean?

 

So now it turns out that I need a reinstallation windows CD that has SP2 on it to create the PC Backup bootable disk with the proper drivers that can read a usb external drive to restore the backup.

My original Windows CD for my desktop doesn't have SP2 but my laptop's reinstall disk does. Can I use that to create a PC Backup bootable disk on my desktop machine?

If not, I'll have to go buy one.

Meanwhile, I'm copying critical data files to my external disk and now I'm getting "data error (cyclic redundancy check)" every so often. What does that mean?

And finally, before I try a restore to a new drive, is there a Windows repair option anywhere? Or am I beyond that now?

Thanks again for bearing with me.

 

You must be getting tired of me thanking you, but alas, I need to keep thanking you.

PCBackup needs an original Windows installation disk with SP2, so I can't just download it (in fact, I already have SP3 on my PC).

I just had another thought: I noticed that my fan inside the case is loose. It appears to be slightly running -- a mild breeze -- but I'm wondering if a defective fan could cause all these problems.

Meanwhile, I'll run checkdisk. Thanks.

 

Well, chkdsk found a boatload of bad clusters and file problems. Supposedly it fixed them but I don't know yet if any data is lost.

Good news is, the PC seems to be functioning much faster now. I'll know for sure when I come to work in the morning. But just to give you an example, it earlier took me 30 seconds after clicking on "show desktop" for the desktop to appear. Now, it's instantaneous, like it should be.

So I'm very hopeful, and very very grateful to you.

I'll check with you tomorrow about that "slipstream" CD with SP2 -- I don't know what that means. To reiterate, I need a Windows XP install CD with Sp2 on it for PC Backup to read from and then copy to another CD which it will make into my disaster recovery bootable CD.

Anyway, things are looking up, thanks to you.

 

I have concerns about the drive as well.

Anyway, although the system is back up to speed, several problems remain. Quicken, iTunes, my camera downloading program, and possibly several other apps won't open. Also, when I click on a photo to open it in email, I get "error loading C\windows\system32\shimgvw.dll not installed on your system." When I click on iTunes, I get "quicktime not found, please reinstall iTunes." Also, I still don't have my restore points from system restore.

Is it possible, by the way, that restoring the PowerTools backup I created before it deleted 649 high severity errors would restore Quicken functionality?

Anyway, it seems there are three approaches I could take:

1) Try to add shimgvw.dll and any other files that may be missing -- I know there's a way to do that but I forget how -- and reinstall some programs as needed. But with at least one of them -- Quicken -- that could be dififcult especially reconfiguring my online bill pay which I don't remember how to do.

2) Try to restore only those programs and directories needed (e.g., quicken and iTunes and the windows directories) back onto my c urrent system and drive. But I'm not sure if I'd need to restore the registry and system state as well to make those programs work. I'm also not sure what that would do as my current system state and registry is different (with the addition of power tools and a new version of PC backup).

3) Try to restore everything from my backup onto a fresh drive, which I have on hand. I'm a bit nervous about installing a new drive -- not sure I know how, plus I'm just leary of disassembling a drive that at least works, even if it has some problems. But the upside is that POTENTIALLY I'll get a perfect system back.

What do you think?

 

Oh boy, I just got another "data error: cyclic redundancy check. "

Should I run chkdsk /r again, or is that pointless or liable to cause more harm than good?

Also, since I'm not 100% sure that PC Backup can restore my existing backup to a new drive with complete fidelity, is it worth doing another full backup of this current system (with all its problems) just so that, if necessary, I can at least reproduce this system on a fresh drive with no cluster problems? Put another way, will the physical problems with this drive prevent an accurate backup of files and programs from being done?

 

Thanks, Pete.

Well, during a reboot this morning I got a "no system disk" warning, then cold booted and then it came up okay. But obviously, this drive is failing.

Given that, is there any danger to the old drive from permanently installing the new one (rather than just propping it up on something to see if it works first)? I don't anticipate needing the old drive, but you never know -- I may need to reconnect it, perhaps as a 2nd slave drive, to get some data from it.

But given the shape it's in, I might as well just go ahead and make my new drive permanent, don't you think?

 

Yes, the drive on its own goes into chkdsk every time it reboots, I even tried reinstalling Quicken from the original download executable and for some reason it wouldn't take. I suspect the bad clusters that chkdsk isolated contain some critical system files.

Quick question: would it make sense to use that scannow command to reinstall those missing system files?

Anyway, tomorrow morning I install the new drive and pray for a successful restore. If not, I'll wipe the new drive and do a fresh install of windows and then spend the next several days reinstalling programs and customizing settings and shutting down XP bloat in startup programs and services.

But why should I care? It's not like I have a career or anything better to do with my time, right?

Pete, you have been extraordinarily generous with your time in helping me. I really appreciate it. Thank you.