Registry errors with fresh install...

[Michael Chiew]

Richard Cranium, Shahani,

Thank you both for the kind words. It feels good not to have wasted your time.

I need to make a correction about Scanreg /Fix. It does not do a backup of your Registry. Scanreg /Fix scans it to determine whether the structure is sound and to clear up unused space (something like what Defrag does). If all is well according to its assessment, it flashes "fix" on the screen. So you can see that its work is rather superficial.

Every time you start your computer, Windows backs up a copy of System.dat, User.dat, System.ini and Win.ini. These back-ups will remain in your machine for 5 days.

The backed-up files are compressed in a cabinet that usually goes by the cabinet name RB000.CAB, RB001.CAB, RBO02.CAB, RB003.CAB and RB.004.CAB. They are found in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP directory. RB000.CAB is the cabinet that contains the latest back-up.

When you run Scanreg /Restore, a window appears listing the last 5 back-ups of the Registry and allows you to select the latest to restore your system. If restoring from a back-up does not solve the problem, you run Scanregw.exe. This little fellow is tasked with the job of sniffing out defective memory chips. Scanreg /Fix doesn't do that.

Click START|RUN. In the box, type SCANREGW.EXE (and enter). Scanregw.exe (which must be run in the Windows environment) will begin its work and flash the results of its findings on screen. If it detects defective memory chips, it marks the Registry as damaged and Scanreg.exe is activated the next time your computer starts, hence the message WINDOWS WILL NOW RESTART AND REPAIR THE REGISTRY FOR YOU.

In that event, you already know that you're dealing with defective ram.

Michael Chiew

[BobViper]

I copied that answer myself~Only thing to add is when I ran win98se(Before I found w2k~WOW)I uped the ini file to 20 reg backups~can be set to 99 I believe!
Only catch is windows backup only give you the 5 options to pick for Restore!
Workaround go in DOS and Rename files 6-20 to 1-5 to have other choices!If the system was rebooted a lot before you are called to fix it there could be 5 junk regs in the window for you to try.
Reg backup(1-99) in win98se is THE ONLY THING I MISS in win98se or any win9xer Os!!!!!
ALOHA BobViper

[Michael Chiew]

BobViper

You're right. You can set up to a maximum of 99 backups. That's done in Scanreg.ini.

There are other things you can do in Scanreg.ini, such as backing up files you think important to do so.

Right now, I'm messing around with Scanreg.ini but I keep an original with an .old extension just in case.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Michael Chiew

Michael, how do you increase/decrease the registry backups in WindowsXP?

[TOAD6147]

Quote:

Quantum HD's , stay away from Maxtor if possible

Doc, I'm surprised to hear you say that. What do you have against Maxtor?

[Richard Cranium]

Toad, I think Maxtor is the low end of hard drives for a couple of reasons.

1. They are on all the shelves as the cheapest drive.
2. When I got a NEW 20g 5400rpm drive that was bad, it took 5-6 phone calls, 4 hrs of dicking around with idiots on the phone doing silly tests around and around in circles before they'd give me a RMA
3. It took about 10 weeks to get my RMA replacement drive from them

Fujitsu;
I took a unit in on trade. It had a bad drive. ONE stop by www.fujitsu.com and I had a RMA.
NO TESTS were mandatory.
NO Silly Phone calls to incompetent technicians
NO 2.5 month wait time

The new 10g HD came in in about 1 week. They gave me the option of "Advanced" replacement where I'd give them my CC# but I was in no hurry.

I still post deals on Maxtors and hope I don't get cussed out for reccomending Junk.

Surreal had a bad NEW Maxtor also.

This ain't like the deal with the IBM GXP75 45gb drives where a whole lot escaped the factory defective, Maxtors have spotty quality.. IMHO

[BobViper]

ALOHA
WOW~Guess you had a Bad cup of Max...

I've got about 4+ Max Drives and while I'll agree they are sometimes the cheapest(price)~Now some aweful cheap deals on WD are available does that alone make them junk also?

One of my first HD upgrades was a Max and couple months developed a bad sector-still worked fine but I called to get warranty anyways(Too NEW)!All they asked was to run LowLevel Format(Reasonable?)~Didn't help~Got RMA and immediate(almost)replacement with credit card number couple days new HD arrived and sent old one back at MY Convenience!!

Worked for me!

ALOHA~BobViper

[Cruez]

Thats a little odd.. I had a 8 mth old Maxtor 30 gig drive that started crapping on me (yuk)....anyway I ran their software to confirm its crappiness and called Maxtor up. They shipped me out a new drive and got it in a few days...I sent the old one back and so far no more problems..It is a bit louder that my 27 gig WD drive though...

[TOAD6147]

Like BobViper and Cruez, I find your experiences with Maxtor drives the exception and not the rule. I've pretty much only bought Maxtor because they were always the best deal. One of the execptions was the WD we discussed in another thread and another was a Quantum which I had to RMA and never could get to run at ATA 66 like it was supposed to. Like you, these unfortunate experiences have left a bad taste in my mouth for both WD and Quantum. I have bought 20+ Maxtors over the past 2 years and not one problem with any of them (knock on wood!). That may make me the exception to a certain rule! Of course, based on my good luck with the drives, I obviously can't comment on the support factor.

[hirschY]

TimBob505,

DONT TRASH THAT MEMORY!!!

I cant beleive no-one mentioned this part

Find out who made the memory stick in question, usually printed right on the stick.

Contact them and see if they will replace it.

I have found that ALMOST ALL memory manufacturers have a life time warrenty on them.

Its worth the extra hour to browse the web or make a call, just to find out if the stick can be replaced, for FREE (and we all know, free is good )

Good luck, and let us know if that was indeed the issue, or if its a HD problem