Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

  • Thread starter Thread starter J. P. Gilliver
  • Start date Start date
J

J. P. Gilliver

Guest
On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up is
headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has found a
problem (I can't remember the exact words) and needs to do a restart, after
which all will be OK; it has an OK button. If pressed, sure enough the PC
restarts, but the box comes up again, and we can go round the loop as often
as we like.

If, however, I Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it appears in the list of running
applications (usually as second line), and can be End Tasked; the "not
responding" box comes up, so I End Task that, and thereafter, the PC seems
to work perfectly happily!

What is most puzzling of all: for assorted reasons, the main one being that
Brother's Keeper (a genalogy program) for some reason wouldn't go into its
Edit screen (without which it's impossible to edit the database; the rest of
the prog. - assorted charts production - worked fine!), I'd rebuilt the
system from scratch - and I mean from scratch, even repartitioning the HD!

Any ideas what this "Registry Checker" (if I've remembered the name right)
is about? (Oh, it _seems_ to be part of the OS - I certainly hadn't loaded
any third-party registry cleaners, other than I might have loaded the one
that comes as part of EZ-Cleaner from Toni Helenius, which I was _not_
invoking.)
--
J. P. Gilliver
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Boot to a Command Prompt Only boot. Then run the following:
SCANREG /OPT /FIX

Does that fix the problem?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:4833072a$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up is
> headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has found a
> problem (I can't remember the exact words) and needs to do a restart,
> after which all will be OK; it has an OK button. If pressed, sure enough
> the PC restarts, but the box comes up again, and we can go round the loop
> as often as we like.
>
> If, however, I Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it appears in the list of running
> applications (usually as second line), and can be End Tasked; the "not
> responding" box comes up, so I End Task that, and thereafter, the PC seems
> to work perfectly happily!
>
> What is most puzzling of all: for assorted reasons, the main one being
> that Brother's Keeper (a genalogy program) for some reason wouldn't go
> into its Edit screen (without which it's impossible to edit the database;
> the rest of the prog. - assorted charts production - worked fine!), I'd
> rebuilt the system from scratch - and I mean from scratch, even
> repartitioning the HD!
>
> Any ideas what this "Registry Checker" (if I've remembered the name right)
> is about? (Oh, it _seems_ to be part of the OS - I certainly hadn't loaded
> any third-party registry cleaners, other than I might have loaded the one
> that comes as part of EZ-Cleaner from Toni Helenius, which I was _not_
> invoking.)
> --
> J. P. Gilliver
>
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

A common reason for this problem is bad RAM. When the registry is loaded
it's checked, but the bad RAM causes a checking error. Loading a good copy
of the registry doesn't fix it because it wasn't bad in the first place.
This is usually associated with other odd errors or unexplained crashes.
Try a good RAM test.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:4833072a$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up is
> headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has found a
> problem (I can't remember the exact words) and needs to do a restart,
> after which all will be OK; it has an OK button. If pressed, sure enough
> the PC restarts, but the box comes up again, and we can go round the loop
> as often as we like.
>
> If, however, I Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it appears in the list of running
> applications (usually as second line), and can be End Tasked; the "not
> responding" box comes up, so I End Task that, and thereafter, the PC seems
> to work perfectly happily!
>
> What is most puzzling of all: for assorted reasons, the main one being
> that Brother's Keeper (a genalogy program) for some reason wouldn't go
> into its Edit screen (without which it's impossible to edit the database;
> the rest of the prog. - assorted charts production - worked fine!), I'd
> rebuilt the system from scratch - and I mean from scratch, even
> repartitioning the HD!
>
> Any ideas what this "Registry Checker" (if I've remembered the name right)
> is about? (Oh, it _seems_ to be part of the OS - I certainly hadn't loaded
> any third-party registry cleaners, other than I might have loaded the one
> that comes as part of EZ-Cleaner from Toni Helenius, which I was _not_
> invoking.)
> --
> J. P. Gilliver
>
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

J. P. Gilliver wrote:
| On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up is
| headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has
| found a problem (I can't remember the exact words) and needs to do a
| restart, after which all will be OK; it has an OK button. If pressed,
| sure enough the PC restarts, but the box comes up again, and we can
| go round the loop as often as we like.
|
| If, however, I Ctrl-Alt-Delete, it appears in the list of running
| applications (usually as second line), and can be End Tasked; the "not
| responding" box comes up, so I End Task that, and thereafter, the PC
| seems to work perfectly happily!

As Richards said...
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=186909
Registry Checker Continues to Detect Registry Damage
....better check the integrity of RAM (Memory), as that is often
suspect, when Windows does it's auto-/Restore of the Registry at boot...
http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp RAM tester
http://www.memtest86.com/ RAM tester
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp RAM tester

In the event Windows finds a problem with the Registry at boot, it does
not attempt a "/Fix", unless there is no backup to "/Restore". It will
restore an earlier Registry from "C:\Windows\Sysbckup". So, to
investigate your Registry backups...

(1)
(a) "START button, Settings, Folder Options, View tab".
Bolt "Show all files" & UNcheck "Hide file extensions..."

(b) "START button, Find, F/F, RB???.cab".
Those are the Registry backups, in Sysbckup\. Are there five,
plus an RBbad? Are the dates consistent with each of the last five
days you've successfully boot? What is the date on RBbad?

(2) "START button, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt". Then...
(a) CD C:\Windows\Sysbckup
(b) DIR RB???.cab /od
(c) Use the "Mark" button, outline text with mouse, "Copy" & post for
inspection.

Here was mine on 09-22-05...

C:\>CD C:\Windows\Sysbckup
C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP>dir rb???.cab /od /a
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP
RBBAD CAB 1,593,319 09-08-05 5:22p rbbad.cab
RB001 CAB 1,590,251 09-18-05 3:34p rb001.cab
RB002 CAB 1,589,811 09-19-05 9:15a rb002.cab
RB003 CAB 1,583,534 09-20-05 8:53a rb003.cab
RB004 CAB 1,583,487 09-21-05 10:01a rb004.cab
RB005 CAB 1,583,477 09-22-05 11:54a rb005.cab
6 file(s) 9,523,879 bytes

Note, on 9/8 I did a Scanreg /Fix, which created the RBbad. It is also
created when Windows decides on it's own to replace a Registry with one
of the backups. Then, the Registry that was replaced ends up in RBbad.

One is created at the first successful boot per day, when all is well.
So, check those dates. When Windows detects a Registry corruption at
boot, it will look for one of those backups to replace it with. If there
only is a very old one in there, it would explain a loss of recent
changes to settings at reboot.

| What is most puzzling of all: for assorted reasons, the main one
| being that Brother's Keeper (a genalogy program) for some reason
| wouldn't go into its Edit screen (without which it's impossible to
| edit the database; the rest of the prog. - assorted charts production
| - worked fine!), I'd rebuilt the system from scratch - and I mean
| from scratch, even repartitioning the HD!
|
| Any ideas what this "Registry Checker" (if I've remembered the name
| right) is about? (Oh, it _seems_ to be part of the OS - I certainly
| hadn't loaded any third-party registry cleaners, other than I might
| have loaded the one that comes as part of EZ-Cleaner from Toni
| Helenius, which I was _not_ invoking.)
| --
| J. P. Gilliver

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Jeff Richards wrote:
> A common reason for this problem is bad RAM. When the registry is
> loaded it's checked, but the bad RAM causes a checking error. Loading a
> good copy of the registry doesn't fix it because it wasn't
> bad in the first place. This is usually associated with other odd
> errors or unexplained crashes. Try a good RAM test.
[]
Sounds plausible, but I don't _think_ it's the problem: I'm pretty sure I
rang the changes with the RAM modules (it has 4 × 32M = 128M, of the sort
that had to be loaded in pairs - I'm pretty sure I had it down to 64M, both
halves individually) when trying to sort the Brother's Keeper problem.
--
J. P. Gilliver
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
> Boot to a Command Prompt Only boot. Then run the following:
> SCANREG /OPT /FIX
>
> Does that fix the problem?
>
>
> "J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
> news:4833072a$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>> On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up
>> is headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has
[]
>> production - worked fine!), I'd rebuilt the system from scratch -
>> and I mean from scratch, even repartitioning the HD!
[]
Thanks for that. I will try it next time I visit John.

(If it just reloads an earlier registry [or whatever], it won't help - the
problem appeared right after OS installation, and hasn't gone away since.
[Actually it was there before the rebuild-including-repartitioning.] The
strange thing is that, once the process is killed, the PC seems fine.)
--
J. P. Gilliver
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Nothing funny about it, nor strange, either. Something about the Registry
makes it corrupt, or at least appear corrupt. Since that "thing" is in all
the Registry backups that are available, there's no where to go but in
circles. That is, IF any backups *are* available, since I believe few if any
backups have been made during the life of the system. The daily backup isn't
created until the Registry is tested OK, which it apparently hasn't been
doing for a long, long time.

I would definitely try the /Opt /Fix procedure, but if it doesn't work, I'd
just disable ScanRegistry (which is how it's named in MSCONFIG and the
Registry Run key it loads from.) If it was me, I'd then write a little
program to create my own daily backups.

Hmm... Long, long shot, but try running SCANREGW from the Start>Run box.
(Note the W at the end.) What happens?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com


"J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:4835a6d9_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> Gary S. Terhune wrote:
>> Boot to a Command Prompt Only boot. Then run the following:
>> SCANREG /OPT /FIX
>>
>> Does that fix the problem?
>>
>>
>> "J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
>> news:4833072a$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>>> On a friend's PC, while booting (98), one of the boxes that pops up
>>> is headed something like "Windows Registry Checker"; it says it has
> []
>>> production - worked fine!), I'd rebuilt the system from scratch -
>>> and I mean from scratch, even repartitioning the HD!
> []
> Thanks for that. I will try it next time I visit John.
>
> (If it just reloads an earlier registry [or whatever], it won't help - the
> problem appeared right after OS installation, and hasn't gone away since.
> [Actually it was there before the rebuild-including-repartitioning.] The
> strange thing is that, once the process is killed, the PC seems fine.)
> --
> J. P. Gilliver
>
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
[]
> where to go but in circles. That is, IF any backups *are* available,
> since I believe few if any backups have been made during the life of
> the system. The daily backup isn't created until the Registry is
> tested OK, which it apparently hasn't been doing for a long, long
> time.

Since build, in this case. (Only a few weeks ago.)
>
> I would definitely try the /Opt /Fix procedure, but if it doesn't
> work, I'd just disable ScanRegistry (which is how it's named in
> MSCONFIG and the Registry Run key it loads from.) If it was me, I'd

Yes, I've printed out the KB article.

> then write a little program to create my own daily backups.

I use ERU fairly frequently - more or less whenever I change anything. Since
I very much don't think John ever makes any changes when I'm not there - he
only uses the genealogy prog., IrfanView (for his camera pics), Word, and
the Pegasus email client, I'm pretty sure he doesn't even use the web. ERU
(from Windows 95) doesn't save everything (as I've found before, most
recently when using soporific's AutoPatcher [against all your advice]), but
for John's system, I'm pretty sure it will save all that's necessary.
>
> Hmm... Long, long shot, but try running SCANREGW from the Start>Run
> box. (Note the W at the end.) What happens?
>
Noted, and I'll try it next time I visit.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver
 
Re: Windows Registry Checker (I think) causing continuous reboot

Oh well. If it were me and I couldn't get it fixed, I'd flatten it and start
over. Sounds like it was a bad install from the git-go. (But don't forget to
run a couple of different RAM testers for a couple of days, just in case.)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"J. P. Gilliver" <john.gilliver@baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:4836ff84$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> Gary S. Terhune wrote:
> []
>> where to go but in circles. That is, IF any backups *are* available,
>> since I believe few if any backups have been made during the life of
>> the system. The daily backup isn't created until the Registry is
>> tested OK, which it apparently hasn't been doing for a long, long
>> time.
>
> Since build, in this case. (Only a few weeks ago.)
>>
>> I would definitely try the /Opt /Fix procedure, but if it doesn't
>> work, I'd just disable ScanRegistry (which is how it's named in
>> MSCONFIG and the Registry Run key it loads from.) If it was me, I'd
>
> Yes, I've printed out the KB article.
>
>> then write a little program to create my own daily backups.
>
> I use ERU fairly frequently - more or less whenever I change anything.
> Since I very much don't think John ever makes any changes when I'm not
> there - he only uses the genealogy prog., IrfanView (for his camera pics),
> Word, and the Pegasus email client, I'm pretty sure he doesn't even use
> the web. ERU (from Windows 95) doesn't save everything (as I've found
> before, most recently when using soporific's AutoPatcher [against all your
> advice]), but for John's system, I'm pretty sure it will save all that's
> necessary.
>>
>> Hmm... Long, long shot, but try running SCANREGW from the Start>Run
>> box. (Note the W at the end.) What happens?
>>
> Noted, and I'll try it next time I visit.
> []
> --
> J. P. Gilliver
>
 
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