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A friend asked me to look at her sister's Dell laptop (running Vista Home Premium) as it was switching off when the desktop appeared.
It's actually getting a BSOD some 10-20 seconds after showing the desktop. Who Crashed reports all the dumps in the PC show a Registry Error.
I've checked the HDD - no fault found - so, suspecting a possible corrupt User Profile I've created a new user using my name and and booted into that. It's working fine and I'm currently running an AV scan.
It would seem therefore that the original user profile is corrupt in some way. My current plan is to create a new user for the sister and, using the temporary user I have copy the files from original user to new user.
Is this a sensible approach?
Will it mean that, albeit under a new user, everything should work much the same. There are no fancy apps running on the PC, MS Works seems to be the main one used.
Possibly a daft question - what can cause a corrupt user profile?
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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Anything really.
Virus, bad disk, bad memory. Overheating might cause the latter two.
The fact that the system is getting so far in suggests either heat build up causes it, or some delayed process or service (I'm inclined to suspect the latter.
Boot up in safemode. Same result?
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Sorry, I should have mentioned that Safe Mode works fine. That's how I've been able to create a new user.
It's been running all night in that new user, including a full virus scan. So I don't think it's overheating. A corrupt user profile seems to be the most likely cause on current thinking.
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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Register (or login) on our website and you will not see this ad.
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Replying to myself - whatever next 
A further thought.
Having created a new working user for the PC owner and copied all her files over using the copy feature in the User Accounts area, would it make sense to then delete the old, corrupt user, albeit saving the files just in case. Then recreating the original user and copying the files back to it?
Is that sensible?
Would it work?
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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If everything is 100% you may as well delete the old user.
I would be a touch wary of recreating the old user though, as some folders seem to retain names with the username in them and if you recreate that user it may be confusing. I've noticed this when renaming a user due to a spelling error - all the folders retained the error.
It it isn't broken, don't fix it
--
Phil
MaxDSL - goes as fast as it can and doesn't read the line checker first.
MaxDSL diagnostics |
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I would say move data files over and not a bulk copy of the user over as the appdata folder is stored in the user profile as a hidden directory.
I would suspect the problem is that something has gone wrong in the appdata folder and when windows gets to that the bad/corrupted file causes the BSOD
So a bigger pain that just moving everything over.
I have gone over to start saving my data away from the MyDocuments part of the user profile and so if anything went wrong it is easier to get my data out.
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Possibly some errant software or even a wrongly configured driver.
Check your PM's.
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Thanks for the PM.
I've also found another problem which I'm trying to understand.
Windows Update won't run, message "Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running"
However the Windows Update service is running as is the BITS service.
Also there is a line on the Update window which says "Find out more about free software from (null). Click here for details."
Normally IIRC it refers to Microsoft, and I'm wary of clicking the link...
Looking at the update history I see there have been no updates since 25/04/2012 (and yes, the PC's date and time is correct).
Clearly there's some underlying problem(s). I'm beginning to wonder whether it would be better to use Dell's recovery partition to reinstate and then update everything from there.
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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Which AV is it using.
Had a very similar problem with a couple of PCs that were running McAfee. We could not get to the bottom of it and in one case it was take everything off - all applications and data, restore te OS to that at delivery then apply all the updates and SPs and then all the applications followed by data.
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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I think, assuming there is not a lot of data and applications to restore, that indeed running the recovery partition would be the best thing to do.
Zen 8000 Pro
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It's running....
...McAfee
As there's not much data and, as far as I can see, the only software of note installed is MS Works V9 - there's a few utility type apps, e.g. iTunes, Rapport, but nothing of real significance that might affect a rebuild.
I need to find where Works came from as the install date is only last year so probably wouldn't have been part of the original build in September 2008.
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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Sorry, I should have mentioned that Safe Mode works fine. That's how I've been able to create a new user.
It's been running all night in that new user, including a full virus scan. So I don't think it's overheating. A corrupt user profile seems to be the most likely cause on current thinking.
So to clarify. You can log in as this 'corrupt' user in safemode?
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Correct, I can log in using Safe Mode.
And the new user I created is works ok in normal mode.
The only problem is the lack of Windows Update functionality.
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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You could boot up and enable boot logging. Then check the ntbootlog.txt file.
It might indeed be something that can't be disabled or changed, but it's strange that the account is fine in safemode, but not normal mode (in that I suspect the account itself is fine, but conflicts with something on normal boot).
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Are there any system restore points that pre-date the problem?
And if you are going to rebuild run Belarc advisor first. It will give some useful information and keys for apps.
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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See my posts ... had a very similar issue with on two PCs running McAfee AV. And this one is too!
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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A good way of fixing Windows Update is sometimes to install Microsoft Update (if you haven't already), this tends to repair the Windows Update components in the process..
Also, ensure automatic updates is turned on. In Windows XP, the automatic update system is very separate to the web based Windows Update, so you may find one of them works and the other doesn't.
Run a full chkdsk, do a disk cleanup, consider running CCleaner and clear the IE temporary files etc.
Zen 8000 Pro
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Does Belarc show the keys for installed software? If not, hunt down old copies of Everest. IIRC, there's a utility on the ISO that I PM'd you about that will reveal installed software keys. If the worst comes to the worst, there's a legitimate copy of Works 9 here somewhere that you can have if you really need it. However, it may take a while for me to get it to you.
I also have an OEM copy of Vista here rather than reinstalling the age old crud that would accompany the inbuilt restore. You will need the OEM key for this.
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Checking in the laptop bag (should have done that before  ) there all the CDs for reinstalling/reinstating the Dell system, as well as the MS Works CD.
I'm quite comfortable waiting for all the updates to download and install, I've done that many times in the last year or so on XP systems 
I'll certainly run Belarc, it's part of my usual toolkit.
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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I'll check that, can't remember if the link is Windows Update or Microsoft Update - will check when next boot it up. Given that WU won't run I presume I'll have to go to the MS web site and find the download(s).
Tony
We have more and more laws, and less and less enforcement
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It wasn't updates that I was thinking about...... It was all the unnecessary and by now well outdated crud that Dell would have included when the machine was new. Personally, I would never use a "restore system" to reinstall an OS.
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... all the unnecessary and by now well outdated crud that Dell would have included when the machine was new.
Such as?
I do not see any of that on Dell machines - the exception being a free copy of Works on a Vostro!
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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Never heard of the Dell Decrapifier?
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