Computer suddenly will not re-boot completely
 

Hello - I am Trish, and when it comes to this kind of thing, I am a novice.

My computer is a Windows XP Service pack 2 machine
with Intel Pentium 4 - 2.66 GHz
2 Gig Ram

Wednesday morning I woke to find my computer frozen. During the night a Microsoft update had installed itself and left the computer in this state.

I had to shut the computer off to get out of there, and when it re-booted, it got to the splash screen, then re-booted again - to safe mode. I used System restore to go back to Tuesday night and this worked. I then disabled the windows update and changed my options to go to the Microsoft site for updates. The update was not installed.

Now - every time I have to re-boot my computer, I am encountering this same problem - it re-boots twice, the second time to safe mode. If I use System restore to go back to Tuesday night, it works - using the day before or the morning after (but before the windows update) it does not work.

When I looked at the event log - I saw the following errors:

The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.
Type is “Yellow triangle - Warning!”
Source is “ftdisk”
Got this one 4 times at 11:00 pm


The device, \Device\Harddisk3\D, is not ready for access yet.
Got this one 14 times at 11:30 pm

Source is “Disk” - Type is “red circle with white X in it”
Date is July 12 - 2007 -



DCOM got error "This service cannot be started in Safe Mode " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

This one at 10:10 pm same day
Source is DCOM Type is the same as above


The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
ATMhelpr
Fips
intelppm
kl1
klif

This one at 10:08 pm Type is same as above
Source is “Service Control Manager”


Can anyone help me out? I don't know what these errors mean -- or why my machine is not acting so erratically - or if there is any connection to the windows update that I did not install. Worse, I have no idea how to fix it.
Any enlightenment or help you can give me would be most appreciated!

Trish

Hello Trish, to start with run a disk check on your PC: My Computer>Right-Click you Hard Drive>Go to Properties> Click on the 'Tools' tab and schedule a disk check the next time your computer starts.

Disable automatic restarting so we can see if you are getting a BSOD on the restarts. To do this:
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Settings (under Startup and Recovery) -> Uncheck Automatically restart

If you get the blue screen, take note of the errors and put them in your next post.

If you can, find the name of the update i.e. KB......., and if you can go to the Microsoft Help & Support site and search for the update in their database.

If you like you can post me the update reference and I'll have a look for you.

I think this is what is causing your system to re-boot:

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
ATMhelpr
Fips
intelppm
kl1
klif

It looks like a driver problem.

Go to Start>Run and type regedt32 to open up the registry editor, and search for this entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Intelppm
take note of all the entries and put them in your next post for me.

Regards

Martin

Here's the info you requested
 

Sorry it has taken me so long - but all of this afternoon was occupied by the computer
doing it's thing.

I did disable the automatic restart on my computer - then I did run the disk check. I have two hard drives, and was amazed that the disk check on my second drive ran without me having to reboot to do it. First time for that. The other drive (my main one) did require me to re-boot to do so - it started at 3:30 this afternoon and finished up at 7:30 - a whopping long time, I thought.

Through it all, I never did get a BSOD - and when the disk check finished, the computer came up just as normal. I have not yet tried to re-boot again, to know that I won't get the same errors as before. Wanted to get you the info and see what you had to say first.

The two Windows updates (that did install, froze my machine, and that I prevented from installing when I used system restore to go back to before that time) were:
Update for Windows XP (KB936357
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - July 2007 (KB 890830)
I did look them up - the first was regarding Intel dual core processors - which I don't have, and the other was self-explanatory.

I also went to the HKEY reference you gave me and here is that info:
intelppm
for each entry there was a little flag icon with letters in it - then "Name" - "Type" and "Data"
ab (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
ab Display Name REG_SZ Intel Processor
oii
ioo Error Control REG_DWORD 0x00000001(1)
ab Group REG_SZ Extended Base
ab Image Path REG_EXPAND_SZ System 32\Drivers\intelppm.sys
oii
iio Start REG_DWORD 0x00000001(1)
oii
iio Tag REG_DWORD 0x0000000d(13)
oii
iio Type REG_DWORD 0x00000001(1)

Under thie intelppm folder, there were two more:
ENUM
ab (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
ab 0 REG_SZ ACPI\Genuine Intel_-_x86_Family_15_Model
_2\_0
oii
iio Count REG_DWORD 0x00000001(1)
oii
iio NextInstance REG_DWORD 0x00000001(1)

SECURITY
ab (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
oii
iio Security REG_BINARY 01 00 14 80 90 00 00 00 9c 00 00 00 14 (this
goes on for a LOT of digits - I do have them if
you need them.

I hope all this makes some kind of sense to you - and you can let me know maybe - what is going on with my machine.
I do thank you so much for taking the time to tell me what to do and how to do it - I appreciate you trying to help me!

Trish

Bare with me until Sunday Trish, I'm seing my family this weekend.

However if anything drastic happens get back to syschat and we'll see what we can do.

Regards

Martin

I'll do that....and thanks!
 

I understand completely - so enjoy your weekend.

So far, the computer is behaving itself - and I'm not going to attempt to re-boot it!

Get back to me when you can - I truly appreciate your help!

Trish

Hello Trish, from the research I've carried out the intel update may have caused the problem even though you don't have dual core.

Are you still unable to do a system restore? As this would be the safest way to fix the problem.

Try going in to safe mode and do a system restore, I would like you to try the re-boot to see if the problem still occurs.

If any of the above fail to solve the problem, back up any important files as a precautionary measure and then I would like you to navigate to the intelppm entry in the registry that we've already discussed and change the start value to '4'.
This should disable the driver that I think is causing your problem.

The main issue with this driver is to do with servers, and after seeing one of your errors relating to a server I would hope this will fix your PC.

Let me know how you get on.

Regards

Martin

A littel more info
 

Let me go through how I understand where we are - just so I'm clear on it.

The intel update did install - then froze my computer - which I then was able to do a System Restore through safe mode and go back to before the update was installed.
Does this mean that even if I restored the computer to before the update - that
it still was there? Not clear on that.

I have several times been able to do a System Restore thru safe mode, as every time I try to re-boot, I get this loop thing going - except for this last time, when it successfully went through (hours and hours) check disk. I have not dared to re-boot my machine since then - for fear that I'll get the same error and have to go thru the System restore again and again.

I have backed up my machine (thank God that is one lesson I learned the hard way - do it every week)

I have to do some work on the computer (I free lance doing websites - and my client will begin to wonder at me if I don't get something done - after being pretty much disabled all last week. So, I will wait til you can reply to this message just to make sure we're on the same page, and then late this afternoon, I will try to re-boot. I will check back til then, and then get back here somehow (via laptop) if the machine quits completely.

Thanks again for your patience and help - I appreciate it so much!

Trish

Ok, ignore the system restore. Go to Add\Remove programs in your control panel and check the box at the top to show your updates and uninstall the intel update.

As I mentioned in my previous post, people running server 2003 have had the same problem as you with the re-boot and it concerns that particular driver. After disabling it they no longer had the same problem.

If you can't remove it refer to my previous suggestion and change the start value.

Regards

Martin

Martin,
Thanks again! I'm about to bite the bullet and try re-booting after I uninstall the update.
I'll be back soon as I can and let you know if that works, or if I had to move on to plan B.

Onward and upward...

Trish

Could it be fixed?
 

Hey Martin,
I did go to the Add/Remove programs and checked that box (which I had never noticed before - thank you for that tip) and scrolled down to the updates - and the two that were the start of all this were not there.
So....thinking that if they weren't there, then there was no reason to move on to plan B - so I just re-booted the machine - and it re-booted like it had up to last Tuesday.....do you suppose that 5+ hours doing the scan disk actually repaired whatever was causing it to freak out? That was the longest it has ever taken to do that.
At any rate - the machine appears to be working just fine now. Course, I said that last week too - but at least I know it has re-booted without incident.

Thank you so much Martin, for taking all the time you did to try and troubleshoot the problem I was having. I truly appreciate it - and hope that some day I'll have learned enough to be able to give back.

Trish

Hello Trish, glad to hear you can carry on working. I thought the update might of made a mess of your system, the system restore you had already done may have removed the update ( officially! ).

After altering the start value in your registry I was going to suggest using a registry cleaner, next time you run a disk check have a look at the comments after each stage and it will tell you if it fixed any errors and how many it fixed.

It's up to you if you want to try a registry cleaner considering that so far everything is working again, but I will give you a word of warning, if you do use one don't always just clean everything that it has found as sometimes there can be another explanation as to why the registry cleaner has flagged an entry. Inexperience could lead you to deleting something that you need.

However it does also tidy up your registry and make you PC run that little bit more smoothly especially after a failed installation. If you decide to try one you can just use a trial version that won't let you delete everything but it will show you all of the obsolete entries and help you in making a decision on wether you should use a cleaner or not.
And you could always get back to us at Syschat for some more friendly advise!

Finally, make sure you are running a Defrag at least once a week, and a Disk Check at least once a month to keep on top of your PC.

Regards

Martin

P.S. I've just started to learn some .asp for web design, can't get some code to work. Do you know anything about IIS.7.0 and 'Select Case'? It doesn't want to work!

A question....
 

Hey Martin,
Wanted to get back to you - gives me another chance to thank you - you have no idea how good it was to have a 'virtual friend' out here when my computer totally freaked out.
If I did want to try out a registry (scary word) cleaner - is there one you might suggest that would be good to try - there are certainly a ton of programs out there claiming to do so. And yup, I am a total novice when it comes to that.
Any suggestions you could make would be appreciated. I also completely understand if you don't care to do that.

I do run defrag and disk check every week - just to keep things shipshape. This oddball thing came up in between doing both, as it was a Tuesday - and I normally do all that stuff on the weekend.

As for "asp" for web design - I am sorry I can't help you with that. I don't use that - just stick to straight html & css - and even in that, I write my own code - the 'helper' programs take away the control, and I don't like that. My way may be slower, but I know what each little thing I do will create.

Thanks again,
Trish

Try this one: Eusing Free Registry Cleaner: Safely scan and repair registry problems - Spyware FREE..

It's free and has plenty of good reviews and awards from several reputable sites. If you use it and need any help, print the screen and post it and I'll advise you on its' use.
I've used these before and it deleted some photos that I didn' want deleting, so if the scan comes up with any image files etc. then check the location and the file before fixing the problem.

Don't worry too much though as nearly all of these programs come with a restore option.

Regards

Martin

Thanks much, Martin - I will go try that out.

Trish