Windows Registry

[gas path]

Windows 98se running on a p111 600 512mb and 13gb hd and ie 6.0

Recent problem of switch on comp. it boots up as normal to the desktop and then the pop up window arrives and states that
" windows encountered a problem accessing the registry and will now install a recent backup"...... or words to that effect!!
Pc goes thro the normal restart and gives a screen of a fixed file and everything is ok.
Now...... If I switch off comp and switch on again no probs at all even if left off for a few hours, it only seem to occur first thing in the morning Any ideas or is it just getting senile?

[BlueEagle]

Well I would make a good dective cry but I would guess it may be connected to the computer clock or a function of that clock, or a scheduled task that is timed to take place sometime between your normal evening shut down and normal morning start.

[gas path]

Blue

Thanks for that but the only scheduled task is a virus scan once a week (on a Friday!) and a 14day av update.
The clock appears to keep good time and it doesn't seem to matter if the thing is shut down before or after midnight.

[timmcat]

Just a thought, but the first boot of the day creates the registry back up in 98SE. Could it be this process is corrupted somehow? Sorry, I'm not a techie (just someone who knows a little bit - how dangerous is that?!) - perhaps someone else would like to comment.

[gas path]

Hi!
I thought that the backup was made on shutdown.
Strangely I shut the 'puter down this am and switched it back on (twice!!) later! No problemo! BUT as sure as eggs is eggs tomorrow morning it will detect a registry fault and rebuild it.

[RadarContact]

Honestly, how much does this phenomenon interfere with your normal usage of the machine? Not too much? Then don't touch it!

Update:

Check here for possible solutions.

[ck4707]

Be very careful messing about in the registary - you could create a major problem!

However there is a windows app which will check it for you. Click on start, then run and type scanreg.exe

It should report any errors and try(!!) to fix them.

Hope this helps

[gas path]

Hi
Radar Contact..... No it doesn't bother me that much, it's just slightly irritating, and trying to understand why it should suddenly decide to play up!
I'll have a rummage around in annoyances.org!
ck4707...... Did that last night. The pc had been running fine all afternoon/evening, tried scanreg and windows straight away threw a wobbly and said it 'couldn't access the registry' and promptly rebuilt it
TCS ..... Yep! done all them and plenty of HD spaceleft as I regularly remove unwanted junk.
Memory is fine, and reported as such.

Thanks again folks
gp

[Mac the Knife]

Maybe your registry files are on some marginal disc sectors. You can move them to another part of the disc. Boot with the Startup disc. Copy user.dat and system.dat (and policy.pol if it exists on your system) to backups, then rename the originals to something and finally rename the copies to the correct .dat extensions. Finally, set the hidden attribute.

You could put a batch file on your Startup disk to do all the work for you, like this.
[I haven't tested it, so use is up to you]

rem REGSWAP.BAT
cls
c:
cd\
cd windows
rem Copy the existing user.dat and system.dat files to backups
if exist user.bak goto error
if exist system.bak goto error
copy user.dat user.bak
copy system.dat system.bak
rem check that the backups exist and then rename the orginals to an arbitrary name
if exist user.bak rename user.dat userb.zzz
if exist system.bak rename system.dat systemb.zzz
rem Now rename the .bak copies to .dat
rename user.bak user.dat
rename system.bak system.dat
rem Set the hidden attribute
attrib +H user.dat
attrib +H system.dat
rem rename the arbitrary files to a sensible name
rename userb.zzz user.bak
rename systemb.zzz system.bak
goto end
:error
echo Cannot proceed. Either SYSTEM.BAK or USER.BAK already exist.
echo.
pause
:end

[gas path]

TCS
I pulled all the memory 125mb (x2) and 256mb (x1) and tried them one at a time each time it all functioned correctly, with windows reporting as such.
Mac
I'll print that lot out and try it when I feel brave.
As the PC is getting a bit long in the tooth I might just live with it and build me a new one.

many thanks everyone gp

[TR4A]

Most of threads I have seen on this say it is a memory problem.

See this thread

[stickyb]

I have seen this problem before, and it wasn't memory.
The registry is a very complex collection of data, which can easily end up with a glitch or 2. Unfortunately, the default Windows 98 action, on finding a glitch, is to go back to the previous backup of the registry. If that also contained the problem or corruption, then you will continue doing this course of action every switch on.

The only way to sort it out is to manually fix the problem with the registry.

There are plenty of references in the previous posting to articles on using the registry tools, so start by using scanregw /scanonly .

If that identifies a problen, then carry on and use scanreg /fix

You might also try regclean

Having fixed the problem, make sure you do a backup by running scanreg /backup

These tools are inherently safe and easy to use, and should not cause any problems used in this manner.

The health warnings all apply to using regedit, which is much more dangerous and can really screw your system if used incorrectly.

[gas path]

TCS I don't know and I can't see any reference on it without a major dissassemble! The PC is a Gateway.
But!! All seems well at the moment 8 shutdowns and restarts all appears fine. (including one Hot stop with the main power switch, just for the hell of it
The problem might have been a BT adsl modem I had to return due to a problem with the length of the phone cable from the master socket (30+m). I uninstalled it ok but I also had a monitored installation Backup (.bta file from mcafee) and I think thats when the problems started. I used the mcafee uninstaller prog. and the registry entry and the restore ~ LOG files are now in the recycle bin.
Next Q is can they be safely deleted now or can windows get access to the bin during boot up?

[PPRuNe Pop]

Registry is, without doubt, a dangerous place to play, and I would suggest that you go MS and download REGCLEAN. It is designed to fix problems with registry. It works well and will more than likely clear the problem.

[gas path]

Well! still stable. It must have been that BB modem installation.
So thanks again for all your help.
I might risk an upgrade to XP next.