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From: Jose on 6 Jun 2010 19:00
On Jun 5, 4:57 pm, dlevy <dl...(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm hoping some experts are on the discussion group here because I am
> getting close to a dead end.  I am trying to help a friend restore his
> Windows XP installation.  It's a real doozie.  He has a very expensive CAD
> program on it and wants to avoid at all costs wiping the hard drive clean and
> losing the program -- for which he has no installation software...  (I know,
> that was a dumb thing to lose the installation software, but it's been my
> experience that it's all too common among the non-geek population...)
>
> --This is a Dell laptop, but there is no recovery partition on the hard
> drive, as far as I can tell.  My friend said the OS was re-installed on it a
> while back by a non-Dell technician.  The disk info says 'volume created
> 3/25/09', so that sounds like it's what happened.  It's a Dell Inspiron 6400
> laptop, running Windows XP Pro, Spanish language version, purchased in
> Argentina.
> --The computer will not boot normally, nor to safe mode.  In either mode, it
> generates two pop-ups, both of which say:  "The application failed to
> initialize properly (0xc0000006). Click on OK to terminate the application"
> (the equivalent of that, in Spanish).  After clicking 'okay', the Windows
> desktop appears but there are no icons or taskbar.  The only thing I can do
> is pull up the task manager, which shows about a dozen processes running.  
> Needless to say, explorer.exe is not one of them...
> --I ran a short Dell diagnostics program before the BIOS POST.  It threw up
> a "DST Short Status Test fail, error code 1000-0146" (DST=drive self test).  
> But I think that's a red herring.  I've read that the msg only means that the
> log files shows an event.
> --I ran CHKDSK using my own copy of the Win XP installation CD.  It found an
> error on the first check, then found no errors on the next two checks.  So,
> as far as I can tell, the hard drive is not failing.
>
> I have looked over this article
> "How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
> starting"http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
>
> This seems like the direction I want to head in.  But my questions are:
>
> --Given the symptoms, would it make sense that the problem might be a
> corrupted Windows registry?
> --The MS support article says off-handedly, "This registry [that you are
> restoring] was created and saved during the initial setup of Windows XP.
> Therefore any changes and settings that occurred after the Setup program was
> finished are lost."  Well, that's a BIG problem.  The whole point is to save
> my friend's CAD program.  If I am rolling back the system to the day it came
> off the factory floor, then I might as well re-install the OS.  Is there a
> way to just roll back the system to a restore point, say a month or two ago?
>
> Thanks in advance to thoughtful and well-informed replies.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> David Levy
> Washington, DC

Malicious software likes to trick you into thinking you need to
reinstall XP by making the simplest things not work - like no desktop,
unable to login, Safe Mode, System Restore, google.com, Task Manger,
regedit, cmd, etc. It is just trying to annoy you by breaking little
things.

You need to get your desktop working first, then you can resolve your
potential malware issue. I would also recommend to stop trying things
that might work maybe. You need to be fixing things. KB307545 is NOT
a good idea for your symptoms (or any symptoms).

From your background image, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and open Task Manager.

Look at the Processes tab and if the explorer.exe process is not
running, launch it.

Click File, New Task and in the box enter:

%windir%\explorer.exe

Click OK and see if you get your desktop back.

If explorer.exe is already running, it is likely the object of the
affliction and may need to be replaced (not hard).

It explorer.exe is already running, End the Process anyway and launch
a new one as indicated above.

If you are able to then get on the Internet, do this:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

Report back your situation after these steps.
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