Windows XP Crash - How To Fix A Serious Crash

[jonocainuk]

R&I is good if you wanna use SP1 slipstream cd for first time lol... then its easier to repair

 

[gonaads]

I myself think System Restore is great for us tweakers and ppl that like to tweak stuff, install proggies and test stuff. If XP becomes unstable or just plain weird, then ya just fire up "The Way Back Machine" and poof... It never happened.

 

[jonocainuk]

me pc was goin crazy a while back, system restore did the business, and its runnin perfect now

changed me NIC card today an its runnin even better

Edited for content by PseudoKiller

Edited again for content by jonocainuk

 

[cheezzzz]

It takes me 4 minutes to install a full operational OS with all the whistles and updates......from my drive image!! All I have to do is do a defrag and voila....in business again.

Shaka

 

[kensiko]

"It takes me 4 minutes to install a full operational OS with all the whistles and updates......from my drive image!! All I have to do is do a defrag and voila....in business again.

Shaka"

I think this method is the best one. Even if the system restore seems to work well, I had bad experiences with it on Win ME. I was so frustrated, when I had to erase for example 600 Mb, I had to wait at least 10 minutes before it could finish ! That's because I had 2 hard drives and the first was used to store the system restore directory. Maybe it's not the same in WinXP, but when I installed it the first time and saw the System restore could be disabled, I did it as fast as I could. I hate wasting the power of the computer to save what I don't want to be saved. And with that I can have a partition used at 99% (but not the one with the OS).

That's my point.

 

[Dublex]

Drive image is good if you have the space to spare (and nowerdays with 40GB drives most people do) or you have found a more or less "essential core driver" setup that you can roll back to evey now and again when you want that fresh feeling.

R&I is good when you want to make sure everything is fresh as said before.

System restore if you install alot of detonator drivers, tweak the system to pieces all the time or generally want to roll back in the "oops, I just deleted 6 essential system files and it won't load the OS" moments - from a command prompt of course.

 

[PseudoKiller]

I think some ppl may be missing the point here. I posted this as a way to recover your system in the event of a serious crash. It is one way to recover from it, a tool to file away and save for that very special time when it might be useful.
This is NOT a post about this being the only way to resolve this type of event. Use it if you want or not. It is up to you. Enjoy.

 

[Dublex]

I know, pseduo, but that is how the discussion developed Your inital post is very good and it is useful to refresh your memory of how you can save your system when it crashes or you want to make a fresh start.

It is only one method of saving the system however so the conversation naturally moved to looking at the other methods

 

[PseudoKiller]

Posted by Dublex
I know, pseduo, but that is how the discussion developed Your inital post is very good and it is useful to refresh your memory of how you can save your system when it crashes or you want to make a fresh start.

It is only one method of saving the system however so the conversation naturally moved to looking at the other methods

WHo the hell is 'pseduo' I never heard of that user. Nothing in the members db either...

 

[Dublex]

Whoops (officially invokes a whoops, there was a typo in the name statement)

 

[beatlesdb]

Hey guys - the easiest way to correct a bad crash and other HD related issues with windows xp is to use CHKDSK (check disk).

Start the computer in command console, at the prompt type:
chkdsk /f /r
/f Fix Errors
/r locate bad sectors

give this a try - has saved me lots of times

 

[segamil]

My XP home installation has only crashed a handful of times in the last 6 months but always with this error... PFN_List_Corrupted. It works fine for the most part but occiasionally I'll hit a few too many keys and bingo... Blue screen. Thankfully, it hasn't happened often. But I would like to know what that PFN list is all about.

 

[dantheman]

Cheers M8 very usefull indeed.!! One of the best posts ever Thanks

 

[edsbar60]

I've found several ways to recover from a crash. The easiest is using the repair utility and typing: chkdsk /r (/f, if you need it).

Another way is explained here if your registry is corrupt:repair corrupt registry in Xp if it prevents you from booting

System Restore is another if you can get into Safe Mode.

My favorite is just restoring an image using Partition Drive Image or Ghost.

And Lastly, a fresh format and re-install of all programs, which sucks if you have dialup because the updates take forever.

 

[Goldy]

There is also the Repair Install option from the Bootable XP CD this will try to keep all your games and apps working, I have never tried it but I have a freind who PC mad and he uses it quite a lot on his Kids PC and says it works quite well.

 

[dick471]

Restoring XP

The above method is fine if your comfortable with "Recovery Console"? I just keep a spare hard drive (like a old 10GB) on the shelf of "C" drive for emergencies. Drive Image 2002 takes 15 minutes to replace the existing "C" drive from this backup. Of cource you must keep this backup up to date after a few changes. The trick here is to keep you "C" partition small (6-8GB's) and put programs/data on a "D" partition. Any problems in XP will only be screwed up in "C". This is just my method since I don't like command prompts, and never ran DOS. LOL

 

[2z]

Re: Restoring XP

Originally posted by dick471
The above method is fine if your comfortable with "Recovery Console"?

the above method (posted by Goldy)

was a repair install (not quite the same as recovry console)

I've used this method a few times the only detrimental effect I've come across; is I needed to reinstall Diskeeper. (no biggie )

Boot from the CD
*Important* ignore recovery console

Press Enter - to enter setup
F8 - I agree
R - repair

you'll need your CD key

 

[Jahya]

XP Crashes!?

 

[Sux]

I'm a fan of the restore image technic .I've done enough reinstalls and tweaks to know just now I like XP set up all the apps like burner software ,winzip,movie players,Acrobat reader,etc go on "C" drive then Norton ghost that with minimal compression on to 3 CD's."D" drive has games and apps that I could live without
on it, which (after a "C" drive image dump) I back the save and config files to "E" drive,format "D" then reinstal them (good way to clean up the registry of all those uninstalled games and tryout apps and demo's."E" drive has a religiously kept collection of installers,patches ,saves,nocd's,CD burner images(fastest way to reinstall a game or program is use a vertual drive and a disc image),movies ,mp3's,anything unconnected to the Windows registry."C" drive only needs to be around 5 gig,"D" drive now ever big to hold your LAN favourite games ,current favourites and
other sometimes used apps and "E" drive would be your biggest
(mines got 30 gig on it and climbing)harddrives a cheap these days so keep all those CD backups on there,even put your "C" drive ghost image (uncompressed )on there for a really fast reinstall.

 

[Grandmaster]

Originally posted by Jahya
XP Crashes!?

Apparently...

I personally have not once seen a blue screen using XP...and that has been all of last year!