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aarrgghh - winxp follies

Z

zigzag03

Senior member
so i was stupid, and i tried using some older cd burning software on my new winxp home setup. i can't recover from it using any of the advanced startup options such as last good configuration, won't even start in safe mode. hangs on a sysfile called viadisk.sys. soooo i boot off the cd, choose the repair option, and it asks for the admin password. here's my first question. was i forced to do a password at install?, because i typically don't use them in my home setups. on the chance that i was, i've tried all the likely suspects, but none are accepted. have tried entering without responding, kicks me out to dos. tried "none" just for laughs, nope.
so then i have the idea i'll just reinstall from scratch over what i have here, here's the second question. if i install again do i, will i, or indeed can i do so without reactivating?
will be eternally grateful for input on either of these and thanks to all for this great forum
 
It sounds like possibly, you weren't really kicked out to DOS, but maybe had selected the "start in safemode with DOS prompt" choice on the boot mode screen.
Make sure you select "Safe Mode"

I installed with no Admin Password (just the password part blank when XP install asked me for my name and admin password.) When I boot in safe mode, I hit enter (with no other input from me) and it gets me there fine.

note: If the repair option didn't work, you are going to need to re-install (clean). If/when you do, make sure to tell XP to delete the partion it finds the OS on when you are installing from the CD. Then tell it to make a partition, then install to that partition. When it asks about formating, I suggest NTFS (not the quick version)
 
thanks for the response, insid... we're not quite on the same page tho. i am talking about booting from the cd, which then gives you the option of installing or repairing. if you chose repair ("using the repair console", which i have yet to see what this is or how it works), it checks the installation, puts up on the screen (a dos screen) the installations it finds; in my case only one: c:/windows. you select it by entering the number (1, in my case) it then asks for the admin password. i'm pretty sure i didn't set one at install, as i usually don't. if i leave the question blank and hit enter, it just goes to the c prompt. no "repair console" ever appears, it's all done. if i try assorted possible passwords, it gives me 3 shots and then blows me off and reboots.

if i try booting off the hard drive, i get bsod with stop msgs mostly full of numbers, but sometimes it gives me the file viadisk.sys as a possible culprit. it doesn't matter if i chose normal, safe, safe with network, safe with dos prompt, or last known good config, they all end in bsod.

any further thoughts? thanks again
 
ouch, that doesn't sound good.

I thinkyou are going to have to do the re-install thingy. (unless someone else has an idea........ I'm stumped)

Make sure to delect and re-create your partition. then full format.


Sorry to hear its giving you so much grief.
 
hi,
on win2k the repair console IS actually the fact that you can use the "old" DOS commands. This why you get the c:/> prompt .....
i DO believe it is the same thing under winXP.
In your situation, i'd delete the viadisk.sys file and see what happens .....

Didn't you try the repair install option ? it basically replaces all system files with the older version on the install CD. (once again this is under win2k but i DO believe it exists under winXP)
 
insidious: thanks for your input and i'll be sure and get the partition thing right if i have to reinstall. i would not have known it was an issue. i am still unclear as to whether i will have to re-authorize the install with microsoft, and how they will know i'm reinstalling, not just using it on another machine...

farfrael, so if i get what you're saying, if i use the repair option after booting from the cd, and i choose the only installation there is, and when it askes for a password, just hit enter, and i end up at the dos prompt. what should happen next? or is there something somewhere i havn't read telling me what to do next. a dos command? your input is surely appreciated.
 
all i am saying refers to win2k but i do believe there are some similarities with winXP.

when you boot using the install CD with win2k you have 2 options :

A) repair your current installation using either
1) some infos stored on a floppy disk
2) an automated repair which replaces your current system files with the ones on the CD (more or less)

B) repair your current installation using the repair consol which is basically nothing more than a DOS prompt


if you use option B) i suggest that you delete/ rename the file causing problems (viadisk.sys ) using standard DOs commands (just type HELP and you'll have the list of available commands).
You have to know that by deleting / renaming that file your system might become completely unstable ......i DID warn you.

hope i am clear enough.
 
quite clear and thank you. indeed win2k may be a little different, but i'm willing to try your suggestopm amd will rename the offending file from that dos prompt and see what happens. as for a "console" tho i guess i don't really see how it's acutated. nothing has come up offereing to replace all the system files. thanks again, i'm off to try!
 
***** edited due to bad advise******** 😕

check out what mikecel79 has to say below............ I think your windows is fine..... it is probably a VIA driver which is hoz0red up

Try what he is suggesting. (rename the file and re-install any VIA drivers you normally run)
 
quite clear and thank you. indeed win2k may be a little different, but i'm willing to try your suggestopm amd will rename the offending file from that dos prompt and see what happens. as for a "console" tho i guess i don't really see how it's acutated. nothing has come up offereing to replace all the system files. thanks again, i'm off to try!
Click to expand...

First it's not called a DOS prompt anymore. It's a command prompt. The recovery console IS the command prompt. It allows you to go in and delete or rename or copy the corrupted file from another source like the CD. You need to rename the (viadisk.sys) and then go into Safe Mode and uninstall the software. Doing a repair of Windows will most likely not fix the problem because the viasdisk.sys file will still be there.

Also why so worried about re activiating the software? If your putting it on the same computer you won't have any problems at all. You probably won't even have to call Microsoft.
 
You need to rename the (viadisk.sys) and then go into Safe Mode and uninstall the software
Click to expand...

I looked on my system and viadisk.sys doesn't seem to exist. Are you sure it is a WindowsXP file? If not then the above is some very good advise.
 
I didn't find any referencse to Viadisk.sys in Google but I did find viadsk.sys which looks like it could be a IDE driver for a Via board.
 
thanks gentlemen, i am in your dept as usual for your input. i've been out of town and away from my computer for a week, and am just coming back to this problem.

when this problem first occured, i was able to get started in safe mode and uninstall the offending cd-writer software. since then, i am unable to start in any mode, including "command prompt" mode. ( mike i'm afraid to many of us over 50, c:\ will always be a dos prompt, and folders will be directories, etc...) in any case, the file in question is indeed viadsk.sys, and i have renamed it but i changes nothing. btw, the stop error that refers to this file doesn't happen all the time, many times i get stop errors with no file names, just memory locations that mean little to me in terms of troubleshooting.

and as to my concern about reinstalling, if i take insidious' advice about deleteing and repartitioning the original installation location, then how would xp or microsoft know that i was reinstalling as opposed to doing a second install on another machine?

thanks again, i think i'll just get on with this and reinstall and deal with whatever comes up with it. any further thought will of course be appreciated. mark
 
Originally posted by: zigzag03
thanks for the response, insid... we're not quite on the same page tho. i am talking about booting from the cd, which then gives you the option of installing or repairing. if you chose repair ("using the repair console", which i have yet to see what this is or how it works), it checks the installation, puts up on the screen (a dos screen) the installations it finds; in my case only one: c:/windows. you select it by entering the number (1, in my case) it then asks for the admin password. i'm pretty sure i didn't set one at install, as i usually don't. if i leave the question blank and hit enter, it just goes to the c prompt. no "repair console" ever appears, it's all done. if i try assorted possible passwords, it gives me 3 shots and then blows me off and reboots.

any further thoughts? thanks again
Click to expand...

Actually, that C: prompt *IS* the recovery console. It's like a DOS prompt, but a bit more limited, I'm afraid. It appears that you do have a blank admin password. If you didn't, like you said, three tries and you get rebooted, unable to access the recovery console.

Edit: n/m, seems someone already pointed that out. Sorry to bump this thread.



 
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