Looking for some assistance with a host of issues if possible please.
This is related to my operating system. The issues i have are as follows...
When I start the OS Windows XP Professional SP3 and whilst using it, is has now developed at least 4 distinct problems (happened 1 at a time really although all in the past 2 or 3 months)
1.) On startup my whole task bar freezes or is inaccessible for up to 20 minutes on some occasions (more like 10 now) - Task manager is also inaccessible during this time - But files and folders can still be accessed through the desktop (although even they crash too sometimes or explorer does)
2.) Windows will not recognise FAT32 as a file system!!! - This has just happened in the past week and it just says the drives need formatting. I have tried this with 3 separate drives including an M2 memory card all connected through USB so it's definately not the storage devices. They all work fine when i try through another OS too on the same computer.
3.) My Audio device is not recognised by windows or integrated into windows volume control even after reinstalling drivers although it still works through the custom software that came with the sound card and certain applications such as wmplayer but wont work in any of my browsers! - I've checked for yellow question and exclimation marks in device manager and asked it to scan for hardware changes also, but to no avail.
4.) I have error messages come up on start up saying cannot load certain dll files one of which has no record WHATSOEVER on google!
What i've already tried and believe......
As for the initial cause i attempted to image a 1TB external drive on to a 2TB internal drive on a different partition to the OS but the same HDD (it created the other partition on empty space as it restored) using macrium reflect. This twice failed and corrupted the OS! - The 1st time i managed to fix it by resetting the master boot record via the recovery console, the 2nd time it was unrepairable, so i restored from a recent image - The recent image was however after the 1st more minor corruption but I guess further corruption could have occured which wasn't obvious as 1st when i restored the OS from the image backup or from the initial corruption. However, i believe the freezing task bar problem was occuring before the first OS corruption and windows didn't start failing to recognise FAT32 until a number of days after the latest restore.
Another possible cause is a virus, or more specifically the damage left behind by a vrius i got rid of. I believe the task bar problem started around the same time as i got a particularly nasty virus. However having used spyware scanners from Adaware to Malwarebytes to Spybot search and destroy and Avast, any viruses or other malware they found were removed and anything they caused stopped, yet the task bar problem continued. I suspected this was an Hardware issue at one point too as when i switched off an external HDD connected whilst it was frozen, it suddenly unfroze again. But it then started doing it when no Ext HDD's were connected. I've also run Comodo registry cleaner and another registry cleaning program and stopped a few processes running on startup including 1 I was getting pop up errors about, but the other problems still remain. However the freezing task bar on startup problem seems slightly improved now but is still there. I was under the impression these registry error fixing programs would correct corruptions with the OS and dll files etc seen as they claim to "fix windows errors" but it seems they mean something different.
My latest line of thought is that certain dll files need replacing with fresh ones but i have no idea which. I'm also on a different XP home installation on another HDD i'm using temporarily and i don't have any of these issues which would suggest it's not hardware based. The other hard drive with XP Pro is new aswell so doubt that is at fault, plus I would have thought it would have more general problems, not such specific ones - The old HDD i'm temporarily on now is dying and is many years old yet i still dont have these problems. I'm considering also checking for and then trying to correrct if found, errors on the XP Pro OS using the recovery console but i can only find an XP HOME installation cd from 2002, so not sure if using that to correct and detect XP PRO SP3 errors is a good idea?
Finally reinstalling the OS is OUT OF THE QUESTION! - I've known all along i could fix this by reinstalling, but as far as i am concerned that is not a solution it is giving up. IT would take weeks to get back to the previous state in terms of programs, drivers, settings aswell as files and settings integrated into a programs installation (such as browser tabs, and bookmarks in chrome) etc etc. I have had to do this about once every 18 months on average for 1 reason or another for the best part of a decade and am SICK TO THE BACK TEETH OF IT! - It is not a sustainable way to carry on that i am prepared to live with in the "long term" - The whole reason i started imaging a 1TB ext HDD onto the 2TB internal in the 1st place was all part of a plan to bring order to the chaos caused in terms of files organisation etc caused by having to reinstall so many times over the years. The 1TB external HDD was in it's self a collection of files from other hard drives, many dying, that i've used over the years which in it's self took weeks to collate all into 1 place. Whenever i try to move forward and sort things out and try to take as many prudent steps to avoid these situations from developing, the more i get knocked back though and the more it causes them to happen!. Constantly feel like the chicken and the egg. I'd only be prepared to reinstall again if upgrading to fully new OS, but i'm not ready to upgrade to Windows or linux yet either as 1 of a number of reasons is that i have over 50 programs mainly for XP i rely on and it'll open a whole new can of worms when i have to find new versions for newer OS's +
Microsoft seems to keep messing about also bringing a new OS out every 5 minutes, so just as soon as you think one has been around long enough to upgrade to for the long run, you then think you should wait till the next one! - I hope they stop messing about after windows 8 and just stick with it for the long run like they did with XP instead of leaving people in a permanent state of limbo. But anyway sorry for the rant, but i am determined to fix this OS and i need a way of fixing problems like this in the long term anyway, so...
I still have a couple of ideas up my sleeve, but the more heads the better
. Is there any other software that could detect and correct these corruption issues. If thats what they are. Or even hardware problem detection programs (all free only plz) - Or other software or solutions/advice/ general ideas anyone has?
Thanks!
This is related to my operating system. The issues i have are as follows...
When I start the OS Windows XP Professional SP3 and whilst using it, is has now developed at least 4 distinct problems (happened 1 at a time really although all in the past 2 or 3 months)
1.) On startup my whole task bar freezes or is inaccessible for up to 20 minutes on some occasions (more like 10 now) - Task manager is also inaccessible during this time - But files and folders can still be accessed through the desktop (although even they crash too sometimes or explorer does)
2.) Windows will not recognise FAT32 as a file system!!! - This has just happened in the past week and it just says the drives need formatting. I have tried this with 3 separate drives including an M2 memory card all connected through USB so it's definately not the storage devices. They all work fine when i try through another OS too on the same computer.
3.) My Audio device is not recognised by windows or integrated into windows volume control even after reinstalling drivers although it still works through the custom software that came with the sound card and certain applications such as wmplayer but wont work in any of my browsers! - I've checked for yellow question and exclimation marks in device manager and asked it to scan for hardware changes also, but to no avail.
4.) I have error messages come up on start up saying cannot load certain dll files one of which has no record WHATSOEVER on google!
What i've already tried and believe......
As for the initial cause i attempted to image a 1TB external drive on to a 2TB internal drive on a different partition to the OS but the same HDD (it created the other partition on empty space as it restored) using macrium reflect. This twice failed and corrupted the OS! - The 1st time i managed to fix it by resetting the master boot record via the recovery console, the 2nd time it was unrepairable, so i restored from a recent image - The recent image was however after the 1st more minor corruption but I guess further corruption could have occured which wasn't obvious as 1st when i restored the OS from the image backup or from the initial corruption. However, i believe the freezing task bar problem was occuring before the first OS corruption and windows didn't start failing to recognise FAT32 until a number of days after the latest restore.
Another possible cause is a virus, or more specifically the damage left behind by a vrius i got rid of. I believe the task bar problem started around the same time as i got a particularly nasty virus. However having used spyware scanners from Adaware to Malwarebytes to Spybot search and destroy and Avast, any viruses or other malware they found were removed and anything they caused stopped, yet the task bar problem continued. I suspected this was an Hardware issue at one point too as when i switched off an external HDD connected whilst it was frozen, it suddenly unfroze again. But it then started doing it when no Ext HDD's were connected. I've also run Comodo registry cleaner and another registry cleaning program and stopped a few processes running on startup including 1 I was getting pop up errors about, but the other problems still remain. However the freezing task bar on startup problem seems slightly improved now but is still there. I was under the impression these registry error fixing programs would correct corruptions with the OS and dll files etc seen as they claim to "fix windows errors" but it seems they mean something different.
My latest line of thought is that certain dll files need replacing with fresh ones but i have no idea which. I'm also on a different XP home installation on another HDD i'm using temporarily and i don't have any of these issues which would suggest it's not hardware based. The other hard drive with XP Pro is new aswell so doubt that is at fault, plus I would have thought it would have more general problems, not such specific ones - The old HDD i'm temporarily on now is dying and is many years old yet i still dont have these problems. I'm considering also checking for and then trying to correrct if found, errors on the XP Pro OS using the recovery console but i can only find an XP HOME installation cd from 2002, so not sure if using that to correct and detect XP PRO SP3 errors is a good idea?
Finally reinstalling the OS is OUT OF THE QUESTION! - I've known all along i could fix this by reinstalling, but as far as i am concerned that is not a solution it is giving up. IT would take weeks to get back to the previous state in terms of programs, drivers, settings aswell as files and settings integrated into a programs installation (such as browser tabs, and bookmarks in chrome) etc etc. I have had to do this about once every 18 months on average for 1 reason or another for the best part of a decade and am SICK TO THE BACK TEETH OF IT! - It is not a sustainable way to carry on that i am prepared to live with in the "long term" - The whole reason i started imaging a 1TB ext HDD onto the 2TB internal in the 1st place was all part of a plan to bring order to the chaos caused in terms of files organisation etc caused by having to reinstall so many times over the years. The 1TB external HDD was in it's self a collection of files from other hard drives, many dying, that i've used over the years which in it's self took weeks to collate all into 1 place. Whenever i try to move forward and sort things out and try to take as many prudent steps to avoid these situations from developing, the more i get knocked back though and the more it causes them to happen!. Constantly feel like the chicken and the egg. I'd only be prepared to reinstall again if upgrading to fully new OS, but i'm not ready to upgrade to Windows or linux yet either as 1 of a number of reasons is that i have over 50 programs mainly for XP i rely on and it'll open a whole new can of worms when i have to find new versions for newer OS's +
Microsoft seems to keep messing about also bringing a new OS out every 5 minutes, so just as soon as you think one has been around long enough to upgrade to for the long run, you then think you should wait till the next one! - I hope they stop messing about after windows 8 and just stick with it for the long run like they did with XP instead of leaving people in a permanent state of limbo. But anyway sorry for the rant, but i am determined to fix this OS and i need a way of fixing problems like this in the long term anyway, so...
I still have a couple of ideas up my sleeve, but the more heads the better
. Is there any other software that could detect and correct these corruption issues. If thats what they are. Or even hardware problem detection programs (all free only plz) - Or other software or solutions/advice/ general ideas anyone has?Thanks!
