System Restore won't since Software Distribution Service

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chigongman
  • Start date Start date
C

Chigongman

I have a mission-critical business system at stake here!

I encountered a system crash a few days ago that caused my system to reboot
and apparently resulted in major corruption of the registry. I can still
operate but it intermittently fails to populate the main program groups
(Start menu, Programs, Add/Remove, etc). And it's getting worse.

I need to do a System Restore from a prior date. Checkpoints are there.

HOWEVER:

System Restore is telling me it "CANNOT RESTORE" the system when I try to
restore from a checkpoint date that's prior to the date when Software
Distribution Service 3.0 showed up (which happens to have been two hours
after the system crash that I need to pre-date -- I let Automatic Updates do
the update without realizing I had corruption and certainly without realizing
that the update would prevent accessing restore points)!

According to some posts I'd found on the web, this is exactly what others
have encountered as well: System Restore won't allow a restore from a
checkpoint date that's prior to the date Software Distribution Service 3.0
was installed.

And I have yet to find anyone who has found a way to uninstall Software
Distribution Service 3.0 (or find any other way for the System Restore to
occur).

Before I tried to do the System Restore, I called MS tech support to be
prudent after the posts I'd seen that said it might not work. I got them to
move me up to a level 2 tech, who said I didn't need to uninstall Software
Distribution Service 3.0 before doing a System Restore. He insisted that
Software Distribution Service 3.0 would not interfere with my doing a System
Restore from a prior date.

Well, "something" is interfering!

It's either Software Distribution Service 3.0, or perhaps the crash itself.

What do I do now?

Is it possible that my just copying the "registry" file(s) from a recent
backup will do the same thing as the System Restore would have done? If so,
what exactly would I do?

Thanks.
 
Hit F8 at boot until you see a new screen. Pick the option that says
something like "use last good boot" and see if that fixes it.

Frank


"Chigongman" <Chigongman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9146ED6B-7421-4571-ADA3-0A381644A69D@microsoft.com...
>I have a mission-critical business system at stake here!
>
> I encountered a system crash a few days ago that caused my system to
> reboot
> and apparently resulted in major corruption of the registry. I can still
> operate but it intermittently fails to populate the main program groups
> (Start menu, Programs, Add/Remove, etc). And it's getting worse.
>
> I need to do a System Restore from a prior date. Checkpoints are there.
>
> HOWEVER:
>
> System Restore is telling me it "CANNOT RESTORE" the system when I try to
> restore from a checkpoint date that's prior to the date when Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 showed up (which happens to have been two hours
> after the system crash that I need to pre-date -- I let Automatic Updates
> do
> the update without realizing I had corruption and certainly without
> realizing
> that the update would prevent accessing restore points)!
>
> According to some posts I'd found on the web, this is exactly what others
> have encountered as well: System Restore won't allow a restore from a
> checkpoint date that's prior to the date Software Distribution Service 3.0
> was installed.
>
> And I have yet to find anyone who has found a way to uninstall Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 (or find any other way for the System Restore to
> occur).
>
> Before I tried to do the System Restore, I called MS tech support to be
> prudent after the posts I'd seen that said it might not work. I got them
> to
> move me up to a level 2 tech, who said I didn't need to uninstall Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 before doing a System Restore. He insisted that
> Software Distribution Service 3.0 would not interfere with my doing a
> System
> Restore from a prior date.
>
> Well, "something" is interfering!
>
> It's either Software Distribution Service 3.0, or perhaps the crash
> itself.
>
> What do I do now?
>
> Is it possible that my just copying the "registry" file(s) from a recent
> backup will do the same thing as the System Restore would have done? If
> so,
> what exactly would I do?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
 
Let's see if System Restore will function in Safe Mode.

Boot into Safe Mode and perform a test restore using the following link.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#3

How to starting Windows XP in Safe Mode:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/safemode.html

If there are any Norton applications installed, take a look at this page.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantecdoc1.html

Here are some more troubleshooting steps to take when System Restore fails
to restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srfail.html

The Event Viewer can sometimes be helpful in tracking down errors.
Using the Event Viewer to troubleshoot System Restore errors:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/source.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

Chigongman wrote:
> I have a mission-critical business system at stake here!
>
> I encountered a system crash a few days ago that caused my system to reboot
> and apparently resulted in major corruption of the registry. I can still
> operate but it intermittently fails to populate the main program groups
> (Start menu, Programs, Add/Remove, etc). And it's getting worse.
>
> I need to do a System Restore from a prior date. Checkpoints are there.
>
> HOWEVER:
>
> System Restore is telling me it "CANNOT RESTORE" the system when I try to
> restore from a checkpoint date that's prior to the date when Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 showed up (which happens to have been two hours
> after the system crash that I need to pre-date -- I let Automatic Updates do
> the update without realizing I had corruption and certainly without realizing
> that the update would prevent accessing restore points)!
>
> According to some posts I'd found on the web, this is exactly what others
> have encountered as well: System Restore won't allow a restore from a
> checkpoint date that's prior to the date Software Distribution Service 3.0
> was installed.
>
> And I have yet to find anyone who has found a way to uninstall Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 (or find any other way for the System Restore to
> occur).
>
> Before I tried to do the System Restore, I called MS tech support to be
> prudent after the posts I'd seen that said it might not work. I got them to
> move me up to a level 2 tech, who said I didn't need to uninstall Software
> Distribution Service 3.0 before doing a System Restore. He insisted that
> Software Distribution Service 3.0 would not interfere with my doing a System
> Restore from a prior date.
>
> Well, "something" is interfering!
>
> It's either Software Distribution Service 3.0, or perhaps the crash itself.
>
> What do I do now?
>
> Is it possible that my just copying the "registry" file(s) from a recent
> backup will do the same thing as the System Restore would have done? If so,
> what exactly would I do?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
 
See solution to getting System Restore to work in my new thread entitled
"IMPORTANT: Norton Internet Security BLOCKS System Restore!!!"
 
Back
Top