shassouneh

Hi All, After a lengthy serach on google, and NTCompatible, I was unable to find a fix that worked for me. First things first, here's a screen shot of what is going on: Please note: I am NOT having the "blank Calendar" problem. See the screen shot! That being said, here is a list of things i HAVE tried, none of which have fixed my problem (NOTE: I AM logged in as an administrator (of course).) 1.) Restore Registry keys accordingn to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles dealing with "Blank" Calendars. NOTE: I am NOT having a Blank Calendar problem. System Resotre doesn't even GET as far as showing me a calendar 2.) Tried regsvr32 for jscript.dll, vbscript.dll, and mshtml by running the following batch file: <Some .BAT File> @Echo Off regsvr32 jscript regsvr32 vbscript regsvr32 /i mshtml </Some .BAT File> On All 3 of them, I got a message that says registered succesfully. I RESTARTED, but still not fixed!!!! 3.) Tried Restarting into Safe Mode and trying System Restore 4.) Tried Last Known Good Configuration, and trying System Restore 5.) Tried to manually check registry keys suggested by Microsoft that have to do with System Restore / Help / Search not working. After a painful set of browsing the registry, all the keys are in place with the right values! 6.) NET START (it shows the System Restore Service As Running) 7.) Disable / Enable / Restart System Restore Service (through Services under Administrative Tools) 8.) Disable System Restore on All Drives. Restart. Enable System Restore on Drives 9.) Ran System File Checker as such: Start -> Run -> sfc /scannow It ran through, checked everything, and then it did not ask me to repair anything (so I assume everything is OK) 10.) SP2: Service Pack 2 comes pre-packaged with my Win XP CD, so I did not install it manually. I have seen various mentions of people trying to un-install SP2 to see if it helps. I am not at all convinced SP2 has anything to do with it, but I just thought I'd mention it. 11.) chkdsk /F C:\ C:\ is where Windows resides (my System partition). This of course asks to restart to gain exclusive access to the drive. I restarted, ran CHKDSK, everything is in order ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The only thing i have NOT tried is to do a full-fledged repair. I am reluctant to do this because: a.) It takes too long. The only thing that does NOT work on my machine is system restore b.) Since ONLY System Restore is not working, I do NOT wish to re-install updates. Its far too much trouble to do that just for something as small as system restore Just to be Clear: OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional w / SP2 ALL the latest critical updates from Microsoft This has me baffled. I seem to have tried everything short of of a format/repair, but cannot get this to work. Can Anyone help? PS: Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I could not find a section more suited for this. [Edited by shassouneh on 2005-12-30 11:50:49] [Edited by shassouneh on 2005-12-30 11:52:03] [Edited by shassouneh on 2005-12-30 11:54:12] [Edited by shassouneh on 2005-12-30 12:29:26]

Hi Everyone, First of all allow me to appologize first hand if this is in the wrong place, but I could not find a section more suited to this type of question. Ok, here we go. I'm on a tight budget, and I am torn between two cards which seem to be competing in an epic battle in my mind. I can't decide who would be the worthy winner of my purchase. Any gurus out there this is your arena! Step up and challenge yourself with this nifty little practice challenge. Ok now to the fun stuff. On the left side, weighing at $53.63 is the PNY VCG66256XPB Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 And on the right side, weighing at $62 is the GeForce 7300GS 256MB DDR2 PCI Express Can you help a poor old minion like me figure out which of the 2 is a better choice for gaming. Now now, I hear you screaming for that $300 or $400 dollar card if i want to REALLy game, but you know what. Until I am ready to get that killer gaming machine that runs at 25 Ghz, I don't see the point in spending that much on a video card, PERIOD! Anyways, Please do share your advice with a poor lost soul like me, as I cna't decide which of the 2 to get Thanx

Hmm, I'm seeing more and more people leaning towards the 7300 GS here. Relic and Raven, please re-read the original post. I have found a 7300 GS / 256 Meg for $62 or so shipped. However, it says 64-Bit Texture Filtering and Blending. I don't know if that is the same as the RAM interface, which I sometimes see posted as 128 bit. Can someone clarify? Also, here is the link to the 7300 I found: GeForce 7300 GS 256MB on Geeks

Dear Relic, I thank you for taking the time and courtesy to give some feedback. As noted however, my budget is tight. A $105 card ccounts for roughly 20% to 25% of the budget I have set aside to build a machine from scratch!

my bad. Just realized this thread is years old. Would an admin/mod kindly delete this reply?

Hi All, This is having me pull out hairs to no avail. Here's the deal. Whenever I try to boot windows all I get is a blank screen immediately after the Windows XP splash screen. I have a feeling this has something to do with ATI drivers (since they are crappy). Please note that this problem ALSO EXISTS ON SAFE MODE. That is, Safe mode will also hang in this fashion. I know this is a windows problem because Linux boots just fine, WITH both monitors. What I HAVE tried 1.) Resetting BIOS to defaults 2.) SAFE MODE, SAFE MODE with command prompt, SAFE Mode with networking, Last Known Good Configuration, Enable VGA. (NOTE: All failed with the same problem) 3.) Boot from CD and get into recovery console! THIS WORKS Is there any way I can force windows to use "generic" video drivers by using the recovery console? While Im at it, is there a way to perform a windows-2000 style "repair" of windows? That is to force windows just to re-install critical files rather than going through the entire setup process in repair (Windows XP's repair is basically re-installing Windows XP). Somebody please help! PS: yes I DID search the forums before posting this, but the search engine returns far too many results that don't have anything to do with my problem (directly).

Hi All, I've just set up Command And Conquer (the VERY FIRST ONE) under Windows XP. Yes I know its an oooooooold game, but its also a classic and I miss playing it! every time I try to run the game I get the following error: C&C95.EXE - Entry Point Not Found - The Procedure entry point SMapsLS_IP_EBP_12 could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.DLL Anybody have a clue why it does this? I have tried both Win95 and WinNT compatibility modes and they didn't do anything. If you know how to get around this, please do help me and others. NOTE: I already checked the NTCOMPATIBLE games compatibility list and it has nothing about this game. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL COMMAND AND CONQUER! nothing fancy, just THE first game...

Originally posted by blibros: Quote: Meant to include this in prior post: Link to description of problem I had: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/olereg.htm "ActiveX controls may not load as expected in Internet Explorer due to defense in depth changes introduced in cumulative security update 896688 Published: Nov 13, 2005 Updated : Dec 04, 2005 When you open the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel, you may receive the following error message: Wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment System Restore window is completely blank. Windows Update page displays the following message even though the ActiveX control is already installed. Also, the Information bar does not appear, thus you're unable to re-install the Windows Update ActiveX control. Install the ActiveX control required to view the website Help and Support pages are incomplete. System Information utility (MSINFO32) displays a blank window. When you open Services.msc snap-in, the following error is displayed: An error has occurred in the script on this page Error: Object doesn't support this property or method URL: res://C:\WINDOWS\System32\mmcndmgr.dll/views.htm Organize Favorites dialog displays a Red X in Internet Explorer. (More info) Resolution This occurs due to missing OLE32 registration. You may use the following VBScript to correct the above problems. Download olereg.vbs and run the file." As I noted, this solution worked, but only after I downloaded and installed the Windows Scripting noted in the previous post. Thanx for the reply. I did indeed find a way around Windows Advantage and installed Windows Script 5.6. Rebooted, tried the olereg.vbs and rebooted again. Result: BLANK SCREEN. I am beyond convinced there is no fix for this unless I "repair" or re-install windows or format. All of which are MUCH more effort than its worth especially because everything else runs fine (apart from System Restore), and the fact that I can run System restore in a limited capacity via Internet Explorer. Thanx for the feedback though. I really appreciate it.

Y don't u try downloading a Win98 boot disk from bootdisk.com and botting with it. At the command prompt type sys c:/ (assuming C: is the drive you wish to boot from) Now the drive becomes bootable. PS: This works only if C: is FAT16/32

Originally posted by DavidConley: Quote: shassouneh, I had the same problem and just solved it. With my problem Search did not work either "Start -> Search" also yielded a blank window. Additionally, I was having trouble installing Flash - it would just do nothing. In addition, USATODAY.com for instance would not show the changing window in the upper left-hand corner. A few days ago I removed FSecure Anti-virus suite and installed McAfee 8.0i. Prior to installing McAfee, I created an install point, so I know it worked prior to the install. However, I had trouble removing F-Secure and due to the fact that I had previously had McAfee (an older version) I had to resort to heavy registry edits to remove all traces of both programs - as uninstall had issues. On to how my system was fixed. I first tried registering the three dll's - regsvr32 jscript regsvr32 vb script regsvr32 /i mshtml I received an error on the vb script one - failed to register. I then was going to install Restore by right clicking the file in the system32\resotre directory but the install option was not available (presumably because it was still installed). I ran the file srdiag.exe and left the widow it opens for about a minute - it created 6 to six log/txt files. I then entered the string you provided to manually run Restore from IE, and it ran. I then created a restore point and browsed the calendar. I left the IE window with Restore in it open and ran Restore from Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance / System Restore and it worked! Thinking that this was just because it was already running I closed restore (but not the window that I.E. creates and it ran again. I then closed all IE windows and it ran. Rebooted and it works properly. Search now is now longer blank and when I launched IE the pages that previously had some issues work properly. Upon launching IE flash instantly started, it was ready to install - probably cued from my previous attempts. Though it was not my original post - thanks to all who have posted. Hope this helps you. David Dear David. I thank you for taking the time and courtesy to respond to this thread. I have already tried the regsvr32 tricks, and none of them did the job. I even followed your trail (opening system resotre in IE and leaving it open, etc) but I STILL get a blank window!!! Anywho. I guess I will either have to rely soley on my Norton Ghost Images, or find a commercial alternative to System Restore. Since we have tried practically everything imaginable, I don't think there's much "juice" left to this thread. Therefore, would a mod/admin kindly close this topic (to save resources). Perhaps its would be agood idea to "Archive" this topic though so that people with the same problem at leats have access to some ideas what to try, as I think I have been pretty thorough in trying everything.

Originally posted by Wilhelmus: Quote: You can 'recreate' the machineguid.txt. On restore folder, doubleclick the srdiag.exe. It'll create new .cab file. Open it and you'll find your machineguid.txt. machineguid.txt file just contains Globally Unique Identifier string, mine is "{4A8CFAF4-E170-4857-9DA5-71D7BBE27F50} ". Thanx for the tip. I just tried it and extracted the MachineGuid.txt file. Also, i deleted the keys (after backing them up) and started up System Restore. Guess what? BLANK WINDOW! So I ran regedit again to see if it recreated those keys and it did NOT. So I am restoring those keys now. I am STILL open to your suggestions, and I appreciate every single tip and suggestion put forth thus far. I just figured I'd try this to be thorough, and apparently it did not help

OK I have this CRAZY idea. Check this out: HKLM\System\Services\sr and HKLM\System\Services\srservice OK. Since I cannot really make use of System Restore, I was wondering if coul DELETE those keys entirely (hopefully to force System Restore to start from scratch and recreate them for me). However, I do NOT know how to backup/restore the registry so I can go back if things go under. ALSO, I repeat that I CAN use System Restore manually (and quite painfully) by using Internet Explorer.

Originally posted by Relic: Quote: I do believe that file is important to the operation of System restore: MACHINEGUID.TXT The global universal identification (GUID) of the restore folder. The system's data store is located in \System Volume Informat1on\_restore(GUID}. I know you've tried a gazillion things out, and although I've read this entire thread, I don't remember every single thing you've done, although I'm sure you do. Having said that, I found another page of Restore problems/fixes, maybe something here will help. http://www.sierra-technical.com/systemrestore.htm Dear Relic, I thank you for expanding your patience to try to help me. I took a quick look at the link you provided. It thoroughly runs down System Restore pretty nicely. I also found it interesting that my machine GUID was in the System Volume Information. I was wondering though what Machineguid.txt actually looks like. Could you post yours so i can see to it than i can recreate mine (obviously using my machine GUID instead of yours) ? Thanx. PS: I am still open to suggestions here as this problem is not going away!

Originally posted by Relic: Quote: How about both of you try deleting all but the six files I have in my folder, then reboot? My system restore works like a charm, with only six files in there, possibly that's the prob? OK, I followed your advice as best as I can. Here is what I have now. You will notice I have 2 missing files: MachineGuid.txt and rstrlog.dat However, you will also notice by looking at the previous screen shot that I did not seem to have them then either. PS: Also notice: I seem to be able to run System Restore indirectly by manually typing in an adress in Internet Explorer. (See my previous posts in this thread for full details). Here is a sample of what I'm talking about: What drives me nutts is that I can run system restore painfully and manually in IE (by clicking YES on some ActiveX security stuff) but I keep getting a blank system restore window!

Originally posted by Stealth83: Quote: Finally fixed--I see this in this forum but missed it somehow--anyway worked for me. regsvr32 jscript regsvr32 vbscript regsvr32 /i mshtml there are single spaces Thanks for the help Stealth83 [Edited by Stealth83 on 2006-01-15 00:13:38] Already tried this millions of times to no avail!

Originally posted by Relic: Quote: Okay, got the kid dropped off at work, came home, had to take tyhe wife to her interview. Waited for her(she got the job )then came home. Started messing with Total Air War one more time, still can't get rid of the artifacts, decided I come pull out my hair over someone else's problems cause my own is frustrating the hell out of me, so here I am. So, in my "Restore" folder I have the following files: filelist.xml MachineGuid.txt rstrlog.dat rstrui.exe srdiag.exe srframe.mmf Are all of those in your folder? Congrats on the Wife's Job. Ok, here is what i have (It looks MachineGuid.txt is missing, but I might have deleted that at one point while toruble shooting this mess).

Originally posted by Stealth83: Quote: Originally posted by Relic: Quote: If you don't have it, I can send it to you, it's only 13K. All I can find is filelist.xm_ Dont think its the one--please send file stealth83@nycap.rr.com That is indeed the one but you will need to "expand" it. Either find a copy of expand.exe and do something like this Start-> Run -> type "cmd" and click on OK, then enter the following command from you I386 folder expand filelist.xm_ filelist.xml Either that or try messing with the expander thats in msconfig.

Originally posted by Relic: Quote: The recovery console is easy, all you need to do is copy files to the correct directory. I have a kid to wake up right now so he gets to work on time, but I shall return. I'll search my system for all the files relating to system restore(mine works fine), and tell you which ones to copy. Usually the files can be found/copied from the i386 folder on the CD. The recovery console expands them as it copies them, so there's no worry there. I recently had to bite the bullet and use the recovery console, after all I had heard about it, I was somewhat unsure of my ability to use it. Heh, it's a piece of cake. I deleted my "ntldr" file from my root directory in a cleaning frenzy, oopsie, error at bootup, missing ntldr file. Hmmmm, "NTLDR", does that mean NT-loader? Yeah, not good. Copied the ntldr from my wife's system to a floppy. Booted from my XP CD, went to the recovery console. Typed in "copy a:\ntldr c:\". Rebooted. Fixed. I'll be back after I drive the kid to work. If you can't extract the files from your CD, I'll put mine up on my webspace, you can dwnld them, save them to a floppy or CD, and copy from there. YOUR problem is really starting to pizz ME off, heh heh heh. LOL. Drive Safe now Yes I have the XP CD on hand btw.

Originally posted by Relic: Quote: You have three choices. 1) Do a repair install of XP, fix the problem. 2) Copy all the files that are required by "restore" using the recovery console, after booting from the CD, and fix the problem. 3) Continue going on about this problem ad-nausium until XP is obsolete and Vista has taken over, then we'll all just tell you to upgrade your version of Windoze. I suggest option two first, the recovery console is quite simple to use and will probably fix the problem. If you choose not to do this, use option one, this will definitely fix the problem. You say you don't want to do a repair install of XP because it takes too long. Not to be rude, but if you took the time you've spent in here, plus all the time you've spent trying various fixes, some of them multiple times, you could have reinstalled XP 3 or 4 times already. This freaking topic is 3 pages long, and there will obviously be no simple resolution to the problem! Unless you fully intend to live with this problem, which means this thread is a moot point, I suggest you choose option one or two, otherwise, when you are 104 years old, you'll be rolling yourself up to your computer in your wheelchair, in all your toothless glory, still hoping that page 23,845 of this topic, FINALLY has the fix. I can tell you this, by that time, I won't be scratching my bald head looking for an answer for you, you already have the answers, both of them start with "R", obviously, there is no other fix. Dear Relic, Once again thanks for your feedback. Allow me first to clarify one important fact. Option 2 is NOT AN OPTION. If you had read through this entire thread, you would know that yes indeed i DID try a repair, which left me with a useless system! The repair would HANG half way in the "setup / repair" process. I was actually forced to restore from a Norton ghost Image and bite the bullet. I repeat: I DID TRY TO DO A REPAIR but that left me with nothing and a hung setup. And yes I did try to "Revive" the setup 2 or 3 times to no avail! Option 3 is also not really an option from the stand-point of "fixing" the issue rather than waiting for a new OS and paying to buy it altogether. That being said, I am open to using the recovery console, but once I boot into it I do not know what to do! HELP? Thanx again for the input. Please review this reply.

Originally posted by crl: Quote: I had the same problem, blank window on system restore. I tried loads of things to fix it but nothing worked. This one worked for me: download the Windows Script 5.6 from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en I then run this utility IEFIX http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm It worked for me! Thanx for the input. I had already tried Installing Windows Scripting Host 5.6, and re-installing IE (which the IEFIX program does). Result: Blank Window. For the sake of thoroughness, I decided to take you up on your advice and INstall WSH 5.6 anyways, followed by running the IEFix.exe and followed by a restart. Result: System Restore STILL shows a blank Window. Status / Result: Issue UNRESOLVED. System Resotre still shows a blank window!

Originally posted by Wilhelmus: Quote: 1) regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll 2) http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/kb896688_fix.zip 3) When you have tried to open system restore, check your event viewer (eventvwr.msc) for errors/warnings generated by "sr", "srservice" or any other source. I have already tried this. To be thorough, I tried your steps 1, 2, and 3 in order. 1.) Registered OK 2.) Ran the .exe it told me all my registry keys where fine. 3.) a.) Ran System Restore (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore) b.) Checked Event Logs. NO Events WHATSOEVER relating to System Restore or sr at all today! Result: System Restore STILL shows a blank Window Issue status: UNRESOLVED

Originally posted by akkhir: Quote: Are you using any Norton products? We use Norton anti-virus 9.xx. Could there be a connection? Thanks again! The ONLY norton product i "approve" of using is Norton Ghost 2003. I have learned the hard way to shy away from everything Norton (except Ghost 2003 and Partition Magic 8.05 [which happens to be not really a Norton/Symantec product to beign with] ) I will let you know IF I ever get this issue resolved.

Originally posted by jmw07: Quote: I'm reluctant to repeat my episode mentioned before to confirm the facts, but as I recall that when it came to the 'fix', I only had one entry in the 'Group or user names' on the Permissions for Software - that was Everyone. Also on Advanced Security Settings for Software there was either no entry, or just the one: Everyone - Full Control. Finally I think the 'Inherit from parent ...' checkbox was unchecked, while the 'Replace permission entries ...' checkbox was checked. You could try again with these settings - but as I said before I'm no expert and can only say what worked for me. Once again, thanx for your input. I would try forcing just the everyone group, but as you can imagine this poses a security issue. Furthermore, I don't beleive HKLM\Software was designed so that anyone and everyone has full access to it. That being said, if indeed the issue CAN be resolved by this, then i will leave it to micro$oft to fix their mistake. Messing with the registry is both undelightful and "dangerous" at best. So if there is no other option but to edit the registry, perhaps Micro$oft can fix their buggy software. SP3 anyone? hehe

Originally posted by jmw07: Quote: I think the problem is due to a registry key permission in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software area. Unfortunately I don't know which one, but I had this experience. I had the same System Restore blank screen after editing the permissions for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software. In my case I think it was due to checking the 'Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects' box under Advanced settings. I fixed it by setting up this key to just have an 'Everyone' group name with Full Control, then again checking the 'Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects' box. I was able then to access System Restore and use it to restore to a point before I started to mess with the registry. As you can probably tell, I'm no expert on registry editing, so you can try this at your own risk - good luck! Thanx for your input. I figured I'd try what you mentioned, as I'm out of ideas. I can't even get that far. I get an ugly error message which basically means I cannot do it. (See below). Please do note that i have full administrative privelages! PS: NO, even the registry keys whos permissions HAVE been set did NOT help me get rid of thios problem!

Originally posted by Sampson: Quote: When you ghost to another drive, XP contains the configuration or the Hardware Allocation Layer of that specific computer. Unless the computer you are trying to use the ghosted drive with is an exact duplicate XP will give you the message you received, but more often than not, it will simply not boot. You can try to Repair the ghosted copy by booting from your CD with your Windows XP system disk. If you are lucky, and several hours later, you may succeed. Sorry to be a smart arse here. But a quick correction. hardware abstraction layer (rather than allocation). Also what Sampson said is true. Windows XP (and even to some extend 2000) does retain your hardware setup in the ghost image, so you would have to get around that. You COULD try a repair, but since that replaces critical system files, any updates or service packs you had installed would have to be re-done.