Is my windows installation fubar'd?

S

scrawnypaleguy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Messages
489
I've been having some memory problems lately (damn you, Ballistix Tracers!) and as a result, my registry has gotten screwed up. Now when I try to boot into windows (XP Home SP3, btw), I just get a black screen, and this dialog box:

"The application or DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\SCESRV.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette."

When I press okay, it just sits at a black screen. I looked online and found that someone with a similar problem solved it by entering the Recovery Console using the XP install disc and using the "chkdsk /p /r" command, but that didn't work for me.

Anyone know of a different fix for this? I'd reeeeaaally appreciate any input.
 
Have you thought of replacing the file SCESRV.dll ??
You may get more errors after but at least it would be progress.
 
If I do a repair install, won't that delete all my current stuff on my drive? I have a lot of things I wanna save on there.

I've also thought of replacing that file, but I can't get into windows to find it. Or can I just get it from another computer, like on a floppy? But then how do I copy it back into its folder if I can't get into windows? Would I use a DOS command to copy it back into the C:\WINDOWS\System32 folder?
 
scrawnypaleguy said:
I've also thought of replacing that file, but I can't get into windows to find it. Or can I just get it from another computer, like on a floppy? But then how do I copy it back into its folder if I can't get into windows? Would I use a DOS command to copy it back into the C:\WINDOWS\System32 folder?
Click to expand...

Plug your hard drive into another PC and copy the files over.
Make sure the PC you are copying from is running the same service pack you had installed.
 
Hmm, I think I can do that. My friend has Windows XP installed, I can go get it from him. Thanks so much! I really appreciate the help :)
 
scrawnypaleguy said:
If I do a repair install, won't that delete all my current stuff on my drive? I have a lot of things I wanna save on there.
Click to expand...
No, that's the point of a repair install. You aren't wiping the drive. A repair install does exactly what its name implies.

It also a good practice to have your install media slipstreamed up to the latest service pack, but if you don't, make sure you install SP3 again immediately after the repair install is finished.
 
XP Repair install

Boot the computer using the XP CD.
You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive.
Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
Do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console).
Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair.
Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot.
Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears.
Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact. ;)
 
Thanks alphanumeric, I didn't know you could do that! That seems like the easiest way to go, since I really don't want to lose all my stuff or have to reinstall all my applications again.
 
It's definitely worth a try, as far as I know it won't make things any worse. If it doesn't work your files and folders such as the "My Documents" folder will still be there if you need to recover them by other means.
 
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