SOLVED: eMachines M2350 won't boot after installing XP SP2

"Paul B." wrote:
> Subject: Re: eMachines M2350 fails to restart after upgrade - need help
> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 19:21:03 -0800
> Message-ID: <39FC1AB5-E228-4D30-849B->
> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
>
> After trying to install SP2 on an eMachine M2350 laptop for about 4
> months the fix finally came out in the BigFix program that came with
> the laptop. I had to reinstall Wndows XP from the restore disk that
> came with the computer. As part of the install a program called
> BigFix will also be installed. Look in BigFix for a patch callled
> "updates:emachines M2350Registry Update Available". After you let
> BigFix install this patch, SP2 will install without any problems.
>
> I had tried everything I could think of and anything that was
> suggested in newsgroups and nothing worked until this patch came
> in BigFix. I talked and got email from eMachines support as late
> as 1-20-05 and the support ogranization just says it is Microsoft's
> problem. They don't realize there is a patch.
>
> "Glen" wrote:
> >
> > I also have an eMachine M2350 and have had the same problems as all of
> > you. I have perused the many different forums regarding SP2 problems
> > and none of them seemed to describe my particular portion of update
> > hell. I have found the solution for my problem, and hopefully yours.


I did some sleuthing, and managed to successfully resurrect an eMachines
M2350 which would not boot, due to installing XP SP2 without the registry
fix.

eMachines tech support told me that the only way to fix it was to do a fresh
system restore (thus losing everything the user had put on the computer),
and
then use BigFix to install the registry fix BEFORE applying SP2. They said
that there was no way to fix it AFTER applying SP2. But that ain't so.

First, I needed to figure out what BigFix was doing. eMachines tech support
didn't know. Bigfix tech support didn't know, either (and they told me to
call eMachines).

So I put a fresh hard drive in the computer, did a system restore to it, and
then watched what BigFix did when while it applied the fix.

It turns out that BigFix stores all its data files under its own
installation
directory (c:/program files/bigfix/), and when you exit bigfix it deletes
most
of those data files to recover the disk space. So the key to figuring out
what
BigFix does is to look at its data files BEFORE you exit the BigFix program.
(That key fact was on the BigFix web site, though their web site gives the
wrong subdirectory name for the data files.) Look for a text file with the
file
extension ".log".

It turns out that all this particular "fixlet" does is to delete the
following
registry entry (and its subkeys):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\R oot\SYSPREP_TEMPORARY

(First, it does some ACL adjustments, so that it can delete the registry
entry,
but the purpose is just to delete that registry entry.)

If that registry key is not deleted, then the next time you try to boot the
computer after XP SP2 has been applied, XP will crash and reboot the
machine. XP is soooo fragile. :-(

Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic, since
Microsoft keeps the registry file's format secret, but renaming a key is
almost
as good as deleting it, so here's what I did: First, I removed the drive
from
the M2350. Then, using a 2.5"-to-3.5" drive adapter, I plugged it in as an
additional drive on a working Win2000 desktop machine (it needs to be a
computer that can read and write the NTFS file system). Then I used a
binary editor to search the registry files for all instances of
"SYSPREP_TEMPORARY", and I changed them, in-place, to something else
of the same length ("SYSJUNK_TEMPORARY"). There were only two such
instances, and, as expected, they were both in the
\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM file (which contains the HKLM\SYSTEM
hive.)

They I put the drive back in the M2350.

(At first it wouldn't even try to boot, because the NTFS partition wasn't
marked active. Something on my Win2K machine quietly clears the "active"
flag on partitions on secondary disk drives. I think that the culprit is
either
System Commander or Windows itself, but I've not bothered to figure out
which is at fault. I've seen this before, and expected it. On the M2350,
the
symptom was that the machine just displayed a funny squiggle character in
the top-left corner of the screen, and then hung, though it would still
respond
to ctrl-alt-del. The fix is easy, if you have Partition Magic or any other
partition table editor. Just boot the Partition Magic CD, and use it to set
the
one and only partition on the drive back to "active.")

Problem solved. XP+SP2 came right up and ran normally.

-Dave Burton
http://www.geeksalive.com/


P.S. -- The following eBay search will find you lots of those 2.5"-to-3.5"
drive
adapters:

(ide,ata) adapter (laptop,2.5,notebook) (drive,hard,disk)

"Dave Burton" wrote:

> "Paul B." wrote:
> > Subject: Re: eMachines M2350 fails to restart after upgrade - need help
> > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 19:21:03 -0800
> > Message-ID: <39FC1AB5-E228-4D30-849B->
> > Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
> >
> > After trying to install SP2 on an eMachine M2350 laptop for about 4
> > months the fix finally came out in the BigFix program that came with
> > the laptop. I had to reinstall Wndows XP from the restore disk that
> > came with the computer. As part of the install a program called
> > BigFix will also be installed. Look in BigFix for a patch callled
> > "updates:emachines M2350Registry Update Available". After you let
> > BigFix install this patch, SP2 will install without any problems.
> >
> > I had tried everything I could think of and anything that was
> > suggested in newsgroups and nothing worked until this patch came
> > in BigFix. I talked and got email from eMachines support as late
> > as 1-20-05 and the support ogranization just says it is Microsoft's
> > problem. They don't realize there is a patch.
> >
> > "Glen" wrote:
> > >
> > > I also have an eMachine M2350 and have had the same problems as all of
> > > you. I have perused the many different forums regarding SP2 problems
> > > and none of them seemed to describe my particular portion of update
> > > hell. I have found the solution for my problem, and hopefully yours.
>
>
> I did some sleuthing, and managed to successfully resurrect an eMachines
> M2350 which would not boot, due to installing XP SP2 without the registry
> fix.
>
> eMachines tech support told me that the only way to fix it was to do a fresh
> system restore (thus losing everything the user had put on the computer),
> and
> then use BigFix to install the registry fix BEFORE applying SP2. They said
> that there was no way to fix it AFTER applying SP2. But that ain't so.
>
> First, I needed to figure out what BigFix was doing. eMachines tech support
> didn't know. Bigfix tech support didn't know, either (and they told me to
> call eMachines).
>
> So I put a fresh hard drive in the computer, did a system restore to it, and
> then watched what BigFix did when while it applied the fix.
>
> It turns out that BigFix stores all its data files under its own
> installation
> directory (c:/program files/bigfix/), and when you exit bigfix it deletes
> most
> of those data files to recover the disk space. So the key to figuring out
> what
> BigFix does is to look at its data files BEFORE you exit the BigFix program.
> (That key fact was on the BigFix web site, though their web site gives the
> wrong subdirectory name for the data files.) Look for a text file with the
> file
> extension ".log".
>
> It turns out that all this particular "fixlet" does is to delete the
> following
> registry entry (and its subkeys):
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\R oot\SYSPREP_TEMPORARY
>
> (First, it does some ACL adjustments, so that it can delete the registry
> entry,
> but the purpose is just to delete that registry entry.)
>
> If that registry key is not deleted, then the next time you try to boot the
> computer after XP SP2 has been applied, XP will crash and reboot the
> machine. XP is soooo fragile. :-(
>
> Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic, since
> Microsoft keeps the registry file's format secret, but renaming a key is
> almost
> as good as deleting it, so here's what I did: First, I removed the drive
> from
> the M2350. Then, using a 2.5"-to-3.5" drive adapter, I plugged it in as an
> additional drive on a working Win2000 desktop machine (it needs to be a
> computer that can read and write the NTFS file system). Then I used a
> binary editor to search the registry files for all instances of
> "SYSPREP_TEMPORARY", and I changed them, in-place, to something else
> of the same length ("SYSJUNK_TEMPORARY"). There were only two such
> instances, and, as expected, they were both in the
> \Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM file (which contains the HKLM\SYSTEM
> hive.)
>
> They I put the drive back in the M2350.
>
> (At first it wouldn't even try to boot, because the NTFS partition wasn't
> marked active. Something on my Win2K machine quietly clears the "active"
> flag on partitions on secondary disk drives. I think that the culprit is
> either
> System Commander or Windows itself, but I've not bothered to figure out
> which is at fault. I've seen this before, and expected it. On the M2350,
> the
> symptom was that the machine just displayed a funny squiggle character in
> the top-left corner of the screen, and then hung, though it would still
> respond
> to ctrl-alt-del. The fix is easy, if you have Partition Magic or any other
> partition table editor. Just boot the Partition Magic CD, and use it to set
> the
> one and only partition on the drive back to "active.")
>
> Problem solved. XP+SP2 came right up and ran normally.
>
> -Dave Burton
> http://www.geeksalive.com/
>
>
> P.S. -- The following eBay search will find you lots of those 2.5"-to-3.5"
> drive
> adapters:
>
> (ide,ata) adapter (laptop,2.5,notebook) (drive,hard,disk)
>
>
>

> Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic

Not really, provided you can access the drive or partition.
That's what RegEdit's Load Hive... and Unload Hive... commands
are for. More info in RegEdit's Help. <w>


---


"Dave Burton" <> wrote in message news:...
> "Paul B." wrote:
>> Subject: Re: eMachines M2350 fails to restart after upgrade - need help
>> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 19:21:03 -0800
>> Message-ID: <39FC1AB5-E228-4D30-849B->
>> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
>>
>> After trying to install SP2 on an eMachine M2350 laptop for about 4
>> months the fix finally came out in the BigFix program that came with
>> the laptop. I had to reinstall Wndows XP from the restore disk that
>> came with the computer. As part of the install a program called
>> BigFix will also be installed. Look in BigFix for a patch callled
>> "updates:emachines M2350Registry Update Available". After you let
>> BigFix install this patch, SP2 will install without any problems.
>>
>> I had tried everything I could think of and anything that was
>> suggested in newsgroups and nothing worked until this patch came
>> in BigFix. I talked and got email from eMachines support as late
>> as 1-20-05 and the support ogranization just says it is Microsoft's
>> problem. They don't realize there is a patch.
>>
>> "Glen" wrote:
>> >
>> > I also have an eMachine M2350 and have had the same problems as all of
>> > you. I have perused the many different forums regarding SP2 problems
>> > and none of them seemed to describe my particular portion of update
>> > hell. I have found the solution for my problem, and hopefully yours.
>
>
> I did some sleuthing, and managed to successfully resurrect an eMachines
> M2350 which would not boot, due to installing XP SP2 without the registry
> fix.
>
> eMachines tech support told me that the only way to fix it was to do a fresh
> system restore (thus losing everything the user had put on the computer),
> and
> then use BigFix to install the registry fix BEFORE applying SP2. They said
> that there was no way to fix it AFTER applying SP2. But that ain't so.
>
> First, I needed to figure out what BigFix was doing. eMachines tech support
> didn't know. Bigfix tech support didn't know, either (and they told me to
> call eMachines).
>
> So I put a fresh hard drive in the computer, did a system restore to it, and
> then watched what BigFix did when while it applied the fix.
>
> It turns out that BigFix stores all its data files under its own
> installation
> directory (c:/program files/bigfix/), and when you exit bigfix it deletes
> most
> of those data files to recover the disk space. So the key to figuring out
> what
> BigFix does is to look at its data files BEFORE you exit the BigFix program.
> (That key fact was on the BigFix web site, though their web site gives the
> wrong subdirectory name for the data files.) Look for a text file with the
> file
> extension ".log".
>
> It turns out that all this particular "fixlet" does is to delete the
> following
> registry entry (and its subkeys):
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\R oot\SYSPREP_TEMPORARY
>
> (First, it does some ACL adjustments, so that it can delete the registry
> entry,
> but the purpose is just to delete that registry entry.)
>
> If that registry key is not deleted, then the next time you try to boot the
> computer after XP SP2 has been applied, XP will crash and reboot the
> machine. XP is soooo fragile. :-(
>
> Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic, since
> Microsoft keeps the registry file's format secret, but renaming a key is
> almost
> as good as deleting it, so here's what I did: First, I removed the drive
> from
> the M2350. Then, using a 2.5"-to-3.5" drive adapter, I plugged it in as an
> additional drive on a working Win2000 desktop machine (it needs to be a
> computer that can read and write the NTFS file system). Then I used a
> binary editor to search the registry files for all instances of
> "SYSPREP_TEMPORARY", and I changed them, in-place, to something else
> of the same length ("SYSJUNK_TEMPORARY"). There were only two such
> instances, and, as expected, they were both in the
> \Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM file (which contains the HKLM\SYSTEM
> hive.)
>
> They I put the drive back in the M2350.
>
> (At first it wouldn't even try to boot, because the NTFS partition wasn't
> marked active. Something on my Win2K machine quietly clears the "active"
> flag on partitions on secondary disk drives. I think that the culprit is
> either
> System Commander or Windows itself, but I've not bothered to figure out
> which is at fault. I've seen this before, and expected it. On the M2350,
> the
> symptom was that the machine just displayed a funny squiggle character in
> the top-left corner of the screen, and then hung, though it would still
> respond
> to ctrl-alt-del. The fix is easy, if you have Partition Magic or any other
> partition table editor. Just boot the Partition Magic CD, and use it to set
> the
> one and only partition on the drive back to "active.")
>
> Problem solved. XP+SP2 came right up and ran normally.
>
> -Dave Burton
> http://www.geeksalive.com/
>
>
> P.S. -- The following eBay search will find you lots of those 2.5"-to-3.5"
> drive
> adapters:
>
> (ide,ata) adapter (laptop,2.5,notebook) (drive,hard,disk)
>
>

P.S. -- Well, I typed too soon. It turns out that XP+SP2 wasn't running
QUITE normally after that registry patch.

It mostly ran, but the device manager and network connections folders both
displayed as empty. (Apparently the fragile Windows code that steps through
the registry entries to populate those windows just upchucked and died when
it saw something unexpected in the registry.)

Regedit wouldn't let me delete the renamed keys (grrrr!), so I ended up
refreshing the disk from the full image backup which I'd taken before I
started working on this M2350, and then I deleted the registry keys "the
right way" (Robert Aldwinckle's way). I.e., instead of using a binary
editor to patch the offending registry keys (SYSPREP_TEMPORARY) in
c:\windows\system32\config\system, I used a working machine, and ran regedit
on that machine to fix the problem in the M2350's registry. Then (finally!)
everything worked.

Note: The working machine must be running either XP or Windows 2003 Server.
Windows 2000 or earlier will not work, because earlier RegEdits don't
understand XP's hive files.

Here's the procedure to resurrect an M2350 which won't boot due to SP2:

1) Move the dead M2350's disk to a working machine, or boot a "Windows PE"
disk, or find a way to copy they c:\windows\system32\config\system.* files
to a temporary directory on a working XP or Windows 2003 Server PC.

2) Run Regedit (or Regedt32).

3) Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

4) "load hive..." (invent a temporary subkey name for it, and browse to the
M2350's SYSTEM file)

5) "Edit" -> "Find", and find all the SYSPREP_TEMPORARY keys, and delete
each one. Note that you might need to right-click on them and change the
Permissions, to enable "full control," before you can delete them.

6) Select the temporary subkey, and "unload hive"

7) Shutdown and move the M2350's disk back to the M2350, or copy the
SYSTEM.* files back to its c:\windows\system32\config\ directory.

Now boot the M2350. All should be working normally.

-Dave Burton
http://www.geeksalive.com/


"Robert Aldwinckle" <> wrote in message
news:OWQ%...
> > Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic
>
> Not really, provided you can access the drive or partition.
> That's what RegEdit's Load Hive... and Unload Hive... commands
> are for. More info in RegEdit's Help. <w>
>
>
> ---
>
> "Dave Burton" <> wrote in message
news:...
> > "Paul B." wrote:
> >> Subject: Re: eMachines M2350 fails to restart after upgrade - need help
> >> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 19:21:03 -0800
> >> Message-ID: <39FC1AB5-E228-4D30-849B->
> >> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
> >>
> >> After trying to install SP2 on an eMachine M2350 laptop for about 4
> >> months the fix finally came out in the BigFix program that came with
> >> the laptop. I had to reinstall Wndows XP from the restore disk that
> >> came with the computer. As part of the install a program called
> >> BigFix will also be installed. Look in BigFix for a patch callled
> >> "updates:emachines M2350Registry Update Available". After you let
> >> BigFix install this patch, SP2 will install without any problems.
> >>
> >> I had tried everything I could think of and anything that was
> >> suggested in newsgroups and nothing worked until this patch came
> >> in BigFix. I talked and got email from eMachines support as late
> >> as 1-20-05 and the support ogranization just says it is Microsoft's
> >> problem. They don't realize there is a patch.
> >>
> >> "Glen" wrote:
> >> >
> >> > I also have an eMachine M2350 and have had the same problems as all
of
> >> > you. I have perused the many different forums regarding SP2 problems
> >> > and none of them seemed to describe my particular portion of update
> >> > hell. I have found the solution for my problem, and hopefully yours.
> >
> >
> > I did some sleuthing, and managed to successfully resurrect an eMachines
> > M2350 which would not boot, due to installing XP SP2 without the
registry
> > fix.
> >
> > eMachines tech support told me that the only way to fix it was to do a
fresh
> > system restore (thus losing everything the user had put on the
computer),
> > and
> > then use BigFix to install the registry fix BEFORE applying SP2. They
said
> > that there was no way to fix it AFTER applying SP2. But that ain't so.
> >
> > First, I needed to figure out what BigFix was doing. eMachines tech
support
> > didn't know. Bigfix tech support didn't know, either (and they told me
to
> > call eMachines).
> >
> > So I put a fresh hard drive in the computer, did a system restore to it,
and
> > then watched what BigFix did when while it applied the fix.
> >
> > It turns out that BigFix stores all its data files under its own
> > installation
> > directory (c:/program files/bigfix/), and when you exit bigfix it
deletes
> > most
> > of those data files to recover the disk space. So the key to figuring
out
> > what
> > BigFix does is to look at its data files BEFORE you exit the BigFix
program.
> > (That key fact was on the BigFix web site, though their web site gives
the
> > wrong subdirectory name for the data files.) Look for a text file with
the
> > file extension ".log".
> >
> > It turns out that all this particular "fixlet" does is to delete the
> > following registry entry (and its subkeys):
> > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\R oot\SYSPREP_TEMPORARY
> >
> > (First, it does some ACL adjustments, so that it can delete the registry
> > entry, but the purpose is just to delete that registry entry.)
> >
> > If that registry key is not deleted, then the next time you try to boot
the
> > computer after XP SP2 has been applied, XP will crash and reboot the
> > machine. XP is soooo fragile. :-(
> >
> > Editing a registry on a machine that won't boot is problematic, since
> > Microsoft keeps the registry file's format secret, but renaming a key is
> > almost
> > as good as deleting it, so here's what I did: First, I removed the drive
> > from
> > the M2350. Then, using a 2.5"-to-3.5" drive adapter, I plugged it in as
an
> > additional drive on a working Win2000 desktop machine (it needs to be a
> > computer that can read and write the NTFS file system). Then I used a
> > binary editor to search the registry files for all instances of
> > "SYSPREP_TEMPORARY", and I changed them, in-place, to something else
> > of the same length ("SYSJUNK_TEMPORARY"). There were only two such
> > instances, and, as expected, they were both in the
> > \Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM file (which contains the HKLM\SYSTEM
> > hive.)
> >
> > They I put the drive back in the M2350.
> >
> > (At first it wouldn't even try to boot, because the NTFS partition
wasn't
> > marked active. Something on my Win2K machine quietly clears the "active"
> > flag on partitions on secondary disk drives. I think that the culprit is
either
> > System Commander or Windows itself, but I've not bothered to figure out
> > which is at fault. I've seen this before, and expected it. On the
M2350, the
> > symptom was that the machine just displayed a funny squiggle character
in
> > the top-left corner of the screen, and then hung, though it would still
respond
> > to ctrl-alt-del. The fix is easy, if you have Partition Magic or any
other
> > partition table editor. Just boot the Partition Magic CD, and use it to
set
> > the one and only partition on the drive back to "active.")
> >
> > Problem solved. XP+SP2 came right up and ran normally.
> >
> > -Dave Burton
> > http://www.geeksalive.com/
> >
> >
> > P.S. -- The following eBay search will find you lots of those
2.5"-to-3.5"
> > drive adapters:
> >
> > (ide,ata) adapter (laptop,2.5,notebook) (drive,hard,disk)
> >