About 2 weeks ago computer #1, desktop with Windows 7, started behaving badly. I determined it was either a bad hard drive or bad memory. Windows Diagnostics suggested it was bad memory (8 gig). I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than I can tell me if I can just remove one memory module at a time to determine which one is bad? Because of a lack of time, I swapped the non-functioning computer with another desktop running Windows XP. On boot up the computer informs be that file ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt or missing. I've tried running Recovery but it asks for a password. I assembled the damn thing and I don't remember creating a password. Because DOS runs in Windows, the only way I can think of to get a clean version of the corrupted file is to mount the hard drive from the non-functioning computer into this computer, also running XP, as a slave drive. I should then be able to copy a good version of the corrupted file from this computer. Before I screw things up even more, I thought I'd get some advice from those more knowledgeable than I. Good idea or bad?
Yes. You can run with 1 stick of RAM. It will disable the dual or multiple memory channels, but it should be OK. The second problem, see this link for help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477 And as an added bonus, you should try this live OS: http://support.kaspersky.com/us/viruses/rescuedisk It will give you access to the harddrive on a computer with a fried OS so that you can copy files to a USB drive or even a network share (I think). I use it to run offline v-scans but it also has a bunch of other useful functions and it's free.
Thank you! I'll check out your links! ETA: Just checked out the first link. Computer won't boot far enough to allow me to edit the ini file. I've tried the Recovery option. I'm usually pretty careful with passwords but I don't remember creating an administrative password so unless I find the paooword, Recovery is not an option. On to the second link
ARGHGHGH ! Just checked out the second link. Looks like Kaspersky Rescue Disk requires FAT files. This computer stopped recognizing all but NTFS files last May (not sure, but the problem seems to have started after a MS update) and any information I've seen on the Internet does not fix the problem. I've formatted most of my USB drives to NTFS and used my other (broken) computers to download pictures off of my camera. I'll have to wait until my wife gets home on Tuesday and use her laptop.
Check your keyboard on that XP with the missing or corrupt ntoskrnl.exe problem...It is a known issue....could be a short or something or even a sticking key. Other problems...here http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000646.htm On the Windows 7.....I had similar problems when infected by a nasty trojan that would hijack svchost.exe and run the memory usage up too high. Good luck.....
Thanks! Already used 2 different keyboards. I think it's a corrupted file. I think the high memory usage is a Windows update problem. My brother had the same problem on his laptop until he turned off "automatic update". My memory usage is not high; it's non-existent. I was going to create a floppy recovery disc until I remembered that this computer misidentifies the filing systems of drives that are not formatted to NTFS; it sees my floppy filing system as "raw". I cannot format it in Windows. I can format it in DOS but if I do a "Dir a:" it does not get recognized. And Windows disc management does not even "see" it. Unless I get this computer to recognize FAT files, I'm out of ideas.
Have you tried the "three-finger salute?" (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) and checked Windows Task Manager? You can check live memory usage there. That's how I found that svchost.exe problem. In any case I still had to do a clean install. This stuff can be so frustrating....
