Aborted XP Home Repair - Now stuck in "setup is being restarted...." loop

[paparush]

Hello,
Wondering if someone can lead me out of this labrynth...

Using the CD that came w/ my Dell, I attempted to do a Repair.

I booted from the CD and chose the Recovery Console option. This
dropped me into a command console environment, and asked me to select
which paritition I wanted to repair and to provide my administrator
password. Cool. No problem.

Somewhere back in the recesses of my reptilian brainstem, I remembered
reading somewhere that when you load this CD, you get the first
option:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

And somewhere down this path, you get the choice to Repair the
installation.

Well, I rebooted and when Prompted, I hit Enter
I hit F8 to accept the license agreement
I pressed 'R' to repair the selected windows installation.
Windows Examined my disk.
Windows did its thing and warned me that it was rebooting.

When windows rebooted and dropped back to the *ahem* Repair, it LOOKED
like it was going to reinstall the operating system. I freaked out
and powered off the machine, and this, I think, was the real start of
my problem.

Now, every time I boot, I get a light blue screen with the
wods.."Setup is being restarted...." This lasts about 30 seconds,
then I'm dropped into a blank, light blue screen with a big mouse
cursor (which I can move around). I never get prompted for the CD.
I've tried getting into Safe Mode and I cannot.

Have I inadvertantly shot myself in the foot? Anyone know how I can
get back to my login without having to wipe the machine. I've used a
live Knoppix CD and pulled most of my personal data off the box, just
in case, but I'm sure I've missed something that will prove vitally
important next week.

[MS RANT]

Why, oh why, did MS put a REPAIR procedure under a SETUP procedure?

Why, oh why, did MS make the repair UI look EXACTLY like the SETUP/
INSTALL UI?

[/MS RANT]

 

[John John]

Edit the boot.ini file and remove the references to
\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat. and delete the associated folders

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827324

You can do that with your Live Knoppix.

John

 

[paparush]

Hey John,
thanks a lot!

I was just reading an article "Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands"
which describes these steps:

C: Attrib -H C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -S C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -R c:\\boot.ini

c: del boot.ini

c: BOOTCFG /Rebuild

c: CHKDSK /R/F

c: FIXBOOT

Which as you can see, is basically deleting the current boot.ini and
getting windows to recompile the boot.ini

Edit the boot.ini file and remove the references to
\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat. and delete the associated folders

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827324

You can do that with your Live Knoppix.

John

Hello,
Wondering if someone can lead me out of this labrynth...

Using the CD that came w/ my Dell, I attempted to do a Repair.

I booted from the CD and chose the Recovery Console option. This
dropped me into a command console environment, and asked me to select
which paritition I wanted to repair and to provide my administrator
password. Cool. No problem.

Somewhere back in the recesses of my reptilian brainstem, I remembered
reading somewhere that when you load this CD, you get the first
option:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

And somewhere down this path, you get the choice to Repair the
installation.

Well, I rebooted and when Prompted, I hit Enter
I hit F8 to accept the license agreement
I pressed 'R' to repair the selected windows installation.
Windows Examined my disk.
Windows did its thing and warned me that it was rebooting.

When windows rebooted and dropped back to the *ahem* Repair, it LOOKED
like it was going to reinstall the operating system. I freaked out
and powered off the machine, and this, I think, was the real start of
my problem.

Now, every time I boot, I get a light blue screen with the
wods.."Setup is being restarted...." This lasts about 30 seconds,
then I'm dropped into a blank, light blue screen with a big mouse
cursor (which I can move around). I never get prompted for the CD.
I've tried getting into Safe Mode and I cannot.

Have I inadvertantly shot myself in the foot? Anyone know how I can
get back to my login without having to wipe the machine. I've used a
live Knoppix CD and pulled most of my personal data off the box, just
in case, but I'm sure I've missed something that will prove vitally
important next week.

[MS RANT]

Why, oh why, did MS put a REPAIR procedure under a SETUP procedure?

Why, oh why, did MS make the repair UI look EXACTLY like the SETUP/
INSTALL UI?

[/MS RANT]

 

[John John]

Yes, it does the same thing... and more. Running chkdsk or fixboot is
not necessary to remove an incomplete setup. There is always a risk of
loosing files when running chkdsk so you should be careful with it.

John

Hey John,
thanks a lot!

I was just reading an article "Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands"
which describes these steps:

C: Attrib -H C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -S C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -R c:\\boot.ini

c: del boot.ini

c: BOOTCFG /Rebuild

c: CHKDSK /R/F

c: FIXBOOT

Which as you can see, is basically deleting the current boot.ini and
getting windows to recompile the boot.ini

Edit the boot.ini file and remove the references to
\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat. and delete the associated folders

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827324

You can do that with your Live Knoppix.

John

Hello,
Wondering if someone can lead me out of this labrynth...

Using the CD that came w/ my Dell, I attempted to do a Repair.

I booted from the CD and chose the Recovery Console option. This
dropped me into a command console environment, and asked me to select
which paritition I wanted to repair and to provide my administrator
password. Cool. No problem.

Somewhere back in the recesses of my reptilian brainstem, I remembered
reading somewhere that when you load this CD, you get the first
option:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

And somewhere down this path, you get the choice to Repair the
installation.

Well, I rebooted and when Prompted, I hit Enter
I hit F8 to accept the license agreement
I pressed 'R' to repair the selected windows installation.
Windows Examined my disk.
Windows did its thing and warned me that it was rebooting.

When windows rebooted and dropped back to the *ahem* Repair, it LOOKED
like it was going to reinstall the operating system. I freaked out
and powered off the machine, and this, I think, was the real start of
my problem.

Now, every time I boot, I get a light blue screen with the
wods.."Setup is being restarted...." This lasts about 30 seconds,
then I'm dropped into a blank, light blue screen with a big mouse
cursor (which I can move around). I never get prompted for the CD.
I've tried getting into Safe Mode and I cannot.

Have I inadvertantly shot myself in the foot? Anyone know how I can
get back to my login without having to wipe the machine. I've used a
live Knoppix CD and pulled most of my personal data off the box, just
in case, but I'm sure I've missed something that will prove vitally
important next week.

[MS RANT]

Why, oh why, did MS put a REPAIR procedure under a SETUP procedure?

Why, oh why, did MS make the repair UI look EXACTLY like the SETUP/
INSTALL UI?

[/MS RANT]

 

[paparush]

Hi John,
I'm still no joy. I did the boot.ini fix, but, when I reboot, I see
"Setup is being restarted...." then I'm dropped to a light blue screen
with a big white mouse cursor that just sits there, forever. When i
boot to safe mode, I end up at up at a black screen with SAFE MODE
across the top that just sits there, forever. When I boot off the XP
rescue cd, i have no 'Repair' option under the Setup.

There's got to be a way to restore the system files without losing all
of my data, my settings, my software, my registry...which is all
there; beautifully visible via knoppix. I can't stand the thought of
losing 4 years of configuration because a few files are corrupt or
missing. I've come close, twice, to blowing away my main partition
and reinstalling, but I can't stomach the thought of reinstalling all
of my software and service packs.

Can you think of anything else that might help?

Thanks for your time!

-Rush

Yes, it does the same thing... and more. Running chkdsk or fixboot is
not necessary to remove an incomplete setup. There is always a risk of
loosing files when running chkdsk so you should be careful with it.

John

Hey John,
thanks a lot!

I was just reading an article "Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands"
which describes these steps:

C: Attrib -H C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -S C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -R c:\\boot.ini

c: del boot.ini

c: BOOTCFG /Rebuild

c: CHKDSK /R/F

c: FIXBOOT

Which as you can see, is basically deleting the current boot.ini and
getting windows to recompile the boot.ini

Edit the boot.ini file and remove the references to
\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat. and delete the associated folders
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827324
You can do that with your Live Knoppix.
John
paparush wrote:
Hello,
Wondering if someone can lead me out of this labrynth...
Using the CD that came w/ my Dell, I attempted to do aRepair.
I booted from the CD and chose the Recovery Console option. This
dropped me into a command console environment, and asked me to select
which paritition I wanted torepairand to provide my administrator
password. Cool. No problem.
Somewhere back in the recesses of my reptilian brainstem, I remembered
reading somewhere that when you load this CD, you get the first
option:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
And somewhere down this path, you get the choice toRepairthe
installation.
Well, I rebooted and when Prompted, I hit Enter
I hit F8 to accept the license agreement
I pressed 'R' torepairthe selected windows installation.
Windows Examined my disk.
Windows did its thing and warned me that it was rebooting.
When windows rebooted and dropped back to the *ahem*Repair, it LOOKED
like it was going to reinstall the operating system. I freaked out
and powered off the machine, and this, I think, was the real start of
my problem.
Now, every time I boot, I get a light blue screen with the
wods.."Setup is being restarted...." This lasts about 30 seconds,
then I'm dropped into a blank, light blue screen with a big mouse
cursor (which I can move around). I never get prompted for the CD.
I've tried getting into Safe Mode and I cannot.
Have I inadvertantly shot myself in the foot? Anyone know how I can
get back to my login without having to wipe the machine. I've used a
live Knoppix CD and pulled most of my personal data off the box, just
in case, but I'm sure I've missed something that will prove vitally
important next week.
[MS RANT]
Why, oh why, did MS put aREPAIRprocedure under a SETUP procedure?
Why, oh why, did MS make therepairUI look EXACTLY like the SETUP/
INSTALL UI?
[/MS RANT]

 

[John John]

The BOOTCFG /Rebuild must've added the \$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat back
in the boot.ini file. Boot with your Knoppix cd and copy the contents
of the boot.ini file here and someone will tell you which lines to
remove to fix it. Was the computer capable of booting before you
attempted the repair? Do you have a floppy diskette drive? If so you
might be able to boot with a floppy boot disk:
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/

John

Hi John,
I'm still no joy. I did the boot.ini fix, but, when I reboot, I see
"Setup is being restarted...." then I'm dropped to a light blue screen
with a big white mouse cursor that just sits there, forever. When i
boot to safe mode, I end up at up at a black screen with SAFE MODE
across the top that just sits there, forever. When I boot off the XP
rescue cd, i have no 'Repair' option under the Setup.

There's got to be a way to restore the system files without losing all
of my data, my settings, my software, my registry...which is all
there; beautifully visible via knoppix. I can't stand the thought of
losing 4 years of configuration because a few files are corrupt or
missing. I've come close, twice, to blowing away my main partition
and reinstalling, but I can't stomach the thought of reinstalling all
of my software and service packs.

Can you think of anything else that might help?

Thanks for your time!

-Rush

Yes, it does the same thing... and more. Running chkdsk or fixboot is
not necessary to remove an incomplete setup. There is always a risk of
loosing files when running chkdsk so you should be careful with it.

John

Hey John,
thanks a lot!

I was just reading an article "Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands"
which describes these steps:

C: Attrib -H C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -S C:\\boot.ini
C: Attrib -R c:\\boot.ini

c: del boot.ini

c: BOOTCFG /Rebuild

c: CHKDSK /R/F

c: FIXBOOT

Which as you can see, is basically deleting the current boot.ini and
getting windows to recompile the boot.ini

On Mar 21, 8:47 am, John John <[email protected]> wrote:

Edit the boot.ini file and remove the references to
\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat. and delete the associated folders

You can do that with your Live Knoppix.

paparush wrote:

Hello,
Wondering if someone can lead me out of this labrynth...

Using the CD that came w/ my Dell, I attempted to do aRepair.

I booted from the CD and chose the Recovery Console option. This
dropped me into a command console environment, and asked me to select
which paritition I wanted torepairand to provide my administrator
password. Cool. No problem.

Somewhere back in the recesses of my reptilian brainstem, I remembered
reading somewhere that when you load this CD, you get the first
option:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

And somewhere down this path, you get the choice toRepairthe
installation.

Well, I rebooted and when Prompted, I hit Enter
I hit F8 to accept the license agreement
I pressed 'R' torepairthe selected windows installation.
Windows Examined my disk.
Windows did its thing and warned me that it was rebooting.

When windows rebooted and dropped back to the *ahem*Repair, it LOOKED
like it was going to reinstall the operating system. I freaked out
and powered off the machine, and this, I think, was the real start of
my problem.

Now, every time I boot, I get a light blue screen with the
wods.."Setup is being restarted...." This lasts about 30 seconds,
then I'm dropped into a blank, light blue screen with a big mouse
cursor (which I can move around). I never get prompted for the CD.
I've tried getting into Safe Mode and I cannot.

Have I inadvertantly shot myself in the foot? Anyone know how I can
get back to my login without having to wipe the machine. I've used a
live Knoppix CD and pulled most of my personal data off the box, just
in case, but I'm sure I've missed something that will prove vitally
important next week.

[MS RANT]

Why, oh why, did MS put aREPAIRprocedure under a SETUP procedure?

Why, oh why, did MS make therepairUI look EXACTLY like the SETUP/
INSTALL UI?

[/MS RANT]

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Wow. Sorry for reviving an old thread but I need help. This exact same
thing happened to me. Few days ago, my XP Pro randomly contracted the
BSOD and so I tried fixing it by running the repair from my Windows XP
CD.

After it restarted, like this guy, I freaked out after seeing what I
thought was Windows reinstalling itself and forced shut-down my
computer. Now whenever I start it up, I get the same light blue screen
with "Setup is restarting........" then my PC reboots itself and it
becomes a loop. With safe mode, it just shows the black screen with the
safe mode border for a few seconds and reboots itself. I've tried
rerunning the repair with no luck.

I tried what this guy says and I tried rebuilding my boot.ini file with
recovery console and running chkdisk and I've also tried opening it with
Knoppix but there's no such "\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat" reference in it
or anything. Just a normal boot.ini file. Not sure if this guy solved
his problem, since it seems he never came back here but does anyone know
how I can solve this without wiping my computer clean or transferring
files onto anything external? I just want my old computer back.

If you want your old computer back, the first step is to transfer your files
to something external. Your current setup apparently has significant
problems and you are at high risk of losing whatever is on it..

It will take you less time to stop, back up your data, and do this properly
than to try to recover in a haphazard manner. Data recovery is not
necessarily reliable.

If you don't have anything external, get a new drive - where I am, 500gig
drives are about $60 - remove your old drive and set it aside. Put the new
drive in and do a clean install. *After* that is complete, attach the old
drive and copy your data to the new install.

HTH
-pk

 

[Richard]

Wow. Sorry for reviving an old thread but I need help. This exact same
thing happened to me. Few days ago, my XP Pro randomly contracted the
BSOD and so I tried fixing it by running the repair from my Windows XP
CD.

After it restarted, like this guy, I freaked out after seeing what I
thought was Windows reinstalling itself and forced shut-down my
computer. Now whenever I start it up, I get the same light blue screen
with "Setup is restarting........" then my PC reboots itself and it
becomes a loop. With safe mode, it just shows the black screen with the
safe mode border for a few seconds and reboots itself. I've tried
rerunning the repair with no luck.

I tried what this guy says and I tried rebuilding my boot.ini file with
recovery console and running chkdisk and I've also tried opening it with
Knoppix but there's no such "\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat" reference in it
or anything. Just a normal boot.ini file. Not sure if this guy solved
his problem, since it seems he never came back here but does anyone know
how I can solve this without wiping my computer clean or transferring
files onto anything external? I just want my old computer back.

You probably interrupted the process when setup files were being copied to
the drive, and the boot.ini file was already modified to include an
additional boot option for setup, which was set to default.

The cure, using Recovery Console, is to navigate to the root folder of
your system drive, (usually C:\) and:
rename boot.ini boot.old
and then:
copy boot.bak boot.ini
and then:
exit

What was the original BSOD message, (including text that LOOKS_LIKE_THIS,
and complete error codes that look like: 0x00000000)

What Service Pack level is your WinXP pro setup? SP2? SP3?
What Service Pack level is the installation CD?
(What other details did you forget to mention above?

Hope This Helps.
--Richard

 

[Raymond]

Hi

Anyone has an idea where the so called incomplete setup is remembered which
causes the "Setup is restarting......." message ?

It is definitely not the boot.ini with a line like
"\$win_nt$.~bt\bootsect.dat"
XP thinks the setup is incomplete, this is wrong, as the system was in
perfect working condition before I executed de XP repair (and I executed the
repair procedure because the boot sequence was stuck with a light blue
screen with only the active cursor on it)

Any hint please ?

Thank you in advance
Raymond

 

[Raymond]

My last attempt...
I removed the disk from the PC and installed it on another computer, then, I
started RegEdit and loaded the Software hive.
I checked \Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and the Run and RunOnce key,
nothing special in there.
I guess I missed it.

Maybe another/better idea ?

Raymond

 

[John John - MVP]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\SystemSetupInProgress

The SystemSetupInProgress 0x1 value signals to the operating system that
the setup in in progress.

John