Recovery Console - dir and cd commands say "The path or file specified is not valid". Why?

From: Phil Addison (phil_a_at_blueyonder.co.uk)
Date: 03/14/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:22:26 GMT

[I asked already in microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support, without
a solution, so am cross-posting. Hope someone here knows the answer -
thanks.]

I have a Dell Latitude CPt C333GT loaded with XP Pro which will not
complete booting from the HDD.

>From power up I get the usual boot menu with "Safe", "Safe + network",
"Safe + Command prompt", "Last known good configuration", And "Start
windows normally".

Choosing "Start windows normally" produces:

XP splash screen for a few seconds then a blank screen for about 5
minutes during which the HDD is making repetitive sounds. That finishes
with a blue screen saying:
"STOP: c0000218 Unknown Hard Error
Dumping physical memory to disk: nn" (where nn counts up).
After some 10s of seconds the machine re-boots and the cycle starts
again.

Booting into "Safe Mode" I get:
XP splash screen for a few seconds then a list of drivers being loaded.
The last few in the list are:

multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\ACPI.sys, WMILIB,
pci, isapnp, compbatt, BATTC, intelide, PCIIDEX, pcmcia, MountMgr,
ftdisk, PartMgr, VolSnap, atapi, disk, CLASSPNP, sr, KsecDD Ntfs, NDIS,
Mup, agp440.sys.

These all have ".sys" extensions, and the list ends with "agp440.sys".
At this point the disk is repetitively cycling, and the above list
remains on the screen. After about 3 minutes I get a blue screen saying

"STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SECURITY or its log or alternate. It is
corrupt, absent, or not writable.
Dumping physical memory to disk: nn"

After some 1/2 minute or so the machine re-boots, and the same happens
again.

I found a KB article that indicates the problem is corrupted registry
hives: "How to troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 error"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314874. This article refers to "How to
recover from a corrupted registry"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545, which explains how to use the
Recovery Console to restore the hives.

So far so good, and can I load the Recovery Console from an XP Pro CD.

I immediately hit a snag in that the commands I need are all disabled.

In particular DIR, CD, MD will not run, so I cannot do anything useful.
These commands respond with "The path or file specified is not valid".

Also the 307545 article says I should see an administrator password
dialog, but I am getting straight into the recovery console without
seeing that.

I currently have a C:\Windows> prompt, but cannot navigate at all
because of the disabled dir, etc, commands.

System restore from start-up does not work, so I do need to be able to
restore the registry files manually.

I can also boot into 'setup' from an XP Pro CD and could do a repair
installation, but only want to try that as a last resort, because of the
risks of upsetting application settings.

Any ideas please?

Phil

Relevant Pages

  • Re: I have deleted a Key in REGEDIT. help!.
    ... Regedit is the program that edits the registry. ... of running the Recovery Console. ... Doing these commands from the recovery console, ... the poster "noname" is suggesting in the Asus group. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: Corrupted registry key -- cant delete
    ... Once in Recovery Console enter the following commands: ... Locate the registry entry/key you wish to change in this branch of the Registry. ... Reboot with the XP CD and enter Recovery Console again. ... log on to a different account, the built-in Administrator account ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize)
  • Re: Registry Help
    ... If you know how to write a registry file, ... and if it can be started from the command ... now how do I use the Recovery Console ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: REPAIR Console Commands & Utilities
    ... Other than copying/moving/switching registry hives around you can do a grand total of zero things with the registry in the Recovery Console. ... The commands list is just the native commands. ... "Tecknomage" wrote: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: How do I restore or recover my system to out of box state?
    ... Now use your WinXP CD or diskettes to access the Recovery Console. ... What it is getting you to do is to copy and rename your existing registry ... security patches released since SP2 came out in 2004. ... > after the cows have all run off and have tried to restore my system to any ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)