Question 2 Separate Systems Will Not Work Properly

[MajorPager]

Hello All, I collected two different desktop towers from a storage unit, an Optiplex GX150 & eMachines T2895, which both work but Windows XP on both of them will not operate properly.

The Optiplex boots into XP but there's green dots everywhere on the screen and after around a minute the whole system locks up. Thought it was an onboard GPU issue but it happened when I used a different GPU. My best guess is that something on the board is bad, but it doesn't look damaged though.

The eMachines loads the startup process, the floppy drive seeks, then one of the two HDD's installed makes a loud click sound and display's this:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writeable.

I don't quite know what to do about that other than reinstalling windows but I don't want to do that just yet. Could I use an install CD to load in replacement files, or perhaps something else?

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about the sequence of events:

Did the two towers already have Windows XP installed or did you install XP?

If the latter, what was the driving requirement to install Windows XP?

How long were the towers in storage? Wondering about the CMOS batteries. Replace with fresh batteries.

Update your post to include full system hardware specs for each tower unit.

Someone may make note of some other related issue or concern....

 

[MajorPager]

Both of these systems had XP installed on them already. Also found out that the green specs on-screen are from my testing monitor. I also fixed the eMachines boot issue with chkdsk. Replaced both CMOS batteries. These units have sat in storage for probably 10 years at least.

Finally got the specs too:

eMachines:
Intel Celeron 2.7GHz, 1GB Ram, Windows XP MCE, Intel Integrated Graphics, MB = MS-6714 VER:1

(After I got this one to boot it's secondary drive wouldn't show up, I went to see if the drive letter was removed from it but there is no option for Disk Management in the Management Console. Is there another way to it? Also found out that the system files keep getting corrupted after each boot, probably because of the old HDD.)

Optiplex:
Intel Celeron 1.1GHz, 128MB Ram, Windows XP Home, Graphics Unknown, MB = 01' Dell Branded Proprietary

(Weird thing with this system is after it locks up and receives a hard shutdown the keyboard doesn't get detected in BIOS for a few boots, couldn't tell ya why.)

 

[Ralston18]

XP & Disks.

Open to the Command Prompt as Admin and enter the following:

wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description

You should be able to copy and paste the above bold text.

The results should be similar to:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.3737]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\REDACTED>wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description
Description DeviceID VolumeName
Local Fixed Disk C: OS
Local Fixed Disk D: Dell Data
CD-ROM Disc E:
Local Fixed Disk T: Terabyte_SSD
Network Connection U: Network_Public
Network Connection V: Current_Files
Network Connection W: From_Public
Network Connection X: Old_Documents
Network Connection Y: Public
Network Connection Z: Family_Photos

Command source:

https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/cmd-list-drives.html

= = = =

Powershell has quite a number of disk related cmdlets: e.g., "Get-Disk", "Get-PhysicalDisk" as a means to look for disk information and details.

If Powershell is not installed on the systems then you may need to do so via Microsoft.

Sample link/tutorial:

https://woshub.com/disks-partitions-management-powershell/

Just use "Get" to see what can be learned about the drives. If a drive does not appear then it may be disconnected in some manner or has failed in some manner.

Regarding "hard shutdowns". If a system first fails to boot and then, after some number of boot attempts, does indeed boot then I tend to thing in terms of a loose connection or component. Needs to warm up, expand, and then connectivity is restored.

Late thought:

You might try running "dism" and "sfc /scannow" to determine if Windows XP can find and fix corrupted files.

https://www.howtogeek.com/222532/ho...-system-files-with-the-sfc-and-dism-commands/