Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 First day of the school hols and I'm getting the blue screen of death on the pc . (I don't mind because I use this laptop but OH and YS won't be happy ). Error message: Registry cannot load hive (file)\systemroot\system32zconfig\sam Gone onto Microsoft help but it's all so complicated and scary . I found one thing that looked good but you can't use it on an OEM-installed OS which I think mine is (came direct from Dell). Googling brings up solutions like this but I don't know whether to trust it . Boot pc from windows XP cd. choose repair console by pressing r now type this (press enter at the end of each line) md tmp copy C:\windows\system32\config\sam C:\windows\tmp\sam.bak delete C:\windows\system32\config\Sam copy C:\windows\repair\sam C:\windows\system32\config\sam Any computer experts out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Gulp Ohhh Eck, sorry ANH, cant help, only sympathise! Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 I hope you have backed up, it looks like you will have to re-install XP, but try the option that you described. Better than nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 MY stuff's OK as it's all on the laptop (and backed up to the external drive) . Remains to be seen if OH has backed up his massive Excel music catalogue recently . TBH, the PC was getting totally full so a complete reinstall might not be a bad thing . Fred, is the repair console thingy not worth doing (or too difficult )? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 did the machine come with a repair disk? if so you more than likely need to boot from that you'll need to make the CD drive bootable for the system to find the repair disk but you'll need some one to explain that bit I know how to do it but not how to put it in to the written word part way through repairing my Anties machine after the Blue screen only been on it 3 weeks on and off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 The repair console is easy, lot less hassle than formatting the whole thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 Aaarrggh I'm trying to rename the offending file in the Recovery Console (so I can restore the backup copy of the hive from the Repair folder) and it just keeps telling me the file name, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect . WHICH ONE??? I'm trying to do what it says for "rename" but can't get it right . It says RENAME [drive:][path]filename1 filename2. I've tried various versions of this, using backslashes and not, caps and not, full stops at the end and not etc etc RENAME [C:\][WINDOWS\system32\config\]SAM SAM2 Any ideas where I'm going wrong ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 have you tried it with out the [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 I've discovered that I was trying to rename the wrong file . I've followed the instructions and managed to get it to work. But .... now I'm getting "Isass.exe - system error" when I start Windows . I should have left well alone and taken it to a shop . Looking into what that one means now . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Is it a lowercase 'L' or a capital one? Or is it an 'i' ? if its all lower case like : lsass.exe - then it is an virus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 It's capital L (I thought it unlikely to be a virus as it came straight after my messing about ). I'm halfway through a repair at present - fingers crossed . Thanks for the support guys . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Oh no My macbook has died today as well. Have been having problems with greying out and frozen screen since loading Snow Leopard This morning the screen just stayed blue. Machine has now swallowed my install disc and I can't get it out. Taking it to the Mac ER tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 You used to be able to stick a long pin into a wee hole in the cd tray and it would pop out. Hope you get yours fixed . They're such a pain when they go wrong . I've spent the best past of this afternoon trying to fix ours (and I don't even use the blimming thing much ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 There is no hole in the CD tray, as mac's do not have a tray.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickric Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Oh noMy macbook has died today as well. Have been having problems with greying out and frozen screen since loading Snow Leopard This morning the screen just stayed blue. Machine has now swallowed my install disc and I can't get it out. Taking it to the Mac ER tomorrow What A Mac dying, didn't think that was possible Sorry hope you all get sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 What a worrying and stressful afternoon . All sorted now though . The mouse isn't working for some unknown reason but apart from that it all seems OK (just some tidying up to get things back to the way they were ). OH is totally oblivious as he's been at work then went straight to his Christmas night out . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Well it looks like there are application incompatibilities if you upgrade Tiger to Snow leopard importing some old non Mac ones If I'd looked at some of the discussion forums I would have spotted the problem. I have had a clean install, restored from Time Machine and junked all my non Mac applications. My Mac doctor gave me a Snow Leopard compatibility checker cd to use on my desktop Mac before I upgrade. All seems OK so far I hope you're sorted ANH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 Well, all was going well until I found I couldn't open any browsers . New thread running here. Off to try Fred's advice now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
