PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

[SIMES]

All,

I ran up my machine the other day and I got an error saying that the file ntoskrnl.exe was missing or had become corrupt. At first I looked at trying to install XP again but could not access the partition. So I ran the recovery disk I have with my Dell Dimension 2400 for XP Home SP1 and ran chkdsk. This seemed to rectify the problem of seeing the partition. I then posted a question to Dell and got an automated response that told me to expand the ntkrnlmp.ex_ to ntoskrnl.exe, but the expand did not work. So I copied the file ntoskrnl.exe from the recovery CD and also copied the file ntkrnlmp.ex_ to ntkrnlmp.exe. This got me further but then complained about ntfs.sys, so I copied this in as well. I eventually got the error message SESSION5_INITIALIZATION_FAILED, which I found out could be caused by the file ntdll.dll being too new for the version of XP Home on the machine, so I copied it from the d:\i386 directory on the recovery CD and this got me further to a new message saying there was a problem with C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE; something to do with the registry and not being able to hive (file). I then read that you can solve this by copying the files DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE and SYSTEM to .bak versions and then delete them and then copy the ones from the C:\WINDOWS\REPAIR directory. I did all this, but then I got a SESSION MANAGER INITIALIZATION failure message. I then read that this could be something to do with hotfixes and followed the instructions to uninstall recent fixes one at a time by running the command 'batch spuninst.txt' in each directory, until the PC could boot up. I did the first two hotfixes but I now get the message PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED message that talks about looking at caching and shadowing, but I have not done anything with this yet as most of the talk seems to be about GoBack (Roxio). So that's where I am, and does anyone know what I can do to rectify this.

Simes

[RJARRRPCGP]

All,

I ran up my machine the other day and I got an error saying that the file ntoskrnl.exe was missing or had become corrupt. At first I looked at trying to install XP again but could not access the partition. So I ran the recovery disk I have with my Dell Dimension 2400 for XP Home SP1 and ran chkdsk. This seemed to rectify the problem of seeing the partition. I then posted a question to Dell and got an automated response that told me to expand the ntkrnlmp.ex_ to ntoskrnl.exe, but the expand did not work. So I copied the file ntoskrnl.exe from the recovery CD and also copied the file ntkrnlmp.ex_ to ntkrnlmp.exe. This got me further but then complained about ntfs.sys, so I copied this in as well. I eventually got the error message SESSION5_INITIALIZATION_FAILED, which I found out could be caused by the file ntdll.dll being too new for the version of XP Home on the machine, so I copied it from the d:\i386 directory on the recovery CD and this got me further to a new message saying there was a problem with C:\Windows\System32\Config\SOFTWARE; something to do with the registry and not being able to hive (file). I then read that you can solve this by copying the files DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE and SYSTEM to .bak versions and then delete them and then copy the ones from the C:\WINDOWS\REPAIR directory. I did all this, but then I got a SESSION MANAGER INITIALIZATION failure message. I then read that this could be something to do with hotfixes and followed the instructions to uninstall recent fixes one at a time by running the command 'batch spuninst.txt' in each directory, until the PC could boot up. I did the first two hotfixes but I now get the message PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED message that talks about looking at caching and shadowing, but I have not done anything with this yet as most of the talk seems to be about GoBack (Roxio). So that's where I am, and does anyone know what I can do to rectify this.

Simes

Because of the first error, likely a hardware malfunction. Please check the caps on the motherboard.

A while ago, badcaps.net has been reporting a rash of bad caps in Dell PCs.

[Jeremy]

I ran up my machine the other day and I got an error saying that the file ntoskrnl.exe was missing or had become corrupt.

Don't jump the gun. It could be nothing. Try unplugging your HDD connector (IDE or SATA/2) and reconnecting it. My in-law had that issue with NTFS.SYS and doing that fixed it for her.

Otherwise, boot to your XPCD and do a repair install.

If that doesn't work, plug the HDD into another system, backup your data and reformat.

If that doesn't rectify the issue, it's likely a faulty HDD, which you can determine by downloading and burning the Ultimate Boot CD 4.0 and testing it with the appropriate tool.

[RJARRRPCGP]

I ran up my machine the other day and I got an error saying that the file ntoskrnl.exe was missing or had become corrupt.

Don't jump the gun. It could be nothing. Try unplugging your HDD connector (IDE or SATA/2) and reconnecting it. My in-law had that issue with NTFS.SYS and doing that fixed it for her.

Otherwise, boot to your XPCD and do a repair install.

If that doesn't work, plug the HDD into another system, backup your data and reformat.

If that doesn't rectify the issue, it's likely a faulty HDD, which you can determine by downloading and burning the Ultimate Boot CD 4.0 and testing it with the appropriate tool.

The same error can occur if your processor is overclocked too much or not enough Vcore.

[cluberti]

It certainly sounds like a hotfix install gone bad, file corruption, or registry corruption (my money's on b, mind you, but c is also possible). The easiest way to fix it is to do a repair install and then reinstall any service packs and hotfixes you will need - if you've got that many problems, you're in for a long, long day in chasing the rat down the hole on this one before you might get the box to work (and even if you do, how stable will it actually be?).

[jcarle]

RJARRRPCGP and Jeremy... piece of advice, diagnose before assuming. You both make hasty assumptions to blame hardware without any diagnosis whatsoever. RJARRRPCGP, you can't blame everything on leaking capacitors. Jeremy, there's a multitude of things which can lead to data corruption, the hard drive could be the least defective part. The motherboard, processor, memory, optical drive, drive cables and power supply can all play a part in data corruption even if the hard drive is in fact okay.

There's a number of ways to do quick testing to eliminate most hardware issues which can then point to a more definitive conclusion as to the actual problem.

[Jeremy]

RJARRRPCGP and Jeremy... piece of advice, diagnose before assuming. You both make hasty assumptions to blame hardware without any diagnosis whatsoever.

Excuse me?

If that doesn't rectify the issue, it's likely a faulty HDD, which you can determine by downloading and burning the Ultimate Boot CD 4.0 and testing it with the appropriate tool.

[jcarle]

RJARRRPCGP and Jeremy... piece of advice, diagnose before assuming. You both make hasty assumptions to blame hardware without any diagnosis whatsoever.

Excuse me?

If that doesn't rectify the issue, it's likely a faulty HDD, which you can determine by downloading and burning the Ultimate Boot CD 4.0 and testing it with the appropriate tool.

Yes, you read right. You said, "it's likely a faulty HDD". Why not take the approach, "To make sure it's not the hard drive, you should test it.". You start off with the mindset that the hard drive is responsible of the get go. In the way you structure your sentence, you're already dead set that the hard drive is responsible instead of assuming it's not and verifying it to be sure.

Don't get all bent over this, it's just a suggestion. I'm trying to show you a different point of view, is all.