Troubleshoot May have killed my OS by shredding 2 software drivers, could use advice

[conceptualclarity]

Briefly explain your current issue(s)

I continually get the STOP: 0X0000007B blue screen when I try to start the computer. On the next try I will get the menu that offers "Safe Mode" and "Last Known Good Configuration", etc., but those options lead only to more STOP: 0X0000007B blue screens.

Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful

I took it to a reputable computer repairman. He tried everything, including all modes and scanning it for malware.

Hello, my Malware Tips friends. I had been having blue screen problems with my old Dell XP. The programs WhoCrashed and BlueScreenView implicated a few drivers of non-essential software as the culprits. I examined the drivers module in AutoRuns (by Sysinternals) and carefully selected non-essential software drivers for disabling of their autostart status by unchecking the box in AutoRuns. (I avoided hardware drivers, Microsoft drivers, and drivers for actual autostart programs.) Three times when I restarted after this limited driver-autostart disabling I got the STOP: 0X0000007B blue screen. I was in effect forced to use Last Known Good Configuration on the subsequent startups, and this restored all the autostarts I had disabled. To test what was going on, I shut down my system without disabling any driver autostarts, and the system restarted normally.

I tried disabling via AutoRuns only two files in the system32\drivers folders that were implicated in previous blue screens : wrkrn.sys (associated with Webroot, which after expiration had continued on my system as an on-demand scanner) and vvbackd5.sys (associated with a FarStone program which I had not yet chosen to utilize). I got the STOP: 0X0000007B blue screen again. After this in my frustration I shredded wrkrn.sys and vvbackd5.sys.

Really bad move. After this I continually get the STOP: 0X0000007B blue screen when I try to start the computer. On the next try I will get the menu that offers "Safe Mode" and "Last Known Good Configuration", etc., but those options lead only to more STOP: 0X0000007B blue screens. I had deleted those two drivers previously without problems, but it had been after moving them out of system32\drivers. (And of course, the drivers had been recreated.)

I know it's academic at this point, but what do you think I could have done with those drivers without creating the mess I created? Maybe I should have just uninstalled the programs although I preferred not to.

I took my computer to one repairman, and he said it couldn't be fixed. I want more opinions.

I have a new computer I will be setting up soon, but I had really wanted to keep this one as a second computer to use for limited purposes, including substituting if the new one has to go to the repair shop.

I also want to recover everything off the old Dell. The repairman said he didn't think I would be able to recover my Outlook Express emails. What do you think? I could set up a virtual XP on my new computer and possibly get my Outlook Express emails that way, I think.

The repairman said I could use an IDE to USB adaptor to drag and drop files and folders from the old Dell XP to my new computer, although he doesn't think that will work for restoring Outlook Express emails. A good adaptor of this sort can be had for as little as $20 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0063JN3WE/...p;linkCode=asn). Any advice about this procedure?

I have Laplink PC Mover Ultimate. I called Laplink support late at night. The technician said he that in order to use Laplink PC Mover Ultimate in this situation I would have to fix my old computer first. He said he could help me do that, interestingly enough. But he said I would have to sign up for a year of iYogi support for my two computers at $299. Ouch! And that's more than double the subscription price at http://www.iyogi.net/.

So do you think my old computer can be fixed? Any advice on any points raised here would be welcome.



Computer: Dell System B3 Desktop
CPU: Intel Pentium 4-2667 (Northwood, D1)
2666 MHz (20.00x133.3) @ 2657 MHz (20.00x132.9)
Motherboard: DELL 0G1548
Chipset: Intel 845GEV (Brookdale-GEV) + ICH4
Memory: 2048 MBytes @ 166 MHz, 2.5-3-3-7
- 1024 MB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM - Kingston K
Graphics: Intel 82845G/GL/GV Graphics Controller [DELL]
Intel i845G(L) Integrated, 64 MB
Drive: ST380011A, 78.1 GB, E-IDE (ATA-6)
Drive: HGST HTS545050A7E380, 488.4 GB, Serial ATA 3Gb/s <-> USB
Drive: SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S, CD-R Writer
Sound: Creative Technology SB Live! Series Audio Processor
Network: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC [A/B/C]
Network: Broadcom 4401 10/100 Integrated Controller
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Build 2600 SP3

 

[nissimezra]

did you try system restore on safe mode?
outlock save the data to an OST file, you will need to copy it to another computer and you might be lucky
or
you can try registry restore wizard, it can be found on hirenes boot cd and restore your registrs using built in sys restore
once you loged in open outlook and creat a pst file. then import it to the new computer.

all your files are saved to the ost file, make sure to copy it.
https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ost file viewer

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ost+file+location

I dont know what kind of technician will say that. he probably has no experience.

 

[conceptualclarity]

did you try system restore on safe mode?

Yea, I tried Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, everything on that menu.

you can try registry restore wizard, it can be found on hirenes boot cd

I have that, on a flash drive or an external hard drive, but I've never used it so far.

My email is with Outlook express, so it's in DBX files.

 

[Piteko21]

you can try Hiren's boot cd when start in boot and try to use the hirens boot tools, depite I never user hirens boot

 

[Jaspion]

One possibility that comes to mind is simply reinstalling Windows and asking it to keep your documents and programs.

The idea of recovering the files using Hiren's or another boot CD and/or another computer should work too. Don't despair, there is probably a solution.

 

[nissimezra]

Yea, I tried Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, everything on that menu.



I have that, on a flash drive or an external hard drive, but I've never used it so far.

My email is with Outlook express, so it's in DBX files.

but did you try system restore
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-System-Restore-in-Windows-XP

do you have blue screen in safe mode?

 

[jamescv7]

If you made a system image point the time you made a backup without issues try to restore via backup software you have or access a recovery console based on saving partition you have to operate factory settings.

 

[conceptualclarity]

do you have blue screen in safe mode?

Yes, definitely.

 

[Terry Ganzi]

Hi,buddy just get yourself the os cd & boot with it,you'll see a repair button hit it & relax. Or in safemode run cmd as admin & type sfc/scannow & the pc will repair itself.

 

[nissimezra]

Yes, definitely.

safe mode should disable all your drivers, that's the point off safe mode, no drivers no programs. so in that case you can forget about driver problem.
a simple trick
create a partition, install new windows xp, now you have access to your drive from fresh OS. before doing so and to eliminate virus I would run a scan with msert.exe and combofix on safe mode just not to infect the new OS

 

[nissimezra]

Hi,buddy just get yourself the os cd & boot with it,you'll see a repair button hit it & relax.

doing repair install will delete all programs install\drivers. I dont like to do repair coz if the system is infected he will be reinfect. and he will need his product key and to have same version

 

[Paul B.]

There are several ways to go at this, many have been mentioned. You also can tether the hard drive to another system and do a search for the missing drivers. You can try opening the programs in 7zip and seeing if you can extract the drivers. You can install the progs on another machine and copy the drivers over. You can open Hiren's mini-XP and purge the registry of all mentions of the two programs calling the missing drivers.

No matter what you do, there should be no connection between a boot problem and rescuing data, unless the drive is in question or ransomware is at play. Get your data safe before you do anything else. And if you have IMAP email accounts, the data is already on the servers.