Neal: Problem Worse Than Thought

Neal: I 1st posted "Must Reboot to Access Sys Restore".
Per your Reply I tested Sys Restore ( which does make
manual and auto CheckPoints) & found: [Restoration
Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored todate
selected).Nothing has been changed.] 5 weeks ago I
re-installed Win Me per Dell Warranty Support BECAUSE of
the Sys Restore "Dec 1899" screen. The Must Reboot for SR
occurred later. Q2740922 blames "wininit.ini for the Reboot
issue and early Searches DID NOT SEE IT. Now it occurrs
daily. I find no KB article specific to manual/auto made
Checkpoints not working. This is more important than the
Reboot issue. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Good old Dell Support: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=275646

Shane


"Craig S" wrote in message
...
Neal: I 1st posted "Must Reboot to Access Sys Restore".
Per your Reply I tested Sys Restore ( which does make
manual and auto CheckPoints) & found: [Restoration
Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored todate
selected).Nothing has been changed.] 5 weeks ago I
re-installed Win Me per Dell Warranty Support BECAUSE of
the Sys Restore "Dec 1899" screen. The Must Reboot for SR
occurred later. Q2740922 blames "wininit.ini for the Reboot
issue and early Searches DID NOT SEE IT. Now it occurrs
daily. I find no KB article specific to manual/auto made
Checkpoints not working. This is more important than the
Reboot issue. Any suggestions? Thanks!

So which is your current problem?
Restoration Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored
or
Must Reboot for SR

It would help those who might be able to help if you could indicate your
current problem. As it is your post seems to be a collection of various
problems that may or may not have occurred over the past few months.
Trying to guess at your current problem I have made a couple of
suggestions below.

Rstoration Unsuccessful:
A failure to restore to a previously created checkpoint is often a sign
that the 290700 patch for system restore wasn't installed when the
checkpoint to which you were trying to return was created. If that is the
case the checkpoint is useless.

What is the version of the file smgr.dll in the windows\system folder? If
not 4.90.0.3003 then that could be the cause of the problem and you need
to download and install the 290700 patch for system restore. The easiest
way to do this is from the link in the associated KB article (KB290700 -
"Checkpoints that you create after September 8, 2001 do not restore your
computer" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=290700).

It is also possible that at one stage you did install this patch but have
subsequently reinstalled Win Me over itself using the Win Me CD. Doing
this causes the original, broken, version of smgr.dll to be reinstalled.
If this problem is a result of your having reinstalled Win Me over itself
may I recommend you to download and use the Belarc Advisor
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) which will help you in
identifying which other patches also need to be reinstalled.

Must Reboot (before using system restore):
First, check that you don't have a wininit.ini file in your Windows
folder. If you do, rename this to wininit.old and retry System Restore. If
this works then you possibly have a program that creates a wininit.ini
file each time you boot your system. One known example is tgcmd.exe from
the late lamented @Home another is a program called "ACCESS DENIED". If
you have tgcmd.exe I understand that disabling it in MSConfig | Startup
will have no adverse effect on your system but enable you to use System
Restore. Likewise ACCESS DENIED needs to be "switched off" whilst using
SR to either create or restore to a previous checkpoint. McAfee's Spam
Killer also seems to create a new wininit.ini file each time the system is
booted. See also MS KB 274092 - "Error Message: System Restore Cannot Run
Until You Restart the Computer"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=274092).

If this isn't the reason for your problem then try running
SCANREG /FIX
from a command prompt such as Start | Run. Note that the system will
re-boot so don't have any applications open when doing this. I suggest
this because the same message is also displayed when the registry has been
corrupted in some way. scanreg /fix attempts to repair that damage.

Hopefully one or the other will solve your problem and allow you to create
a manual check point.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Craig S wrote:

Neal: I 1st posted "Must Reboot to Access Sys Restore".
Per your Reply I tested Sys Restore ( which does make
manual and auto CheckPoints) & found: [Restoration
Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored todate
selected).Nothing has been changed.] 5 weeks ago I
re-installed Win Me per Dell Warranty Support BECAUSE of
the Sys Restore "Dec 1899" screen. The Must Reboot for SR
occurred later. Q2740922 blames "wininit.ini for the Reboot
issue and early Searches DID NOT SEE IT. Now it occurrs
daily. I find no KB article specific to manual/auto made
Checkpoints not working. This is more important than the
Reboot issue. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Mike: The 290700 patch WORKED! Thanks! Should Win Update
have caught the omission of this Patch? I ask because
awhile after the late July Re-install of Me, Update began
saying "I cannot Work"(i saw other posts of same with
Registry Checker Tool the suggested solution) . It later
started saying "No further Updates Required" which infers
it's working. If Update should have seen the lack of 290700
Patch I then must have another issue. On the "origial
problem" of having to Reboot to Access Resto
"wininit.ini did not appear after the patch and a cold
Start. It has been doing so and then appearing after I
rename to .xxx, .old, etc. It won't let me rename it same
extenion each time so I change. tgcmd.exe is in
MSCONFIG/Startup but NOT checked. Access Denied I cannot
find via Search. Something has been putting wininit.ini in
there consistently. Maybe this Patch fixes all! Many Thanks
again. i presume there's nothing more to try if the Reboot
for restore returns!
-----Original Message-----
So which is your current problem?
Restoration Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored
or
Must Reboot for SR

It would help those who might be able to help if you could
indicate your
current problem. As it is your post seems to be a
collection of various
problems that may or may not have occurred over the past
few months.
Trying to guess at your current problem I have made a
couple of
suggestions below.

Rstoration Unsuccessful:
A failure to restore to a previously created checkpoint is
often a sign
that the 290700 patch for system restore wasn't installed
when the
checkpoint to which you were trying to return was created.
If that is the
case the checkpoint is useless.

What is the version of the file smgr.dll in the
windows\system folder? If
not 4.90.0.3003 then that could be the cause of the
problem and you need
to download and install the 290700 patch for system
restore. The easiest
way to do this is from the link in the associated KB
article (KB290700 -
"Checkpoints that you create after September 8, 2001 do
not restore your
computer" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=290700).

It is also possible that at one stage you did install this
patch but have
subsequently reinstalled Win Me over itself using the Win
Me CD. Doing
this causes the original, broken, version of smgr.dll to
be reinstalled.
If this problem is a result of your having reinstalled Win
Me over itself
may I recommend you to download and use the Belarc Advisor
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) which will help
you in
identifying which other patches also need to be reinstalled.

Must Reboot (before using system restore):
First, check that you don't have a wininit.ini file in
your Windows
folder. If you do, rename this to wininit.old and retry
System Restore. If
this works then you possibly have a program that creates a
wininit.ini
file each time you boot your system. One known example is
tgcmd.exe from
the late lamented @Home another is a program called
"ACCESS DENIED". If
you have tgcmd.exe I understand that disabling it in
MSConfig | Startup
will have no adverse effect on your system but enable you
to use System
Restore. Likewise ACCESS DENIED needs to be "switched
off" whilst using
SR to either create or restore to a previous checkpoint.
McAfee's Spam
Killer also seems to create a new wininit.ini file each
time the system is
booted. See also MS KB 274092 - "Error Message: System
Restore Cannot Run
Until You Restart the Computer"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=274092).

If this isn't the reason for your problem then try running
SCANREG /FIX
from a command prompt such as Start | Run. Note that the
system will
re-boot so don't have any applications open when doing
this. I suggest
this because the same message is also displayed when the
registry has been
corrupted in some way. scanreg /fix attempts to repair
that damage.

Hopefully one or the other will solve your problem and
allow you to create
a manual check point.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Craig S wrote:

Neal: I 1st posted "Must Reboot to Access Sys Restore".
Per your Reply I tested Sys Restore ( which does make
manual and auto CheckPoints) & found: [Restoration
Unsuccessful: Your camputer cannot be restored todate
selected).Nothing has been changed.] 5 weeks ago I
re-installed Win Me per Dell Warranty Support BECAUSE of
the Sys Restore "Dec 1899" screen. The Must Reboot for SR
occurred later. Q2740922 blames "wininit.ini for the Reboot
issue and early Searches DID NOT SEE IT. Now it occurrs
daily. I find no KB article specific to manual/auto made
Checkpoints not working. This is more important than the
Reboot issue. Any suggestions? Thanks!

.

Craig,

If you reinstalled Win Me over itself then all bets are off with Windows
Update. When reinstalling Win Me it has no knowledge of any updates that
you might have previously installed, or rather doesn't know their purpose
since they were unavailable when Win Me was released, and if reinstalling
from a CD rather than by using setup.exe in the windows\options\cabs or
windows\options\install folder restores the OS to the state it was in when
first released. However since it leaves the registry intact it has no
knowledge of which keys to clear that were placed there by Windows Update
to indicate that a patch had been installed. So, if 290700 had been
installed before reinstalling Win Me, the flag in the registry saying that
290700 has been installed will still be there after reinstalling despite
the file smgr.dll being restored to its original version. The same will
be true of other updates.

So, how to deal with this problem and establish which other patches may
need to be installed? Fortunately Belarc have a free tool that can do
this very thing (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) and I would
most strongly recommend that you download and run the Belarc Adviser to
establish which if any other updates you need to reinstall.

Turning to your problem with a persistent and continuously appearing
wininit.ini file. One cause for this can be that you have an unwanted
commercial parasite one such parasite could be WinTools where either or
both of Wsup & Wtoolsa appear in MSConfig | Startup.

Have you checked your system recently for unwanted malware especially
commercial parasites as I seem to recall that there are a couple that use
a wininit.ini file? Useful tools here would include AdAware, SpyBot,
BHODemon and HijackThis although the latter is probably overkill at this
stage.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Craig S wrote:

Mike: The 290700 patch WORKED! Thanks! Should Win Update
have caught the omission of this Patch? I ask because
awhile after the late July Re-install of Me, Update began
saying "I cannot Work"(i saw other posts of same with
Registry Checker Tool the suggested solution) . It later
started saying "No further Updates Required" which infers
it's working. If Update should have seen the lack of 290700
Patch I then must have another issue. On the "origial
problem" of having to Reboot to Access Resto
"wininit.ini did not appear after the patch and a cold
Start. It has been doing so and then appearing after I
rename to .xxx, .old, etc. It won't let me rename it same
extenion each time so I change. tgcmd.exe is in
MSCONFIG/Startup but NOT checked. Access Denied I cannot
find via Search. Something has been putting wininit.ini in
there consistently. Maybe this Patch fixes all! Many Thanks
again. i presume there's nothing more to try if the Reboot
for restore returns!

wininit.ini returned this a.m on cold startup. AdAware,
Spybot S&D, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster are all in use and
reveal nothing. HiJack This looks OK . Wsup & Wtoolsa are
NOT in StartUp. I'll ask local chat groups for help as I
don't want to monopolize any more of your time. Many Thanks!
-----Original Message-----
Craig,

If you reinstalled Win Me over itself then all bets are
off with Windows
Update. When reinstalling Win Me it has no knowledge of
any updates that
you might have previously installed, or rather doesn't
know their purpose
since they were unavailable when Win Me was released, and
if reinstalling
from a CD rather than by using setup.exe in the
windows\options\cabs or
windows\options\install folder restores the OS to the
state it was in when
first released. However since it leaves the registry
intact it has no
knowledge of which keys to clear that were placed there by
Windows Update
to indicate that a patch had been installed. So, if
290700 had been
installed before reinstalling Win Me, the flag in the
registry saying that
290700 has been installed will still be there after
reinstalling despite
the file smgr.dll being restored to its original version.
The same will
be true of other updates.

So, how to deal with this problem and establish which
other patches may
need to be installed? Fortunately Belarc have a free tool
that can do
this very thing (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html)
and I would
most strongly recommend that you download and run the
Belarc Adviser to
establish which if any other updates you need to reinstall.

Turning to your problem with a persistent and continuously
appearing
wininit.ini file. One cause for this can be that you have
an unwanted
commercial parasite one such parasite could be WinTools
where either or
both of Wsup & Wtoolsa appear in MSConfig | Startup.

Have you checked your system recently for unwanted malware
especially
commercial parasites as I seem to recall that there are a
couple that use
a wininit.ini file? Useful tools here would include
AdAware, SpyBot,
BHODemon and HijackThis although the latter is probably
overkill at this
stage.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Craig S wrote:

Mike: The 290700 patch WORKED! Thanks! Should Win Update
have caught the omission of this Patch? I ask because
awhile after the late July Re-install of Me, Update began
saying "I cannot Work"(i saw other posts of same with
Registry Checker Tool the suggested solution) . It later
started saying "No further Updates Required" which infers
it's working. If Update should have seen the lack of 290700
Patch I then must have another issue. On the "origial
problem" of having to Reboot to Access Resto
"wininit.ini did not appear after the patch and a cold
Start. It has been doing so and then appearing after I
rename to .xxx, .old, etc. It won't let me rename it same
extenion each time so I change. tgcmd.exe is in
MSCONFIG/Startup but NOT checked. Access Denied I cannot
find via Search. Something has been putting wininit.ini in
there consistently. Maybe this Patch fixes all! Many Thanks
again. i presume there's nothing more to try if the Reboot
for restore returns!

.

Why ask local chat groups when all YOU need to do is check what is in your
startup axis that is creating this file?

You can start by pasting a copy of wininit.ini in a reply to this message
as that may well help quickly identify what is creating the file. [Open
wininit.ini with notepad, Ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-C to copy and then in
your reply Ctrl-V to paste the contents of wininit.ini to your reply]
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]




Craig S wrote:

wininit.ini returned this a.m on cold startup. AdAware,
Spybot S&D, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster are all in use and
reveal nothing. HiJack This looks OK . Wsup & Wtoolsa are
NOT in StartUp. I'll ask local chat groups for help as I
don't want to monopolize any more of your time. Many Thanks!

Mike: Couldn't get the Cntr _ cmmds to work; Here's what I
just copied fr opening wininit.ini in Notepad this a.m.
[rename]
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE
Hadn't read prior of this approach. Thanks and advise if
this yields a "next step" action.
-----Original Message-----
Why ask local chat groups when all YOU need to do is check
what is in your
startup axis that is creating this file?

You can start by pasting a copy of wininit.ini in a reply
to this message
as that may well help quickly identify what is creating
the file. [Open
wininit.ini with notepad, Ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-C to
copy and then in
your reply Ctrl-V to paste the contents of wininit.ini to
your reply]
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]




Craig S wrote:

wininit.ini returned this a.m on cold startup. AdAware,
Spybot S&D, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster are all in use and
reveal nothing. HiJack This looks OK . Wsup & Wtoolsa are
NOT in StartUp. I'll ask local chat groups for help as I
don't want to monopolize any more of your time. Many Thanks!

.

Just Sent Reply without my Sender's name-This is Duplicate.
[rename]
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE
Opened wininit.ini in Notepad and just copied; Cntrl A/C/V
cmmds didn't work; Advise what to try next if this helps!
Thanks again!
-----Original Message-----
Why ask local chat groups when all YOU need to do is check
what is in your
startup axis that is creating this file?

You can start by pasting a copy of wininit.ini in a reply
to this message
as that may well help quickly identify what is creating
the file. [Open
wininit.ini with notepad, Ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-C to
copy and then in
your reply Ctrl-V to paste the contents of wininit.ini to
your reply]
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]




Craig S wrote:

wininit.ini returned this a.m on cold startup. AdAware,
Spybot S&D, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster are all in use and
reveal nothing. HiJack This looks OK . Wsup & Wtoolsa are
NOT in StartUp. I'll ask local chat groups for help as I
don't want to monopolize any more of your time. Many Thanks!

.

Is it the same entry each time? If not please reboot a few times and copy
the entries into your reply. Personally I suspect malware as being the
cause despite your having used AdAware, Spybot S&D, BHO Demon, Spyware
Blaster.

As for why cut and paste doesn't work on your PC I have no idea.
Control+A = Select All, Control+C = Copy selected text to clipboard,
Control+V = Paste contents of clipboard to cursor position.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



Craig S wrote:

Just Sent Reply without my Sender's name-This is Duplicate.
[rename]
NUL=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE
Opened wininit.ini in Notepad and just copied; Cntrl A/C/V
cmmds didn't work; Advise what to try next if this helps!