System Restore

Question

I have a brand new Dimension 8400 running Win XP Home SP 2.  System Restore has never worked correctly.  No matter what restore points I set or the system sets, my system can never restore itself.   I have tried the fix of turning off System Restore, rebooting, turning on System Restore, manually setting a restore point, and the computer will restore to that point, BUT then will not restore again to any point in the future regardless of whether it is a manually set point or a system checkpoint.    So, the only time it will restore is the first manually set point after turning off and on again and restarting first manual restore point.  Then, it always fails to restore to another point.   I am afraid to update drivers, use Windows Update, etc., because I cannot roll back my system in the event of a problem.   Thank you.

msil217 · Answer

http://www.symantec.com/goback/ It ain't cheap, but it sure has saved me from reformatting my Hard-drive many times.

joathome · Answer

Yes, thank you, but I did do a Windows repair, and it didn't do a thing for System Restore. It still didn't work. I'm at a loss here. This computer is only 6 weeks old, and I cannot understand why I'm having this kind of problem.

No matter what I do, the system wont restore and persists in giving me the error message, "System cannot be restored to this date". It doesn't matter which restore point I choose, I get the same message.

Jo

zbestwun2001 · Answer

Having you thought of doing a Windows Repair?

msil217 · Answer

GoBack works better.

joathome · Answer

Thank you for the link to GoBack. I don't mind paying for the program, but at the same time, I would like to know why System Restore fails to work on this new computer, and Dell support is a joke. They know less than I do about how to repair anything.

Jo

joathome · Answer

What is GoBack, please, and where might I find it?   Thanks, Jo

msil217 · Answer

You can use Google to help find links for your problem. Here is one you can try: HERE

zbestwun2001 · Answer

I will bet you you have a bad .dll file associated with your system restore.
Most likey a system repair will fix your problem.
Just read the tutorials and follow them. It is easy.
Steve

Message Edited by zbestwun2001 on 12-28-2004 09:09 AM

joathome · Answer

Thanks Steve, I guess you missed my earlier post. I did do a system repair. I put my Win XP Home disk in and followed all the instructions for a system repair. It went smoothly with no problems. It did not fix System Restore.

Jo

joathome · Answer

Thanks for the Google link: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm   I have read through it, but I found nothing telling me why my system will not restore to any point at all.  Dell's advice was to disable System Restore, reboot, enable it again, set a manual restore point and restore the computer to that restore point.  I did that, and it worked.  But, then it will not restore again to any other point in the future, later the same day or the next day.  The 'fix' only works for the first manually set restore point, and then it quits working again, and I am right back where I started.   Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Denny Denham · Answer

joathome,

The fact that a repair reinstall did not correct the problem makes me think that it may be a problem in the registry (which is not modified by a repair reinstall). There is a MSKB document dealing with the registry entries for System Restore here. Take a look at the entries in that location of your registry to see if perhaps an item is missing or set to an odd value. Here are the contents of that registry key on my XP Pro system:

RoHe · Answer

Try running the Windows System File Checker (sfc.exe)
Click Start>Run, enter: SFC /scannow
(make sure to include a space after SFC and before /)
This takes a while, and may ask for your XP reinstall CD, but might be able to repair a damaged dll or other file used by System Restore.

Lots of info on use/limitations of SFC at http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

RoHe

Message Edited by RoHe on 12-28-2004 11:31 AM

zbestwun2001 · Answer

She already ran Windows XP system repair.
This feature scans every file in the Windows program for any abnormalities and replaces those that it finds with good files.
So running SFC would kind of be a waste of time wouldn't you agree?

Steve

JRosenfeld · Answer

You could also check whether the system restore service is started and set to automatic. click start, run, type services.msc, click OK. In the window that opens scroll down in the right hand pane to System restore service (you may need to expand the window to the right to see the startup type column).

Also, in event viewer, are there any error logs that might relate? To see event viewer, click start, run, type eventvwr.msc, click OK. In the left pane click on system to see the system events, click on applications to see application events

RoHe · Answer

If you follow previous posts and System Restore is running but you still can't get it to work, check these things:

Are you logged in using account with Administrator privileges? Non-Administrators can't do System Restore.

What size is your hard drive? System Restore purges restore points and suspends until minimum 200MB space is available on C:. System Restore then starts monitoring again. So do quick check to see how much free space is reported on your HD. When my first 8400 came, it showed (among other things) that C: (160GB) was almost full. A few days later it showed ~130GB FREE and crashed with multiple BSOD. Dell replaced it.

RoHe

Message Edited by RoHe on 12-28-2004 05:41 PM

Windows General

System Restore

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