Daemon Tools Wrecked My Windows!!!...(SOLVED:SEE LAST POST!)

My One, as of yesterday, has decided it wants to kill me. :lol: Not really, but it is starting to stress me out. :x

Out of nowhere, it has altered itself in the following way: After the BIOS screen, when I choose to boot into XP, the XP splash screen very slowly and jerkily fades into view (this takes approx 15 seconds). It used to be instantaneous. I have tried everything but a repair install, which I am about to try, I think. I read that Daemon tools can cause this very problem, so I uninstalled it. No change. I ran chkdsk/r, fixboot, and fixmbr from the recovery console. I am at a loss, as I have never experienced this behavior from XP.

Also, I have run all the tests to make sure my HD is in good health, and after the slow fade boot screen, it boots up and runs just fine. It seems to me like my HD isn't spinning up like it should (and was). IDK, I will appreciate any help from the Windows gurus...thanks...

Edit: Solved...Read entire thread, and avoid Daemon tools like the plague...

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

potentially something starting with Windows is causing the delay.
did you check to see if DMA is enabled for the IDE controller?
Anything in event viewer?
I'd also recommend a cclean and defrag.

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

Where to start...
DMA enabled, and clean event viewer...

I have done cclean and a defrag (twice), after a repair install of Windows. Then, the iso I used from teh net wouldn't take my key, and I wound up restoring to factory default (the restore discs work, BTW). Well, I restored from a backup I made six days ago, and the problem came back (it was fixed after the factory restore). I seriously think it is Daemon tools, I think I used a beta version, and I have read elsewhere about people experiencing this very same thing. Suposedly, you have to go through the registry and manually delete any entry that refers to DT. Don't really have time for that, so I may just have to reinstall and restore from an earlier backup. I have tried CClean, Reg Mechanic, and Advanced Sytsem Care, and apparently there is still some "seed" left from where DT f'ed my computer...lol...

In concurrence with the slow fade boot screen, my "SCSI and RAID Controller" item in Device Manager has a yellow warning (Code 39). I uninstalled that, and the BSOD I was getting when I inserted my USB drive stopped happening. This is also a supposed DT issue. IDK, it seems like a likely candidate, as it all started happening shortly after I made my third Virtual drive.

OT: My new 6cell came Friday, and is already reporting a wear rate of 4 percent. Is that normal? It is a factory Acer, and I cycled it like the manual says.

Again, thanks for all the help...

Shawn

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

so many issues with DT, I wonder why people still use it as much as they do.

That would be pretty normal for wear rate, I have had new batteries come in and they show a few percent.

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

Thanks for your fast reply. Good news to hear on the battery. I am loving the awesome battery life. Nice to be able to play MOH without being tethered, laying in the bed, etc.

Believe me, if I would have known the risks of DT before I tried it, I wouldn't have. I may just live with it for the week. Don't feel like messing with another reinstall right now (don't have the time). As long as it still boots, I guess I should be grateful.

Another question: Is Ron's Tiny XP updateable? Does MS see it as a genuine and legal copy?

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

No idea. I don't use Ron's TinyXP, I prefer to make my own that is customized for what I use my netbook for.

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

So far my attempts at creating my own have been, less than successful, I guess you would say. I'll have to try again, I suppose.

Any clue why it is that a retail version of XP won't take an OEM key? I think that is kinda messed up, cause I have a beautiful, fully functional SP3 iso that I can't do anything with. Apparently, our keys will work with another manufacturer's OEM disc, but not a retail version. It's annoying, especially since you have to go through the majority of the install before you find out for sure whether it will work or not.

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

exactly for what you stated. Retail key vs OEM key. There used to be ways to hack original XP install CD so that it would take whatever key you gave it but i don't know if that applies anymore since the SP's have been released.

I don't know what you use to create your image with but I normally will just use bootable USB key (to windows PE) + Ghost 11. Works great every time. Have done this for AAO's and Asus EEE's.

 

Re: An issue I have never experienced...

So far Bootable USB + jeremysdad = teh failz!!! Bootable USB craetion pwns me! LOL! That's why I had to drop $100 on an emergency external optical drive (I will say that it is both awesome, and invaluable!)

To the original topic of this post, I have discovered the solution. (I know we are not supposed to hotlink, but I think this could save a lot of people from having to perform futile and unnecessary installs of Windows.) I googled "Daemon tools destroyed my Windows install", and this was the first result (ironically, from the Daemon forums on their site, so they know about this issue). Anyway, I followed the step #2, rebooted, and everything was perfect. I wasted so much time yesterday, :shock: I should have just googled one more time before I tried a fresh install. Live and learn...

Link: http://forum.daemon-tools.cc/f26/my-sys ... -sys-6828/

Mind you, I was still booting, but you may refer to the first post for a description of exactly what I had going on. I really hope this helps someone else, and that they find it before they go though everything that I did. :|

 

Not encountered any major problems with Daemon Tools on my AA1.
I did encounter the slow-down of the XP load screen but hadn't associated it with the installation of DT.

I just disabled the XP load screen ( /noguiboot in boot.ini ) - not sure if it gets rid of the underlying slow-down, but I can't see it anymore so; problem solved :lol:

 

I had thought about doing that, but the speed of my XP boot is a source of pride for me, so I had to get it fixed right. Bootvis was reporting >120 second boot times...unacceptable to me... Anyways, it also worried me cause I thought for a while that my new HDD was jacked already, and I needed to figure it out to troubleshoot it properly.

Other than this boot slowdown, I had no complaints with DT, but this crap it leaves behind when you uninstall it is just that, crap. I will never recommend it to anyone, as is probably obvious from my recommendations above.