"System not fully installed. Please run Setup again" error - please HELP

[ryanh126]

Hello,

Today when I tried to start my Windows XP up as usual, I kept getting a BSOD error saying "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA." It began dumping physical memory, etc. etc. So, I then rebooted several times to try to get it to not happen, and ultimately, it then began telling me I should run a system repair because some files may be missing or corrupt and running a repair "may" help fix the problem. Up to this point, I could log into WIndows XP, and within seconds it would give me that BSOD error.

So, I decided to run the system repair using the Windows XP setup disk (went through the prompts, etc.). However, during setup, low and behold, I get the BSOD again. Now, it seems to have totally sent the setup off-track, and I get the error message seen in the title: "System not fully installed. Please run Setup again."

Well, I've tried to run setup again, and again, both booting from hard drive and the disk drive with the setup CDROM, trying to get anything to happen, but only that error message shows up. It seems as if there's nothing else I can do but receive that error message.

Any thoughts, experience, or suggestions are most greatly appreciated! I'm at a loss here, wondering if all my files are deleted. I don't think they are, since I was only in the process of doing a repair of WINDOWS files, but then again I don't know if I'll be able to access those files again.

Ryan

[rjfvillarosa]

It sounds like your harddrive is going bad. Download your harddrive manufacturers diagnostic utility and run the tests.
Avoid starting that machine up at the moment, if you do have a bad harddrive the fewer times you access it the less chance there is that any of your files will be overwritten and the less chance there is of it failing all together.

[ryanh126]

Thanks very much for your response. I've downloaded the .iso file from Western Digital and am giving it a shot right now. I'll update soon.

[ryanh126]

rjfvillarosa,

I downloaded the .iso file from WD and tried to copy the image onto the CD. I think that worked, but I can't get the system to read the disk even when I boot from the CDROM drive first. It starts sounding like its booting from the disk (hear the drive running), but does nothing. Here is the file I'm looking at: http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...sid=30&lang=en.

I'm trying to use Nero to burn the image to a disk. Is there something I'm missing? And I think you might be right about the drive going bad, though I hope you aren't for the sake of my files. Are these type of strange symptoms associated with a bad hdd?

[rjfvillarosa]

Can you tell me if the faulty machine is a store bought brand name machine or a custom machine?
If it's a custom build, do you know the specifications?
Do you have a bootable CD of any other kind? like a Windows CD(no matter what version) just to see if it will boot and that it's not an IDE cable or motherboard IDE controller fault.
Try using MagicISO it's a free application and a lot easier than Nero, Nero is fond of making coasters.

http://www.magiciso.com/ (instructions and download)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_magiciso/ (alternative download site)

[glc]

Make sure you are burning the iso as an image, not just copying it to the CD-R.

I concur - you probably have either a bad hard drive or faulty ram. You can test the ram with Memtest86+.

www.memtest.org

[ryanh126]

Appreciate the feedback you all have provided.

To answer a few questions, yes, I built the computer a couple years back (E6300, 2gb Corsair ddr2-667, 160gb WesternDigital SATA hard drive, Asus P5B motherboard, GeForce 7600GT, FSP 450w, etc... -- components that have been recommended here in the past).

I have the XP Professional disk which I am able to use to boot. Actually, as an update, I did get the "Please run Setup again" message to go away and attempted to continue repairing where I left off (it gave me that option) in the boot prompt. However, again, I received the "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" message. -- Any idea what this means?

I hope it's just bad memory and not the hard drive. The system was working just fine the day before, which is why I'm surprised I had this trouble the next morning (I always shut down since PC is next to my bed). Any chance the files on the drive are still available if I can sort this out and somehow get the XP repair wizard to go through without a BSOD message? I tried removing the two newer sticks of memory, but I'll probably try the two originals as well (4x512mb in total).

Again, thanks!

[ryanh126]

And for further background, the reason I even attempted to repair XP (and possibly just add to my troubles) is because after the first few reboots when I got the BSOD, it mentioned something about files being corrupted, and I thought perhaps this was the source of the BSOD message. I'm not sure if there actually were any files corrupt or not.

Before this incident I've had rare BSOD messages and even random reboots, though I never paid much mind to them given their rarity.

[glc]

You must test the hard drive and ram before going any farther. If you need to recover files, pull the hard drive and use a USB adapter to get them off onto another computer.

The P35 chipset is not totally happy with all 4 ram slots filled, by the way.

[ryanh126]

I'm going to try the hard drive diagnostic boot again with a new CD-R (I used a CD-RW and tried to rewrite onto it before). I'll see where that gets me, but probably will end up buying a USB to SATA adapter cable at Microcenter to get the files on another PC ASAP. By the way, I have tried pulling two sticks of the newer memory I added to just have 2x512mb sticks with the same results.

Do the symptoms sound like a bad hard drive? With a bad/dying hard drive, does getting BSOD messages such as the one above make sense? Based on your past experience, with a hard drive that is going bad, is there a chance that if I take action now, the files I've saved can still be recovered?

Thanks again.

--- Edit:

Just ran the hard drive diagnostic tool (it booted once I burned it on a new CD-R), and no errors were found. That makes me feel better, so far. So, now I took out all sticks of memory but one single 512mb, and am continuing the Windows recovery process. I hope it still remembers I was doing a recovery and not a new installation.

--- Edit 2:

The same thing happened with just one stick of RAM. My luck may be that bad, choosing the bad stick, but at this point I'm at a loss. I may put all sticks back in and run memtest86+. What would you (glc, rj) do in my situation, if you can't get through the recovery XP process. Would you try to salvage what you can with a USB adapter and start clean? That's what I'm thinking, but I'd hate to buy the adapter and realize files have been lost (though I don't see how they could be).

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by ryanh126 I kept getting a BSOD error saying "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA."

I hope I am not trying to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs here.
When Windows boots up it creates an exact copy of your physical RAM on the harddrive known as "The Swap file" or "Page File". From experience the BSOD above is usually associated with Windows not being able to create the Swap File or no longer able to acccess it. If the BSOD appears immediately on boot it's most likely unable to create the Swap file either because your RAM is faulty or the area on the harddrive is faulty. IF the BSOD appears after you have been running the machine for a while it is more likely to be a harddrive fault, this is not chiseled in stone, it is observation based on experiences....

Originally Posted by ryanh126 Do the symptoms sound like a bad hard drive? With a bad/dying hard drive, does getting BSOD messages such as the one above make sense?

If you are using a laptop to make these posts you will need the USB adapter, if you have acccess to a desktop and you are confident your suspect harddrive doesn't have any viruses or malware on it, you can connect the suspect harddrive as a Slave via the IDE cable or SATA cable as a second drive.
One of the main reasons for using the USB adapter is that you can "hot-plug" the harddrive after Windows has booted up and your resident antivirus scanner is already up and running.

[ryanh126]

Thanks, and yes, I'm using another desktop, so if I do have to pull my hard drive, I will probably do what you say and use it in this PC to pull some files. You mention a spot on the hard drive being bad, but not necessarily the whole drive?

Actaully, it occurred to me that the BSOD message I get while trying to run a repair XP install is not the same page file one, but rather one that just begins to dump physical memory and says an error (unspecified) has occurred. It happens like this: (during XP repair) black screen flash, reappear XP screen for a sec, BSOD message. Does this change anything?

I've tried only one stick of memory; wonder if it's worth it to try the other three individually.

I consider myself fairly decent with computers, but it seems I can't go much further myself as far as diagnostics go, so I may have a very competent coworker take a look for me. Could it be something besides memory or hard drive (I know you can't know for certain, but by experience), such as corrupt BIOS?

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by ryanh126 I've tried only one stick of memory; wonder if it's worth it to try the other three individually.

You should try each stick individually, But in this situation as you have access to another machine and copying the files over to the other machine is so easy, that is what I would do.
If the install of Windows on the suspect harddrive has user accounts and passwords, you may have to "take ownership of the files". Let me know and I will post you the instructions.
Quite honestly at this stage I would give up on trying to repair that Windows install, I would concentrate more on copying any personal files, "zero" filling the suspect harddrive and then using only one stick of RAM I would do a fresh install.
The zero fill option is among the tools on the diagnostic CD you made.

[ryanh126]

Okay, I agree with your logic. I have the hard drive out right now with a SATA cable ready to put it in this Gateway 500GR. Do I just plug it right in, or is there some way I have to configure it to not boot and just act as a "slave" I can access from the primary drive? Thanks.

[rjfvillarosa]

Connect the harddrive to the SATA2 socket, some people hot-plug SATA harddrives after the machine has booted up, personally I wouldn't do that especially with what is possibly a fragile harddrive.
Go straight to the BIOS and make sure the second harddrive is recognised, you may have to initialise the SATA2 port. After that let Windows boot and see if the second harddrive shows up in My Computer.

[ryanh126]

RJ and GLC,

First, I'd like to thank both of you for your time and effort and willingness to share helpful information. I've connected the hard drive to my Gateway, and everything I need is here. I'm in the process of transferring all my Documents and Settings and Program Files in hopes that I can somehow incorporate them back into my soon fresh XP install on my upstairs PC. I'll still have to try to do a fresh XP install upstairs and figure out what might be causing the BSOD (may even just buy a new hard drive, though given the fact I'm still able to get the files, I don't think it's the problem -- any thoughts there?). However I feel much better knowing the files I've accrued over years are still available. Thanks!

[rjfvillarosa]

Don't waste your time with copying the program files, programs must be reinstalled. You might be lucky and your BSOD may have been caused by system file damage, a reinstall will confirm this.
Avoid putting too many personal files on the fresh install unless you have them backed up to another harddrive just in case the harddrive lets you down.
After you have finished the fresh install and have all your usual programs, especially your antivirus and the like and your Windows updates carried out, consider the idea of having an "Image" of the installation saved to a separate harddrive, it will save time later if the harddrive does prove to be faulty.
We can talk you through imaging your fresh install when you are ready.

A few of us use "test rigs" old machines that we have taken in as a trade in or something we have thrown together out of old spare parts. As a test rig we use them to test suspect hardware and hot-plug (using a USB adapter) virus infected harddrives in order to scan them for viruses and what-not. The risk of screwing up the Windows install on the test rig or virus infecting it is high so we image the harddrive of the test rig when it is a clean install.

[ryanh126]

RJ, since I've gotten the files I need off this hard drive, you mentioned something about zero-filling it, or clearing it, so I could do a fresh install. Could you explain that a bit? I believe I saw that option with the diagnostic utility. Thanks!

[rjfvillarosa]

If you boot the machine with the diagnostic CD you made you will find a section on "Formating" the harddrive.
You should have a choice to either format, low level format or zero fill.
A zero fill will completely fill the harddrive with zeros, overwriting with zero's the MBR, the file tables and anything else on the drive, taking the drive back to the condition it was in when it left the factory.
When you try to install Windows on the harddrive you will be asked if you wish to format the drive, click yes as all Windows will do is create the NTFS file tables.
A zero fill on a large harddrive can take a few hours as you can imagine.

[ryanh126]

Thank you, rj. I think I owe an update:

I did as you said, and XP installed flawlessly. I'm currently getting things straight with the new install and will then transfer over all those files, hopefully via the wireless network, but we'll see.

It's amazing how much faster the system is when it's fresh.

Thanks for the help. I must have just had some corrupt files or something. When transferring over my personal files to the Gateway from my own PC, I did notice Norton detecting a couple small viruses which I took care of.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by ryanh126 I did notice Norton detecting a couple small viruses which I took care of.

Norton is not particularly highly thought of around here. Most of us use the free versions of AVG or Avast, personally I use AVG and it hasn't let me down in many years, saying that I am very boring these days and don't go to sites I shouldn't....

Originally Posted by ryanh126 It's amazing how much faster the system is when it's fresh.

Tell me about it. Believe it or not the new Windows 7 is really fast, I have two harddrives in an old Comcrap that I use as a test rig. The Windows 7 install is considerably faster than the XP install and obviously the hardware is all the same.....