Messages

1

General Computer Support / kmode exception not handled -- looping -- unable to resolve

« on: May 21, 2023, 02:58:50 pm »

System Configuration data: Asus ProArt Z690 Creator WiFi; Asus RTX 3080; Be quiet Dark Power Pro 12 (1200w); Trident Z5 DDR5-5600 16GBx4; Intel i9-12900KF; Asus Ryujin II AIO cooler; Sabrent NVMe M.2 Rocket 4.0 2TB drive (os); Corsair NVMe M.2 Gen3x4 8TB drive (user); Win11Pro (note: os and os-user files were originally installed on two different drives (per Kari's tutorial) for reasons related to the content creation purpose for this computer). There are additional drives on this computer but it seems unnecessary to mention them as they are unlikely to be germane to the current problem.

I have been working with my newly (and finally) built DAVW (re)installing the plethora of content related programs, vsts, samples, etc. after having stress tested it for several days initially. Everything was running just fine until sometime overnight last Thursday. I left the computer busy downloading another installment of needed programs only to return to find the download apps were running but nothing whatever was actually downloading. Yet, I had internet connectivity and was able to download several small files and transfer files to/from the NAS. I decided a reboot was in order and closed everything and attempted to do so. Then I got the dreaded kmode error. No specific file mentioned Worse, it is looping such that I simply cannot actually get to Windows at all, not even safe mode works. I can get a command prompt window via the automatic repair functions. I do not have any reason to believe there are any hardware issues causing the problem and I can access the UEFI.

I extensively researched this via the internet (or, at least, attempted to do so). Most write-ups suggest this is a very easy problem to solve but they seem to assume that one can get to a working version of Windows. That doesn't apply here since I seem to be looping through the error-diagnosis-automated repair without being able to start Windows itself. I can only access the command prompt window and, of all the various 'sure-fire' fixes offered, none of them works as specified. I'm not an inexperienced but neither am I an expert so my ability to navigate and execute programs through the command prompt is a bit dodgy. If I am reading things right, the worst case scenario is having to reinstall the OS (I purchased a copy for this box so I have the original USB from MS) but I DO NOT want to lose the six weeks of downloading/installing (and I'm only about 25% into the reinstall of music/video apps) if I can possibly help it. Worse, I don't know if a 'safe' (read: nondestructive) OS reinstall can be done with the divided os/user drives configuration I prefer.

I am hoping there are a simple set of command prompt instructions that can be implemented so I can get Windows working and proceed to the discovery of what caused the problem in the first place. If someone can point me to know working solutions to this problem and/or walk me through them, I would appreciate it.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 19, 2021, 11:29:07 am »

As of yesterday (which was a postal holiday here, I think) I have not.  I have to go out in a bit and will check today's mail.

I now have the jellybean software and am heading into the studio to try it out.

I don't know either -- and I do wish I had taken the time to save the output -- but the safe mode idea didn't occur to me and it's worth a try if the jellybean do it.

One way or another I'm gonna beat this machine back into functioning order . . . I hope . . .

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 16, 2021, 02:46:01 pm »

Okay, things got weirder.  I ran Speccy and it worked but I was pressed for time so didn't bother to copy the output, assuming I could do it the next day when I had more time.   The next day,  the program wouldn't run and I attempted to reinstall it -- which also didn't work.  In your list of key-readers, is there any that can run in a portable fashion? 

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 11, 2021, 08:16:32 am »

I forgot about Speccy (smacks forehead) - I have it loaded in my utilities section.  So I have recovered it; although, I still like to know where I put my original disk and key.....

The family death occurred yesterday late afternoon so, by the time I got back it was late and I didn't really feel like working on anything.  I have taken this morning off from my usual routines so I'm going re-try loading the windows disk I have and seeing if the sfc will work (different disk than I tried before, this disk appear to be my original backup clone of the disk I can't find but the notes on it appear to date it to when I would have done something like this before.   In any case, I have a few hours to use before I have to go off and do family stuff.

If anything major happens, I'll drop you a note.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 09, 2021, 03:17:36 pm »

truly, a repair install would be the only viable option -- the DAW is a complex intermix of years of accumulated music production/instrument/utility software that takes several months to even begin to re-install and re-integrate from scratch and I've done it too many times over the years when I was far better mentally equipped than I am at my current age/health.   So this is to be vastly preferred, if there is no other way to repair the damage.   I will do my best to give you the information you require but, in the interest of full disclosure, we have a pending death in the family that may intrude on your efforts to help me in the short run.

Bear in mind, regardless of whether I can locate my original W7x64 ultimate key (and, thus far, I've been entirely frustrated in my attempts to find it) I **do have** two unused/uninstalled W7x64 Pro disks with keys that I purchased as backups (being unable at the time to acquire Ultimate disks) which can be used instead (I think; I prefer Ultimate but only because that's what I'm used to) so long as that doesn't interfere with what you intend to send to me.

Yes, USA is the country.

Also, you should pm me about how I can reimburse you for your trouble and expense.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 09, 2021, 02:07:10 pm »

Okay, I found the CBS log from running the SFC.  How do I interpret the results -- it does end by saying the it found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 09, 2021, 02:04:27 pm »

Additional searching and attempting different things finds me scratching my head more and more (as if balding weren't bad enough) --

1) Does anyone know why I would have a file "00000000.0x0" dated 1/11/2060?

2) I have some user names/groups under the securities tab that I don't recognize.  When I attempt to use the MMC to access Local Security Policy, I get a "an attempt was made to reference a token that does not exist".  In searching for ways to fix that, I find basically the same solution everywhere (relink DLL files) doesn't work -- it errors out with a file not found message.  I attempted to dump the dll file listing to a bat file but the file never gets created nor is there any error message that I can find.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: January 09, 2021, 09:15:36 am »

I'm afraid I have some trouble navigating this forum and it delays my response to you.  It is probably right in front of me but I have been unable to see how to PM you the information you requested.   It may not be entirely necessary but you can decide if you read the following.  I posted the following just moments ago on another site from which I solicited help.  It is the current status of how things are with my DAW. 

---------------

Update:


Over the holiday period, I have worked with BleepingComputer.com and Tweaking.com (author of Windows Repair or WR, for short) attempting to get my beloved (and rapidly becoming necessary) DAW back into production-level capability. There were a lot of frustrating cycles of trying things and basically getting nowhere, doing hours and hours of online searching trying to find a clue and working with suggestions I got here.

There have been partial successes.  After checking for possible disk errors, I located what I believe to have been the primary problem with being unable to log into my preferred Win7 user account as being corrupt natuser.* files.  I do now know that there are no hardware issues on the drives, as I can test them.  I do not know if the corruption is the result of the malware or from various aborted attempts to get the machine/profile operational again -- or some combinstion therein.  In the end I removed these (carefully archiving them before hand just in case) and, after a couple of attemtps got back to being able to log on.  I then set about to restore my icons and arrange my desktop.

This led to the second set of problems involving getting icons to be visible and, after much research and looking at windows explorer settings and registry entries, I went back to my tool of choice, WR but there, again, I ran into problems because the program would periodically fail to run with an error message of 'invalid picture' particularly in either standard or safe mode in my preferred user profile.  Research seemed to indicate this was due to changes made to access rights -- which can be corrected with a repair option inside Windows Repair but I couldn't run it from within my profile.  I could, however, run it from within the administrator or my secondary administrator (created years ago when I had to do repairs from having gotten a root-type virus).  Also, I found that WR would seem to run better from a normal startup than from trying to use it in safe mode.  But most icon's got restored although several of them had their program pointers reset to a disk drive letter that hasn't existed in this system since I upgraded my 'c' drive to being an SSD (four to six years ago?) but I can edit them and they find the right icon.  A bit tedious but at least my desktop begins to get back it's former appearance. 

I may not have done this all as the experts might have preferred but I had to get something going or go into a depression that would make a hurricane look like a spring shower.
In any case, I can routinely log into my preferred profile and most programs appear to run although, my testing hasn't been extensive.   However, not all is yet right with the world because, at this point, the remaining issues are not trivial and could be from either the malware infection, the corrupt ntuser.* issue or things being set back to 'default' (from a Win7 standpoint) which keeps the most pressing problems at hand.  They are:

1) unable to restore from any backups made.
2) unable to make and then reuse a Restore Point
3) unable to update Win7x64 (regardless of profile used to log in)
4) unable to install software (regardless of profile used to log in)
5) unable to update installed software (ditto)

Of these 3, 4 and 5 most concern me but I'm thinking that if I can find what's wrong with the last three, the first two might come along for the ride, so to speak.  Or maybe its the other way round.

So, I put this out here so you know the current status and that those here might be able to make useful suggestions to resolve the remaining issues.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: December 26, 2020, 04:22:05 pm »

It is a system repair disk from 2014.  I'm running x64. I have, thus far, been unable to locate either my original install disk or the authorization code (which, if I remember right, I put with the disk).  I can find two unused copies of windows 7 pro which I bought when the world went to W8 then 10 but I was unable to purchase a backup for my ultimate at that time.

I attempted the instructions in your original post but everything ends in an error message so I'm either doing it wrong or it isn't doing what it should.  Either is possible.

I read up on the problem with the group policy error and seemed to have traced it to a corrupt NTuser.dat in the user profile that doesn't work.  I can force the system to rebuild it and when it does, I can log on to my user profile but it's not right.  I can start Windows Repair and it runs but if I boot to safe mode, I can no longer run Windows Repair and then the NTuser.dat get corrupted again.

I will have to come back to this tomorrow as I've been working on it for 10 hours and just keep going in circles.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: December 19, 2020, 04:07:52 pm »

I did the adaware and ksd. Adaware found and removed several items in the registry but it made no difference to my inability to log on to my profile (still blocked by some sort of group policy failure).  KSD doesn't appear to be doing anything at all -- I boot with the disk I made and do the start up then the screen goes blank and stays that way for hours on end.  I let it go five hours before I forced a reboot.

Windows Repair still errors out with 'invalid picture' -- I looked for a solution to the problem but one doesn't appear to exist.

  I have not yet tried to run my recovery disk from my original install years ago and it's getting late and my frustration index is now off the chart.  Everything I need is there but I can't access it.  I don't have much hope that I'm finding the key to solving this problem.

I booted from my ksd disk and am letting it run overnight.   It doesn't, at the moment, appear that I'm getting anywhere.  If ksd is still blank in the morning, I'll kill it and load my W7 repair disk.  Since that fails when run at the safe-mode startup screen, I have my doubts that it will run with the disk but I could be wrong and it is certainly worth a shot. 

I'm surprised that no one has a quicker fix for this.  But, I'll continue to work the problem tomorrow.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: December 17, 2020, 02:55:31 pm »

When you say system repair - was that a repair install ?

Not an install -- after using windows repair to attempt a restore point and that restore point failed, it came up with an option to attempt to repair the system (I don't remember the precise wording but I believe it is also available with an F8 restart.

Does Event Viewer report anything specific ?

I didn't see anything that appeared significant but I can look again, if you think it will help.

Had you downloaded anything else to cause these problems.

Absolutely not.

I am preparing to go try to follow your earlier instructions now -- it took some time to find the install disk I made some years ago.

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General Computer Support / Re: windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: December 17, 2020, 09:10:37 am »

I have already run MBAW it identified and removed four instances of: PUM.OptionDisableRightClick;  I have run it since, several times and also run MSE and Superantispyware and no additional infections have been found.  Removing the infection, however, doesn't appear to have fixed it.  I am downloading krd18 but it is a very slow download for me.  I am also downloading adaware.

I can boot into safe mode with (or without) networking. I have already tried running a system repair and, after several hours, it failed with no particular message as to why. I tried some things in the Repair Windows portion of  When the KSD and adaware get done, I'll put them into play and see what happens and, of course, let you know.  My copy of tweaking.com Windows Repair has ceased running in safe mode on the studio computer (as of yesterday) at least when I ran it through under my primary windows profile but that one no longer lets me log on (generates a Group Policy error).

I'll post an update as soon as possible but it will probably be a couple of hours.

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General Computer Support / windows 7 ultimate - after malware, no icons, no right menu, no c-n-p, no profil

« on: December 16, 2020, 04:15:58 pm »

The details of how (stupidly) I got in this place aren't particularly relevant.  What's important is that I can't get into my studio computer for the last five days after I (again, stupidly) clicked something without paying attention to it and (according to Malwarebytes) got myself 4 PUMs and PUPs which have neutered my desktop in my profile.  Restoring the registry doesn't appear to help, I can't boot into anything without being forced into a default profile -- EXCEPT when I boot into my primary profile where I get a some sort of group policy error that flashes by; at least, it seems to be happening now where it wasn't at first.

The reason I stopped by here was my first tool of choice was to use Tweaking.com's Windows Repair Pro.   I was able (at first) to start it in my main user profile and then have it reboot into safe mode.  I tried to do a system restore (failed), a Permissions Restore (md4 fail) and a registry restore (didn't fail but didn't seem to do anything positive either.  Now I can't get it to run at all in safe mode because it gives me 'invalid picture' error and terminates.

I can find all my programs and they mostly seem to run -- provided they aren't system tools.  I've run multiple anti-malware tools and the system appear free of the original miscreant but I can't find the key to undo the damage.

At this point, I can's see any of my desktop icons, I can't right click into the menu, I can't search for programs I know I have (but I can get to them, if I know where they reside).  My data appears intact.  I've serially tried different recommended fix programs which either 1) don't run because some asset appears to be blocked from access or 2) run but don't identify a problem in their scan.

I am not a beginner (okay, I've been doing pc stuff for about 40 years) but I'm older and more than a little frustrated at how the world currently is.  Crusty, some might call it.  Crabby might be a better word.  There's a lot of crap going on in my world that is doing a number on my PTSD and being denied access to my one solace left on this blinking planet has me at my wit's end.  If someone can coach me through what I need to do to fix this and get back in the studio to block out all the noise of the idiocracy we've descended in -- I'll be very grateful.

I'll try to attach a couple of logs that came from tools I tried to run after I couldn't work with tweaking.com's windows repair