Jinkies--command prompt and regedit not working!

Post by **Cheesy** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:53 pm

And I get a similar error trying to run regedit.

Virus scans don't find anything...

What's going on?!?

Post by **ph1l0r** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:05 pm

Try -> Start, Run, "cmd.exe" (instead of a wrong command[.com|.exe])

Fishyman8u · Post by **Fishyman8u** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:08 pm

Wow... I've never seen anything like that... If it were me, I would try copying a working command.com over that messed up one. Regedit is more tricky because if you use a regedit from another computer or even your own computer from a earlier time will cause your some of your programs to go haywire, but you can try it if you don't mind reinstalling the affected programs...

What were you doing at the time?? Is your windows jacked up and not working because of it or is it just those two things acting up? If your windows still works you could try the system restore tool.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:11 pm

Windows corruption or virus, your pick. Does it do it in safemode also?

May want to run a memory test like memtest86plus to make sure your new memory isnt the problem. get the plus version as they have bootable CD images.

If its a windows corruption, see if you can do a "SFC /scannow" from the start/run prompt. Preferably in safemode. Have your WinXP install CD handy.

But I would be paranoid of a virus first. http://kaspersky.com/ and http://www.pandasoftware.com/ have free online scans. Both are quick to update their database with the latest virus. McAfee and Norton can take 3 to 7 days to update.

For those really pesky viruses, scan your system with rootkit revealer and see what is purposely hidding on your computer from windows. http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/R ... ealer.html

After thats all ruled out, may want to do a harddrive error checking scan to make sure the drive aint flaking.

Post by **ph1l0r** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:12 pm

Mh. If have just checked my system and there is a command.com. Looks like yours got replaced by some 16bit binary. Try to search your harddisk if you have multiple command.com / regedit.exe files. Chances are that windows just tries to start the wrong one because it's listed in the path first instead of the real one.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:16 pm

Thought command.com was 16 bit... Prolly wrong.

I personally use "cmd" rather than "Command" in the start/run box. Give that a try and see if cmd does the same thing. If it does you've been hit with a nasty spyware.

Post by **Cheesy** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:09 pm

Thanks guys, I founded 1kb cmd.com and regedit.com files. When I got rid of regedit.com regedit worked perfectly. But cmd is still barfing.

And the rest of windows works perfectly. I've been having the regedit problem for a few months but haven't really needed it, but I just noticed cmd today (haven't had to use it in a while).

Post by **BRUMMIE** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:18 am

I'm a bit out of my league here but this may prove of interest; the Feb edition of "Smart Computing" has an article on how to change out your registry without overwriting your hard drive. You might want to try their knowledge base at http://www.smartcomputing.com.