Solved System Restore not working in Vista SP2, Dell Inspiron 530 Tower

[paulwb]

Good day/evening,

RE: Dell Inspiron 530 Tower / Vista Home Premium SP2 / 2.67 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 / 3.3G RAM

This is my 84 yr old mother's desktop which is due to be replaced when the upcoming Black Friday, Xmas deals kick in. I'd like to get it working properly for a while longer until a new one is purchased and to backup files etc

Current problems:

1 - System Restore does not work.

2 - VLC v3.0.4 media player not working, but Windows Media player does.

3 - Speccy will not run


The PC should be virus free as I've run Zemana Antimalware, ZHP cleaner, JRT, Adware Removal Tool, Kaspersky TDSS Killer scan & ADWCleaner scan.

Above software was run again in Safe Mode, where possible, as well as sfc /scannow, chkdsk, and Windows Repair software from tweaking.com.


your help is appreciated,

Paul
Toronto, Canada


PC Specs for Dell Inspiron 530 Tower

OS - Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 2 (build 6002)

Firewall & Antivirus - ZoneAlarm, Panda Free Antivirus

Processor - 2.67 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo E8200

HD - 320.01 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
72.04 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

RAM - 3318 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Display - Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter]+

Modem - Conexant D850 PCI V.92

Wireless network card - 6TO4 Adapter Dell TrueMobile 1300 WLAN Mini-PCI Card

 

[Rustys]

What happens if you run Speccy in Safe Mode with Networking and or just Safe Mode?

sfc /scannow,

What were the results?

VLC v3.0.4 media player not working

Have you uninstalled and then reinstalled? Or run a repair install?

1 - System Restore does not work.

Is it turned on?

 

[phillpower2]

Previous thread here

 

[paulwb]

Hi Rustys, thanks for the quick reply.

Tried Speccy in safe mode just now and no joy.

The sfc /scannow log is attached.

VLC media player was uninstalled / reinstalled but a no go.

System Restore is turned on but get the message shown in the attachment.

I ran windows repair from tweaking.com in Safe Mode now and it repaired Internet Explorer which was not working/loading properly.

thanks.

 

[paulwb]

I installed Pot Player and it's working fine..... so the media player issue is solved.

 

[gus]

Suggest you move to a supported more modern Operating System.

Regarding Speccy, try the portable version of Speccy as below, and run it as administrator.

Also as per your earlier thread on the same topic, you were advised to remove the multiple AV's installed. Can you advise if this has occurred, and only one AV is running, and if not why? The reasons given for doing so were most valid.

Please go HERE and download the portable version of Speccy. Save it to somewhere you can find, locate the file and as it comes as a Zip file use your favorite unzip application to decompress it. Open the newly created folder and double left click Speccy.exe if you have a 32 bit system or Speccy64.exe if yours is 64bit. If you are not sure what your system is click HERE. This guide compiled by Gus.

Speccy will open and after a short wait will display a summary of your system specs.

1. Click on the file menu.
2. Then click Publish snapshot.

A dialogue box will ask you to confirm, select yes.

Another dialogue box will open

1. Click Copy to Clipboard.
2. Then click Close.

Now that your link has been copied please paste it into your next post. It should look something like the example below

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/6waAHapcLrZIVPakgxXXXXXXX

BTW: once you have finished with speccy and no longer want it removing it is easy because it is a portable app with no install. Simply delete the downloaded file and folder you created when you decompressed it. Gone:thumbsup:

 

[paulwb]

Hi Gus,

Yes, the PC needs to be replaced. I only have one antivirus running > Panda Free Antivirus. The firewall is ZoneAlarm. Other antivirus, antimalware software is installed but only run on demand, and not working in the background.

Ran Speccy portable in safe mode and got same issue.

 

[Rustys]

This is my 84 yr old mother's desktop which is due to be replaced when the upcoming Black Friday, Xmas deals kick in. I'd like to get it working properly for a while longer until a new one is purchased and to backup files etc

Do you already have the files backed up?

Is there another account (user) on that computer that you can log into?
If not create one and see if that one has the same issues as the current user.

Check the date and time setting and make sure that the time zone is correct.

 

[paulwb]

I'm backing up the files today as the PC is working much better and quite fast considering it's 10 yrs old w/ Vista.

Another user account was created and the same problems persist.

The date, time, and timezone are all correct.

Since Speccy won't run, I've attached a PC hardware & software SUMMARY from AIDA64 business in txt format.

Also, I have a second ALL inclusive AIDA64 report which is 2127 KB or 600+ pages. Let me know if I should attach that one as well.

 

[gus]

What happens when you try and run speccy?

Can you take a screenshot of any error dialogue?

 

[paulwb]

Hi gus,

I attached a screenshot in the original thread. It's been run in Safe Mode as well with the same results. Note that Internet explorer runs in safe mode but not under normal boot up. I should have inserted a thumbnail or image.

 

[Rustys]

Note that Internet explorer runs in safe mode but not under normal boot up.

Can you access Safe Mode with Networking?
Will IE open and can you do limited browsing?
Is that computer connected Via WiFi or Wired?

 

[paulwb]

Hi Rustys,

I can access Safe Mode w/ networking.
IE will open and browse in Safe Mode, but will not browse after normal boot up.
The PC always has a wired internet connection.

 

[Rustys]

Thank you

I ran windows repair from tweaking.com in Safe Mode

Now what happens when you run in normal mode?
What were the results?

Run the following in Normal Mode
Please download MiniToolBox and save it to your desktop. Run the program by right clicking on it and selecting Run as administrator. When the program opens select the following boxes:

Flush DNS
Report IE Proxy Settings
Reset IE Proxy Settings
Report FF Proxy Settings
Reset FF Proxy Settings
List content of Hosts
List IP Configuration
List Winsock Entries
List last 10 Event Viewer Errors
List Installed Programs
List Devices (Only Problems)
List Users, Partitions and Memory size

Please post the log in your next reply

 

[paulwb]

tweaking.com goes through the repair process but cannot create a restore point in either mode.

I've attached the minitoolbox log. thank you.

 

[gus]

Can you try and run the portable version of Speccy as per the guide above, from an administrator account AFTER you disable BOTH Panda and Zonealarm?

BTW: there are currently issues with Speccy being able to publish results, according to Piriform it should now be resolved.

From Piriform

 

[paulwb]

Hi gus, Panda AV and ZoneAlarm were disabled, went into services.msc and stopped any services related to Panda/ZoneAlarm, as well as windows defender & firewall, I ran the 32 bit portable speccy version from admin and got same problem.

 

[Rustys]

I also see that you have Chrome and Firefox browsers installed do they have any issues running in Normal Mode?

 

[paulwb]

Hi Rustys, Chrome and Firefox work fine in normal mode.

 

[Rustys]

You have the data that you need backed up?

In my honest opinion since you are replacing the system on Black Friday (11/23/2018) why not just.
1. Make sure that all the personal files are backed up (in 2 or more places)
2. Install a more secure operating system like Linux Mint

Linux is free to use and you can also try different live version prior to installing to see if they work for you.