System32 screen pops up during startup

I had a hard drive crash recently, and after loading Windows XP and all the other software, I found that the System32 screen will pop up during startup while applications are loading.

I doubt very much that it's a malware issue, and the screen goes away when I close it without a problem, but it's annoying me a little.

Can anyone give me an idea how to stop the screen from coming up? I tried looking in msconfig, but didn't see anything that looked helpful there. Given my level of expertise, I am reluctant to go mucking about too much when I have little confidence in what I am doing.

Reloading the OS is not a reasonable option.

Thanks.

 

you are talking about the system32 folder will appear, then disappear? or some command prompt window?

btw, check this setting:

my computer > tools > folder options > view tab > 'restore previous folder at logon' maybe its set?

 

Perhaps a long shot but have you ran the Greenborder online test

 

Thanks for replying.

Yes, it's the system32 folder, but it does not disappear.

The 'restore previous folder ar logon' option was not set.

I had a horrendous time with Dell tech support getting everything loaded, so even though I had this bug, I didn't get back to them on it. My experience with Dell has not been very favorable.

 

Hey Bubba,

No, I did not run that test. I never heard of it until now. Worth doing later or not?

 

See line 260, right column at the link below.May help.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

 

Thanks for the link, Franklin.

I did try it, and was a little surprised that it ran without giving me any info or options before it actually did run, but at any rate it did not fix the problem.

The link describes the problem exactly right though: "System 32 folder opens upon boot", so I guess I am far from the only one who has had this difficulty.

 

dcdc,

I poked around some and found some info that did help one other individual may be worth a try...

another forum suggested CounterSpy (15-day trial version). That seemed to have solved the problem.

 

Thanks for that suggestion, ravin.

What forum was that recommendation located on? I can't see how CounterSpy would cure the problem unless it was malware of some kind, and it seems doubtful to me that it is, particularly since routine scans with several AS apps have turned up nothing suspicious at all. Interesting. I would never have suspected malware, even when posting here.

I have assumed that perhaps the problem was most likely either a settings issue of some kind, or else some kind of glitch in the Registry, but I don't want to attempt to edit it until I am very sure of what I am doing, especially with something as essential to the OS as System32.

 

I belive it came from msfn forum. individual had same problem as you and tried the above mentioned fixes also but counterspy..no details given apparently fixed his problem. there was also one other post there that mentioned the sound card from dell was the culprit and that dell had a fix for it. sorry can't be much more help.

discussion was here http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=29827

 

Thanks for the link, ravin.

It will take me a little while to go through the discussion, but one thing that caught my eye in a quick read-through was that the problem may have something to do with Creative Audigy Sound Blaster and Dell.

I remember that after Dell tech support got everything reinstalled after the hard disc crash, there was a problem getting the sound to work. It was something to do with the way the drivers were installed. I bought the Media Center edition and it seemed to me the whole sound set-up was unnecessarily complex with the Sound Blaster card and the EAX console and Media Source Go! and so on.

I will post again as I figure out (hopefully) what the problem was.


Parenthethically, I have to say the Dell 8400 has not been a good machine. Conventional wisdom says extended warranties are a ripoff, so I only took the basic one year warranty that it came with. Within the first year the optical mouse and monitor failed and had to be replaced. Dell did send new equipment out very quickly, and the defective units were returned prepaid, so that part of it was painless.

At that point I decided I had better buy an extended warranty before the year was up. Good thing too. The hard drive crashed and had to be replaced. More recently something else went wrong, and Dell phone tech support could not diagnose it definitively, so they sent out new memory cards. That didn't work so they sent out a new motherboard, and a local tech to install it. That finally fixed it.

And I don't use the machine all that much; it's not as if I'm gaming 24/7.

Still, I hear that Dells are better than HPs. I hope I don't drive this thread off-track with these remarks, or perhaps I should say cause the thread to unravel.

 

I did some further checking based on ravin's great tip, and it appears that the culprit is /L:ENG, a program that is part of Sound Blaster Audigy 2, which came installed on my Dell Dimension 8400; link here:http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/startup_applications/7383-leng.html .

There is a Dell patch R75304.exe available at support.dell.com, but I don't have a hell of a lot of confidence in Dell these days, so I called Dell tech support to see what the latest might be on this patch.

This guy's opinion was that downloading the patch was not necessary. I allowed him to operate my computer remotely, and he went into msconfig and basically unchecked everything except Symantec NIS from startup. The system32 folder did not appear on reboot, so his opinion was everything is OK now sir, you have no problems now, is there anything else I can help you with sir, have a nice day, and thank you for calling Dell. I could have done that - unchecked items from startup.

I tried to get an answer out of him why the patch should not be downloaded (potential problems?), but his steadfast answer was essentially that it was not necessary because now the system32 folder was not coming up at startup, which was my problem. The whole thing was somewhat surreal, typical of much of the Third World support center experience it seems, but what can you do?

Because the Creative Volume control slider was not coming up in the system tray any more, I had to go back and add applications to the startup, and reboot until it did come up. It turns out that /L:ENG is indeed the culprit, and you don't need it at startup in order for the sound to work, but I would have preferred a clean patch. Given my experience with Dell to date, I am reluctant to download a patch from them unless I have high confidence that it will work correctly.

My thanks to ravin and the other posters on this thread for their assistance.

 

i had no problems with updating my dell monitor drivers.
also creative drivers eiether have a perfect install or a bad install.
so i surgest unintalling them completely then starting with the drivers from creative from stratch.
or you could use this link
http://www.creative.com/support/
click on software autoupdate do this in internet explorer and allow the active X control if it asks you to.
tick the lastest drivers and creative audio control centre.
then click download.
it will then ask you if you want to install so let it.
then it will uninstall the current drivers and install the new versions.
i wish you luck.
lodore

 

my old dell pc had some problems like once the tech that came out thought it was the harddrive but his superier told him it was the mobo. so he replaced the mobo and still had a problem turns out the tech was right in the first place and his superier was wrong it was the harddrive that went.
but my nextdoor neighbour hasnt had problems with his laptop other than the fact i had to uninstall all the crap they loaded it with.
lodore