Member Avatar for jmassey

I have a relatively new (couple months) Dell XP Pro laptop (Precision M90), current on patches, up to date AV (AVG Network Edition) that after the user attempted to install some software on, and it went to hell. There was an error on boot up from TCSD_Win32.exe, which apparently a lot of Dell users had issues with, but some fiddling with msconfig got rid of that.

Also was getting errors in relation to Generic Host Process dying that would pop up. Some forums had said that replacing netapi32.dll and svchost.exe would clear that up, which I did through recovery console, and that error no longer appears straight away, but sometimes it will eventually pop up after a while (10 - 30min).

The only one still remaining is RPC terminating unexpectedly immediately on boot, which attempts to shutdown the computer (I made a shutdown -a batch file and stuck it on the desktop, so I can work around that).

Problem is, you google for that error and you end up with a load of results relating to Blaster. This is a current, patched system with current AV. That shouldn't be possible, should it? At any rate, even on the chance that was the problem, the recommended fix procedure cannot be done, as when I right-click RPC in Services and pick 'Properties', nothing happens. Lots of other random stuff doesn't work, either - no start menu / taskbar at all, but Win+R works, and I can alt+tab minimized windows back up. I can't copy / paste anything (it appears that copy is working, since for example if I ctrl+c something on a CD, the drive spins up, but ctrl+v doesn't do anything, and paste is grayed out in context menu.) xcopy / copy work in cmd, though, so I can get around that. 'Find' in explorer doesn't work - the sidebar changes, and that annoying animated dog is there, but the rest is solid black, so I'm going off memory or looking at other computers to figure out where stuff is.

Only other odd things to note is that in any instructions on dealing with Blaster, it seems that the RPC service should be started when you load up Services, but on mine it's not. The status is just blank - not started, stopped, or starting, just blank. I can, however, start it and it will stay up just fine. Network Connections service is stuck in 'Starting', though.

I'm beginning to suspect that I'm going to just have to do a clean install, but unfortunately, that will eat up at least 4 hours of a day I had scheduled for vacation. Anybody have any ideas on another way to get this machine working?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mohammeds

Dani AI

Generated

— concise, practical recovery checklist and command-line diagnostics to try before a full wipe. Prayer aside (), the following steps focus on fast data safety, quick isolation, and targeted repair so the day-off isn’t lost if possible.

First priority: back up anything irreplaceable using the working command prompt. A robust copy example (adjust drive letters and paths) is:

xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%" "E:\Backup\%COMPUTERNAME%\Profile\" /E /H /C /I /R /K /Y

Next, gather service and system state from the command prompt (Run as Admin). These are read-only checks that diagnose whether service config or corrupted system files are the problem:

sc query RpcSs
sc qc RpcSs
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcSs" /v Start
tasklist /svc
netstat -an | find ":135"

If RpcSs is set incorrectly, restore it to automatic and try starting it from the command line:

sc config RpcSs start= auto
sc start RpcSs

Run disk and file-repair tools next (these may require a reboot or the XP CD for SFC):

chkdsk C: /f /r
sfc /scannow

Boot options and targeted repairs: try Last Known Good (F8) and Safe Mode with Networking to run full malware scans (Malwarebytes + current AV) and to run msconfig/Autoruns to strip non-Microsoft services. If Services MMC property pages refuse to open, use the sc/reg commands above instead of the GUI. If system files have been replaced manually or remain unstable, an in-place Repair Install from the XP CD (press R when Setup detects the existing install) preserves programs/data and is faster than a full wipe — back up first.

Cautions: do not copy DLLs from random web sites; always restore system files from the original XP media or use SFC/Repair Install. If repairs fail or malware persists, a clean install after a verified backup is the safest final step.

Member Avatar for mohammeds

pray to god first

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