Ok… about the registry and some possible solutions. Note that there is no one correct answer for this problem because there can be a number of actual possible causes of a corruption and therefore several possible solutions. Repairing a Windows system is almost an art form so when a tech is working on one.. they will often base what procedure they choose from the way the system acts. This is not something that can be taught.. it just take time for them to learn it.

Truer words have not been said, and I cannot agree more with this statement.  While I have worked on computers that are the same make and model with the same issue, the solution is always just a little bit different, owning to how the owner used the computer or the manner in which the issue occurred.  Sometimes the standard method for fixing a computer needs to be abandoned due to the way the computer is responding, and this can be caused based on the time it takes a computer to load, a screen to render, or the sound of a fan, hard drive, or CD spinning up when it doesn’t need to.

On a some what related note, one of my staff had dropped off a computer for me to work on back in April of last year.  I kept it in my overhead cabinet until this afternoon, where he was giving me grief for not working on it (not that he has asked about it much before hand), and I grudgingly told him I would look at it.  The issue had been that the computer would not boot up, or when it did, he wouldn’t be able to access files.  He had tried a number of suggestions with using the UBCD4Windows from me previously, but to no avail.  I setup the laptop on my desktop and *BOOM!* it turned on.  I ignored this computer for almost a year and it now works.  After showing the computer who was boss (sticking it in solitary confinement and letting it bask in my computer-fixing presence) it is now ready to continue doing it’s job.

This is not the first time my mere presence has fixed a computer, nor will it be the last; my computer fixing techniques are innate.

I am the Computer Whisperer.

1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.
2. Select Hardware and Sound.
3. Select Device Manager.  Click Continue when the User Account Control window appears.
4. Under network adapters, remove the wired Ethernet controller/connection.
5. If Windows does not re-detect the hardware, select Network adapters (or the name of the computer at the top of the item tree) and from the menu select Action > Scan for hardware changes.

After using my bluetooth keyboard with my laptop while on vacation, I returned to the apartment and attempted to use it on the desktop.  For whatever reason, it stopped working.  It wasn’t the batteries, as I could connect and type the passkey, but it would lose the connection almost immediately.  The keyboard also connected to the laptop computer just fine.  One resolution to this issue was to make sure that the check box for “Drivers for keyboard, mice, etc (HID)” was selected in the bluetooth properties for the keyboard.  It wasn’t, but when I tried to check it an hit apply, I got a Bluetooth Service Error “Access is denied” message. I made sure the Bluetooth Support Service was running by checking services.msc, and it was supposedly was running just fine.  After reading this thread, I checked the Log On tab for the service, and found that it was running as This account:NT AUTHORITY\LocalService.  Once I stopped the service, changed it to Local System account, I was able to select the driver service listed above and my keyboard was able to type.

Sure, this means I cannot go get a Logitech G15 keyboard, but that’s just as well.  What really gets me is that there is no reason I could think of as to why that service would…

1. No longer work the way it was or
2. When it would have changed to log on differently; I used the keyboard on the desktop up until we left

Edit 8/31/08: Paul lists the ordered list of what needs to be done, and I’ll move it up here so that those trying to get the issue resolved can find the info.  While Paul does list how I did got to Services, some might be wondering what do you do when the keyboard doesn’t work, as is the case here.  There are two methods, listed in step 1:

1. Open Services:
   1. To still type things out, start the on-screen keyboard by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > On-Screen Keyboard.  From there, you can then do Start > Run and then type services.msc
   2. To directly access Services, do Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services
2. Find & select the Bluetooth Support Service, right click and select Properties.
3. Click the Stop button on the General tab.
4. Select the Log On tab, and select the radio button next to Local System account, then click Apply.
5. Go back to the General tab and click the Start button.
6. Click OK to close the Properties dialog.
7. Restart computer to make sure the change takes and things work.

Previously, this hadn’t been much of a concern, as we would direct students to the bookstore to purchase a new copy of Windows XP Professional (if they hadn’t already purchased a copy) and then use that to reinstall the operating system. Now that Vista is out, there are either very few or no copies of XP to be found at the bookstore, and some computers come to us that installing Vista on is simply not an option.

I thought I was out of options, but then I recalled that the UBCD has a program that could be helpful, Windows XP Setup Launcher. What it does, is allow you to pick a path to install Windows XP from. You cannot pick the Windows directory itself, as these are the post-installation files, but the computer did have an I386 directory, which has the compressed files that are used in installing Windows. I copied that directory to an external hard drive and ran Windows XP Setup Launcher. Using another UBCD program, Keyfinder, I got the computer’s Windows product key, which I needed to complete the setup process.

There were some issues along the way of course.

At one point, I was getting an error message of some kind because mstask.ini could not be found in the I386 folder. Now, for creating the UBCD, I have the contents of a Windows XP installation CD stored on my computer, and it just so happened that mstask.ini was already there. The contents were simply:

[.ShellClassInfo]
CLSID={d6277990-4c6a-11cf-8d87-00aa0060f5bf}

However, in case this was a file that was or needed to be different per computer, I searched for the entire second line shown above. While there were a number of sites that came up, this was the first site listed, and the inline comment for that CLSID of “Makes the task folder work” was enough for me to assume that this was something standard that could be copied over. Sure, most of the information that initially comes up is for Windows prior to XP, but it my assumption was correct, as I was able to continue on to bigger and better errors.

The next error was a pain to deal with, as the installation would through the following message at me:

Windows cannot load internet configuration utility ICFGNT.DLL. The specified module could not be loaded.

This is where I, unfortunately, get forgetful. I wasn’t taking exact notes on this, and as the case was, there were multiple errors going on at the same time that I was trying to resolve. Always remember: fix one thing at a time. In regards to this, I’m sure I did the following, and as listed later, I tried some of these multiple times:

• I will say that this site/forum post offered the most assistance. I applied the edits to txtsetup.sif that are listed, even though I was not using the exact software listed. It didn’t appear to harm the system and I do believe it helped. These were as follows:All added to the [FileFlags] section of txtsetup.sif
  BNTS.DLL = 16
TSHOOT.DLL = 16
SNIFFPOL.DLL = 16
SSTUB.DLL = 16
SSDPSRV.DLL = 16
SSDPAPI.DLL = 16
UPNP.DLL = 16
UPNPHOST.DLL = 16
UPNPCONT.EXE = 16
UDHISAPI.DLL = 16
• I downloaded a copy of icfgnt.dll, as I could not really found a copy in the I386 folders I had access to.

Something there did the job, as I was able to get the computer up and running. I had also saved the drivers and dell directories to the external drive so that I would be able to install the hardware Windows couldn’t, and fortunately, everything was there as needed. You’d think that would be the end of it, but you would be wrong; so very, very wrong.

Sure, the computer was running, but one of the Windows Security Alert balloons that pops up after a fresh install caught my eye. If I’m correct, it may have been telling me that the computer did not have any antivirus software installed. I don’t know for sure, as the message was not in English; in fact, it was definitely a Middle Eastern language, but I’m not sure which. For the purpose of listing it, I’m going to say it was Arabic. I didn’t think this was going to be an issue, but then I started to use Windows. Here’s what I remember finding in Arabic:

• All of the Windows Security Center
• The Start menu item for setting default applications and settings
• The Hardware and Remote tabs of System Properties

So, I try the re-installation process again, making sure to do an attended install and not an unintended one, which of course, did not solve the problem. This was starting to bother me, as I could find no real reason why it was happening, then it hit me: everything that was showing up in Arabic was something that had been changed with Service Pack 2. I grabbed one of the SP2 discs we have from a couple years ago and “installed” it on the computer. One reboot later, and all but one item (default applications and settings) was in English. I connected to the Internet and initiated an update of 90-some items, and following that reboot, the computer was, as far as I could tell, all in English again.

Was this computer a pain to deal with? Yes. Did I enjoy working on it? You better believe it. It was nice to have a computer come in that was fubar and find a unique way to solve the problem, which I can now tuck away as an option for further issues I may face. Also, since nothing jumped out at me when I was searching for this, I’m more than glad to add it to the collective knowledge of the web. Just be sure to leave a comment if you find this useful.