Can I delete a corrupt key?

[npitcher]

WIN XP registry.

Corrupt (ie illegal characters) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech\Devcon\ConfigSets\{59639116-D955-11D1-9D9D-00A0C98E7F73}\SuperEnv\ROM Preset\Hangar\E2M\Hangar\SC\{59639117-D956-11D1-9D9D-00A0C98E7F73}\+$^*.

Stops Soundblaster drivers loading correctly and cannot be deleted (Regedit reports "Cannot delete +$^*. Error while deleting key") when trying to remove it. (Note that these are not the actual illegal chars. The real ones are unprintables)

Is there any way I can get rid of it without having to reinstall?

Thanks for any help
Nigel

[Mosaic1]

Have you checked for a virus? Something caused this change.
How long ago did this happen? You may be able to restore a prior registry. I am not familiar with XP and so cannot advise you on the details.

[npitcher]

Thx for reply. Cause was a system crash during installation of updated WIN XP soundblaster drivers. After reload, all sound dead. Isolated case to corrupted entry. Tried several freeware registry editors but all refuse to delete key

[rjkrash]

Maybe a dumb question/idea but did you try to just rename the key to valid characters, then deleting it?

The two rules for success:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

[npitcher]

Can't rename, move or delete! Also can't rename, move or delete any of the parent keys to the corrupt one.

[Mosaic1]

Have you considered removing the sound card again an trying yet another reinstall?

Do you have scanreg /fix available to you in Windows XP?

[npitcher]

Before I found the registry corruption I removed the card and tried re-installs in every available PCI slot! No avail.

Can't find scanreg in XP install or on installation disc. Guess it's not part of XP.

My guess is that the only thing that might fix this is a 3rd party utility of some sort.... any ideas ?

[rjkrash]

Have you tried to use the system restore tool?
<a target="_blank" href=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q306/0/84.ASP>HOW TO: Restore Windows XP to a Previous State (Q306084)</a>

You didn't disable it did you?/images/forums/icons/frown.gif


The two rules for success:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

[npitcher]

Nothing in life is ever so easy....
I got a blue screen crash early on in the process and on system reload, checkdisk announced that my system restore folder was amongst the casualties! All previous restores completely nixed....

Sounds like I'm making this up as I go along to test you I know, but its all real!

The only option I have is to fix the current registry

[rjkrash]

Damn!!!!! /images/forums/icons/shocked.gif/images/forums/icons/shocked.gif/images/forums/icons/shocked.gif you've had a bad day!

I think you may have to reinstall.

The two rules for success:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

[Mosaic1]

You said you physically removed the card. Did you go into Device Manager in Safe Mode and remove the Souncard there?

[npitcher]

Good thought.. I did remove it from device manager in "normal mode" and then did an uninstall of the soundblaster stuff with add/remove programs - The corrupt registry entry remains when I do that. Is safe mode likely to change that result? (I can't delete the key manually using regedit in safe mode)

[Mosaic1]

I am not sure. It doesn't sound promising. You might have Ghosts which can only be seen in Safe Mode. It's worth a try. I don't understand why you cannot delete the key. Maybe you should have a look around for a registry cleaner.
Here's something I found along time ago. I don't know if it would work in XP
<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Scrubbing Devices Clean
Here's a fix that applies to both Windows 98 and Me. If you have problems installing or updating drivers for a device, you may want to make a totally clean start. To do that, physically unplug the device and uninstall it via Device Manager. Then, go to the C:\Windows\Inf\Other directory and remove any files you find there for the device. (The Inf directory is hidden, so you'll need to set Explorer to view hidden files in Tools | Folder Options.) Next, remove the files DRVDATA.BIN and DRVIDX.BIN from c:\Windows\Inf and reboot. Windows will recreate those two files when you reboot and it detects the hardware again.
11:51 PM 4/29/01

<hr></blockquote>








You know what? This is XP. Is there some kind of permission you need to delete a key from the Registry?
Others will be around who use XP now. Maybe they will be more help. It is really a different OS from what I use now.

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mosaic1 on 01/08/02 16:33.</FONT></P>

[rjkrash]

Try this link for registry cleaners maybe one will work

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.softlandmark.com/Registry.htm>http://www.softlandmark.com/Registry.htm</a>

Most are freeware/shareware can't hurt.

The two rules for success:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

[npitcher]

Two good tips. Thankyou both. Time for bed here in the UK. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Best regards
Nigel

[npitcher]

Well, tried every bit of safe looking frrware/shreware I could find for registry editing but all refuse to delete the corrupt key.

Tried the clean delete method removing .inf files as well as trying to delete corrupt key under safe mode (still no joy)

Only further diagnostic I can offer that might trigger an alarm bell with someone is that looking into device manager/sound, video and game
controllers/Creative SB Audigy/Properties shows Audio, Midi and Mixer Devices correctly installed but clicking on the properties tab for each shows the message "Driver is enabled but has not been started"

Any ideas?

[Mosaic1]

Have a look at this link to another Board.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007497903>http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007497903</a>

EDIT: I am researcing this and you are not the only one to have this error. Others using XP are too. They updated the drivers for the audio card and no joy. Keep trying.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mosaic1 on 01/09/02 14:44.</FONT></P>

[Andy-S]

I don't know if this is a viable option for you as you need a second PC or a second bootable HDD (the second OS also needs to be XP to read the hives on your original drive).

If you have the required hardware then you can:

1. Install your corrupt drive as the secondary drive in the system.
2. Install the trial version of Resplenent Registrar (available from the download links on this site).
3. This tool will allow you to access and modify the registry on the secondary drive. All you have to do is select: File - open for editing- and browse to the hive on the secondary drive. If it is in HKLM\software then the path should be "Secondary drive letter":\windows\system32\config\software

Hope this helps

[Smitty]

Have you tried regedit32?



Smitty

[rjkrash]

are the illegal characters in the key name or are they the value of a key?

If they are a value you can right click and modify binay data. changing to 0.

Have you tried to export the key edit it w/notepad and import the key?

Sure you have, grasping at straws here.

The two rules for success:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

[Mocha]

I recommend trying System Mechanic, ever heard of it? I know there are a lot of goodies, but I've used this one and really liked it. It wouldn't hurt to try, I s'pose.

This is an excellent Registry cleaner.
Regcleaner 4.3.0.780
by Jouni Vuorio

http://www.jv16.org/

Carol

System mechanic is a free trial; sorry about that.
http://www.iolo.com/sm/<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mocha on 01/10/02 02:21.</FONT></P>

[npitcher]

Creative stuff Andy! I can network via Ethernet to my Win2000 notebook - will win2k do the job or is Win XP a prerequisite?

[npitcher]

I'm pretty much convinced that a complete rebuild is going to be necessary - although Andy's suggestion below looks worth a try - so I will - this weekend. As others seem to share my affliction I'll post the reults.

[npitcher]

Thanks for the suggestion Mosaic. Sadly, it's the key name that's screwed rather than the key content. If I export the parent key it conveniently does NOT export the corrupt child. So with fingers crossed I tries to re-import the good parent. The install worked - but the corrupt "child" key was still there. My creative juices are all but run dry...

[npitcher]

Good suggestion - but same result as regedit
Thanks tho...

[Andy-S]

Windows XP is a pre-requisite. The resplendent registrar uses the regedit functions that are on the host system. W2K regedit does not recognize the XP hives as they have a different header.

[Smitty]

Found this, MAYBE will help...
and source for this <a target="_blank" href=http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/>The Emergency Recovery Utility NT-Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/XP (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22xp+registry&hl=en&selm=eK%24chM8kBHA.856%40tkmsftngp03&rnum=10>MS)



Smitty