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  #1  
Old October 30th, 2008, 07:47 AM
hype hype is offline
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Comp Just Keeps Restarting Over and Over

Earlier today I restarted my comp because my sound randomly wouldn't work and when I did an error screen came up saying...

Windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing or failed to load

WINDOWS\system32\drivers\TfFsMon.sys..

So it said to enter your Windows install disc and click "Repair your Computer".. So after doing that I still got the error.. Then after another hour of getting nowhere I tried the repair option one more time...

It seemed like it was working but after about 5-10 minutes it just crashed and re-started.. Now it just keeps re-starting over and over.. It'll load windows for about 1-2 minutes then just re-start...

I'm pretty clueless at what to do now.. I'm pretty much out of ideas.. If anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks.....
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  #2  
Old October 30th, 2008, 08:40 PM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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Windows Vista boot error thanks to tffsmon.sys

I'm experiencing the same problem as of today. A windows update ran prior to this problem starting, which i had postponed for 8 hours. On coming home, my pc showed the windows boot menu with the same error message as described in the previous post. I so far tried the Last Know Good Configuration, Safe Mode, Windows repair... nothing works, it's coming back to the same screen.

I'm thinking I'm screwed and will have to install Windows Vista again from scratch..


If that's the case, am I losing everything in My Documents etc?

Anyone go any better suggestion or even better, have a non-destructive solution? Thanks in advance!
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  #3  
Old October 31st, 2008, 02:39 AM
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Broni Broni is offline
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TfFsMon.sys is a part of ThreatFire. No reason to reinstall Windows.
Simple reinstall of ThreatFire should cure the problem.
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  #4  
Old October 31st, 2008, 04:43 AM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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I am not quite sure how hype and dutchguy72 can reinstall Threatfire when their machines keep rebooting Broni.

Try running System Restore first and if no luck, try disabling the ThreatFire drivers via a command prompt and see if Vista will load. You will need the Vista Installation DVD. Borrow one from a friend if you do not have one.

Use the Vista disk to boot into the Recovery Environment and try running System Restore first. See here for more help.

If this doesnt work, boot back into the RE and open a command prompt. See here for more help.

After the prompt, type the below commands and hit Enter after each line:

sc config tffsmon start= disabled
sc config tfsysmon start= disabled
sc config tfnetmon start= disabled

Reboot now and see if you can load Windows.
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  #5  
Old October 31st, 2008, 05:44 AM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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Thanks AnnMarie for your quick reply. I have followed your suggestions and this is the result:

System restore claims there are no restore points. This i find questionable since I know for a fact that I've been making them, at least once a week by hand. But who am I to argue with Vista

I tried running the command prompt from the Repair Menu, but that doesn't recognize the SC command you suggested.

Then rebooted back into the Windows Boot Menu, selected safe mode with command prompt, but that just takes me back to the same screen with the error message.

Maybe I didn't quite catch on at something in your instructions..? Was my first Command Prompt action correct (from Vista disc), but do I need to cd into a certain directory to get the SC command working?

Also, after I've done the SC config bit, do I reboot the computer without the disc I presume..?

I'd normally experiment myself, but in this case I have an additional issue.. the fan on my Asus 8800GT TOP slows down to a crawl about a minute after I reboot the system and my GPU temperature climbs up to well over 80 degrees Celcius. I'm not sure what temperatures it can take, but I don't wanna find out the hard and expensive way.

Can you say rock and a hard place..?

Is there anything else you can suggest before I'm forced to bring the beast in for "repair"?

Cheers

Last edited by dutchguy72; October 31st, 2008 at 05:52 AM.
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  #6  
Old October 31st, 2008, 07:47 AM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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Hi dutchguy72. I should have checked on my own OS before posting those commands. They will work when Windows loads but the full path has to be typed in the recovery environment to disable a service. An added complication is that not all the drivers will have registered as system services.

What we have to do (and I checked this which is why I was so long answering this topic) is to load the System registry hive and disable the drivers that way. It might sound a bit daunting but it's not hard.

Boot back into the Recovery Environment and open a Command Prompt again. Type regedit.exe and hit enter. The Registry Editor will open. Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key and go to File > Load Hive. A window similar to what you see when you open my Computer will appear. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Config and open the folder. Select system and click on Open. When you are asked to assign a key name, call it Threatfire.

Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key again and click on the Threatfire key. Navigate to ControlSet002 > Services and look for the below subkeys (look in ControlSet001 > Services if you cant find them).

tffsmon
tfsysmon
tfnetmon
threatfire

When you find each key, click on it and look in the righthand pane for the Start value. Doubleclick on the Value and change the value data to 4 and click ok.

Do this for each and when you have done this go back and click on the Threatfire key. Go to File > Unload Hive. Close regedit and the command prompt and reboot.

Did this help?
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  #7  
Old October 31st, 2008, 08:13 AM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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Hi AnnMarie.. I'll try as you suggest and will get back asap with the result.

Apart from the 4 subkeys that you're mentioning, there's a 5 listed in the hyve: TfKbMon.. do I change the value for that one to 4 as well or should I ignore it?

Cheers
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  #8  
Old October 31st, 2008, 08:19 AM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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Yep, change that value data too. I dont have Threatfire installed and I was relying on the results of a search to find the drivers. Good luck.
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  #9  
Old October 31st, 2008, 08:34 AM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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Okay.. tried as suggested. Unfortunately it comes right back to Windows Boot Manager with the same error message.

File: \Windows\system32\drivers\TfFsMon.sys
Status: 0xc0000221
Info: Windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing, or corrupt.

According to the Repair attempt log it's corrupt btw.

So what else can I try.. I doubt that removing TfFsMon.sys will help as it will lead to the same message I think. Overwriting with a "fresh" copy? Not sure how I can get a fresh copy and how to get it onto a pc that is probably not gonna recognize my USB stick.

Crud
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  #10  
Old October 31st, 2008, 09:31 AM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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Darn. Yes, if you can obtain a copy of the file it should work if the file is corrupted.

As long as you know the drive letter that your USB drive creates, it's a simple command from the Command Prompt.

copy <driveletter>:\TfFsMon.sys c:\Windows\system32\drivers\TfFsMon.sys

You should get a notice saying the file was successfully copied. Type "Exit" and reboot.
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  #11  
Old October 31st, 2008, 10:54 AM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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But alas.. that didn't work either. I'm out of ideas

If I were to reinstall Vista, does that mean I've lost the stuff I had in places like My Documents? That is, if I don't go for a clean install...?

Thanks for all your help so far AnnMarie..
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  #12  
Old October 31st, 2008, 12:39 PM
dutchguy72 dutchguy72 is offline
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Joy joy happy happy... after copying all 4 mentioned .sys files over to my pc, Windows is starting! Thanks again AnneMarie for the trouble..

Now on to solving the video card fan speed mystery.. right now i've got the casing open and right in front of a portable aircon
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  #13  
Old October 31st, 2008, 11:43 PM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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That's good news dutchguy72 and thanks for the update. I hope that hype is able to follow the posts in this topic and get his/her system up and running too.

Quote:
Now on to solving the video card fan speed mystery
Post a new topic in the Hardware Forum if you need help with this.
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  #14  
Old November 8th, 2008, 09:46 PM
el diablo el diablo is offline
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I have the same problem with driver today. my laptop crashed earlier today and I'm seeing this error message:

file:\Windows\System32\drivers\TFsysmon.sys

STATUS: 0xc0000098

I don't suppose there's anyway to disable the Threatfire driver without the Vista installation disk, is there? I'm working overseas at the moment and have no access the disc.

thanks for any assistance.
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  #15  
Old November 8th, 2008, 10:19 PM
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AnnMarie AnnMarie is offline
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Quote:
I so far tried the Last Know Good Configuration, Safe Mode, Windows repair... nothing works, it's coming back to the same screen.
dutchguy72 tried accessing all the above Menu options with no success. If the same is true in your case el diablo, you will either have to take it to a repair shop or borrow a Vista DVD.
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