VSS 12302 error

[muskrat26]

I have a seperate hard drive which I use to back up my computer data every month. This has not been done since February (ooops) but yesterday using Acronis I started the normal backup from C drive to the hard drive F. The computer froze and the screen showed vertical lines of green and white stripes. The only way to clear this was to switch off the XP at the mains.

The error message takes me to this," VSS error 12302

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: An internal inconsistency was detected in trying to contact shadow copy service writers. Please check to see that the Event Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service are operating properly."

Which takes me to their advice to check hkey_local_machine/system/current control set/control/content index....then both catalogs and system where (apparently) I should see quite a lot of items listed.

On both catalogs and system I only have default and value not set.

After trying a few times and still finding the XP totally froze I removed Acronis and chose to back up using Nero "backItUp" and the same thing happened.

Today I have run chkdsk /r which has made no difference and checking on google the fault seems to be often when a program is deleted including the residue of possibly a dll - in other words I have probably removed something that I should not have done.(typical me!)

My restore points only go back 2 weeks.

What I need advice on is if I do a repair/reinstal if this will correct the problem? Or whether seemingly deleting a part of a program that I should not have done that it won't be able to correct it. If that makes sense? I don't know what I did delete but I have been deleting programs I no longer require and have not been aware of any warning message advising me that if I deleted something that other programs may not work.

Possibly the alternative would be to do a fresh instal but I can't do that without first backing up all my docs etc which I can't seemingly do (besides a fresh instal is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut)

My drivers are up to date too. Seemingly no problems with my programs with the exception of trying to do a back up on my seperate hard drive (which is working ok) and I have even used a spare USB port to see whether it would make any difference.

So, if someone could give me some help and advice I would be most obliged. Ta

[Roz]

Hi Musky, hope you're well.

Does the post here help? In particular the one posted by Jenny wu.

[buzzy]

Hi Von, lovely to see you back.

[muskrat26]

Thank you Roz - its not applicable to me some of this. I did do a repair this afternoon but its making no difference. Had a terrible time getting back when I rebooted (black screen of death) I think I'll have to do a fresh reinstal BUT I can't save any of my docs because I can't burn them or save them to the seperate hard drive. I am also missing some set up cd's concerning drivers.

Main thing is to try and save what docs and favorites etc I need to so I think I'll get a bigger flash drive tomorrow and save things to that.

I now think its the HP printer. Everytime I have to update a driver my whole XP goes into chaos mode. I can't print anything right now so I have to save on belarc on a flash drive. I'll post about my driver problem on a seperate post.

Grateful to your help though, thanks.

Hello Buzzy, nice to see you too!

[Roz]

Right I see Musky. It was the bit about re-registering dll's if you'd deleted certain programs I was referring to, but I didn't know of course which particular programs you have uninstalled. So it was a bit of a shot in the dark. Hope you get it sorted.

[ken]

I think I might know what it is Von. If you can, uninstall your printer and clean up the system. Then when you reinstall, turn off the HP automatic updates. Just install the basic printer software and whatever you do dont update it. I allowed mine to update when I first got it and everything went ape. You will probably find a couple of HP entries in the Start menu, untick them and just leave the print spooler running in Services.

KC