so you can have something to work on until others with more knowledge chip in.
That ULTRA.SY_ is a file that is compressed and needs to be 'expanded' by the Recovery Console if the RC intends to replace the ULTRA.SYS file which is located elsewhere. If you ran the Recovery Console from within XP itself then that likely means you have an i386 folder on the root directory, eg C:\i386. If you cannot see this folder it may be a hidden folder or hidden system protected folder. But this folder holds all the setup files you would normally find on the original XP Setup CD.
If you have ULTRA.SY_ on the CD then copying it to the i386 folder should work, but then this all gets confusing.
Why is the Recovery Console telling you that ultra.sy_ is corrupt and not ultra.sys itself?
Why were you running the RC? Fix Boot, or something else?
If the system still boots up then perhaps you should look at other reasons for the slow boot, slow opening of browsers, and slow shutdown. Is it just browsers that open slowly or other application windows as well?
Instead of running the RC, have you tried to run the System File Checker? Start > Run, type in
sfc /scannow ---- (note the space between "c" and "/")
and click OK.
How to use SFC; http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic43051.html
The run may ask for the setup CD but if it does you could try pointing it to the i386 folder.
But like I said, looking for other reasons might be best.
Reasons for slow boot;
Limited memory available when a large number of Startup applications are attempting to load. Reduce the Startup entries in MSCONFIG to the minimum possible.
The old DMA switch test. Switch DMA to PIO then immediately back to DMA.
Applications attempting to connect to the internet immediately to update, send messages,
Malware.
Failing hard drive.
Reasons for browser windows slow to open;
Too many, or bad or corrupted, browser add-ons.
Malware.
Reasons for slow shutdown;
Faulting application. Check the Event Viewer for the date/time of the last shutdown to see where any delay is.
Applications reluctant to halt using the internet, eg file-sharing torrents, or networked computers.
The lists are not conclusive and there may be many other reasons.
One more thing that comes to mind about why the RC didn't recognise your XP CD. Does that CD have XP SP3? Your system does according to your post, but if the CD is XP SP1 or SP2 then the RC may nto recognise it because the OS is now upgraded to SP3.
I hope some of that helps.
Mark
Okay, this is baffling and I can't find a solution anywhere, and I've spent an hour+ searching.
My system (XP Pro, SP3) boots pretty slow, and it takes forever for a new browser window to open. Usually the first one will not open at all until after I try to open a second browser window. When I shut down, it takes forever to shut down, I've never seen a browser window take so long to close.
So I run Recovery Console and it tells me that ULTRA.SY_ is corrupt. It tells me to insert the CD, and when I do, it tells me that it's the wrong CD. What the??? I only have one CD, and this is the one that was used to install the OS. How is it the wrong CD?
I can find ULTRA.SY_ on the CD, and I can copy it to my desktop, but where is ULTRA.SY_ on my computer to replace the corrupted file?
Every place that I've looked shows me Ultra.sys, not ULTRA.SY_. I have replaced Ultra.sys on my computer with the file on the CD, but I still get "ULTRA.SY_ is corrupt". What do I do to fix this?
Thanks.....
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