XP won't save settings

[Darkstar4471]

Hello all,

I'm having a problem saving my settings.

System Setup
Dual core 3gig Intel Pentium 4
Asus P5WD2 Premium Motherboard
2 Seagate Hard Disks(80 gig/160gig)
2 gig onboard DDRAM
ATI Radeon 800XL 256mb graphics
Windows XP Professional with SP2
Creative Soundblaster Audigy2 Platinum Pro sound
Win XP Firewall, Bitdefender 10 virus and firewall, onboard Speedtouch(585i) wireless router firewall.


I've noticed all the following problems start since I reformatted my computer and installed WinXP SP2 on it.
The following problems are:

Computer restarts always with American language bar instead of UK even though I always change.
The screen resolution always restarts at 1024X768 instead of 1280x1024.

I have to always change my profile on my graphics card back to 1280x1024.

I also notice that when I play a game in 1024x768 mode the screen resolution always jumps back to that when I exit the game.

What is going on? It appears that WinXP is not saving the settings. I went to another forum and it saif to create another USER. I have and it works, but it seems an awful pain in the next to have to always keep switching over to the "New User" all the time just to have desired settings. Also I have to log onto administer first and then log off in order to access the new user as I don't have an option at startup.

Can anyone help me? I looked on another forum and it said to delete the NTUSER.DAT file. I found 2 deleted one in the system32 folder but can't in the C:documents and settings/administrator as it says it's being used by another programme.

I'm going mad trying to figure this out. I have updated my graphics drivers as well as flashed the bios and installed the new intel chipsets.

Thanks

[Darkstar4471]

Looked on another forum and it told me to go to Kelly's Korner and I found the following in the thread called "Windows XP Doesn't Save User Settings" - Line 30.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run]
"SystemTray"="SysTray.Exe"


This was all it said. What am I supposed to do with this? I'm not a registry wizard and so I checked the above stryngs and found the first not to be there. If I'm supposed to put it in how am I supposed to input it?

Thanks

[Darkstar4471]

...just disabled the administrator account in order to have the new one the default one but instead when the computer boots up, "Account has been disabled" comes up and when it goes into my new default account it's still the same as the original administrator as it hasn't saved any of the settings whereas before it had(graphics settings, language settings etc etc).

I know there's probably something I have to delete or modify in the registry but where and what???????

[DaveC2003]

Try this website out. It may help. Modifying the registry is a dangerous thing to do, one mistake can lead to reinstalling the operating system.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/

DaveC2003

[Miz]

On the Kelly's Korner site, right click on the file on line 30, left click "Save target as" or if you're using Firefox, right click the file, left click "Save link as."

That will download the file to your computer in the folder you indicate. Once it's downloaded, double click it to run it.

[Darkstar4471]

Originally Posted by DaveC2003

Try this website out. It may help. Modifying the registry is a dangerous thing to do, one mistake can lead to reinstalling the operating system.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/

DaveC2003

Thanks Dave, I'll have a look

[Darkstar4471]

Originally Posted by Miz

On the Kelly's Korner site, right click on the file on line 30, left click "Save target as" or if you're using Firefox, right click the file, left click "Save link as."

That will download the file to your computer in the folder you indicate. Once it's downloaded, double click it to run it.

Thanks Miz, I've just saved it and it's saved as a .reg file. You learn a new thing everyday.

thanks again

[Darkstar4471]

Originally Posted by Miz

On the Kelly's Korner site, right click on the file on line 30, left click "Save target as" or if you're using Firefox, right click the file, left click "Save link as."

That will download the file to your computer in the folder you indicate. Once it's downloaded, double click it to run it.

I saved it and it saved it as a .reg file but when I double click to write to the registry it opens it up with notepad. I believe I have to add these strings to the registry but don't know whether to add them as a:

String Value, Binary Value, DWord Value, Multi string value, expandable string value?

[Darkstar4471]

I've tried all you've written but to no avail. I managed to change the regional settings but it was not the normal way I do it.
I think it may be a problem with the ATI graphics card software. I downloaded the latest version(Catalyst 6.9). The old version from the disc never gave me problems(Catalyst 5.4) apart from new games where I'd encounter lots of problems.
XP, still loads up in Administrator with 1024x768 instead of 1280x1024 screen resolution. Tried everything I can think of. I suppose I'll just have to keep loading the ATI profile I've saved every time. It's still a pain in the arse though!

[Miz]

Instead of double clicking it, right click it then left click Merge. It'll ask if you really want to. Tell it yes since you really want to.

[Darkstar4471]

Originally Posted by Miz

Instead of double clicking it, right click it then left click Merge. It'll ask if you really want to. Tell it yes since you really want to.

I tried that but it doesn't give me the option. I instead went to Registry edit and dropped the file into both subsequent directories where it created the stryngs automatically. Didn't make a change though. XP still starts up in 1024x768 mode.

Thanks anyway.

[wowjimi]

I had the same problem on a new company computer using win xp pro. I tried the above suggestions with no results.
I uninstalled Google Desktop -- now no more problem with the settings not saving.