Why doesn't it work? Don't you have any restore points?

Yes, I do have restore points for every day, two on some days. I've clicked on all of them and still get the message that Windows was unable to restore my computer for that day and no changes have been made. I'm given no reason as to why no changes were made. My computer goes through the whole thing of starting restore, shutting down and restarting and still nothing. Ida

I have had the same problem on my XP laptop for some time. I can do a system restore in Safe Mode, but not in Normal Mode. I posted here about it and was not able to solve this problem. I haven't tried to do a restore on my desktop, so I don't know if it has the same problem or not. Both comps are XP SP3, so I'm as much in the dark about this problem as you are.

Well, just for the heck of it, I tried restoring the desktop to Friday, Feb. 13. It went through all the motions, shut down and restarted, and I got the same message that Windows was unable to restore to that date and no changes have been made. Strange situation. I'm wondering if SP3 or some other Microsoft Update has caused this.

Boot to safe mode an try to restore from there this will tell us if a program could be causing an issue.

Norton also has a habit of letting nasties through. If I were you, I would go online and do an independent virus check

Here is a link that might be useful: Housecall online virus scan

I'm reporting back on my strange dilemma(s) My daughter was sent to the hospital in the middle of the night, so my computer problems were put aside.
The online virus scan showed no problems, so that was good. When I tried my webpage that is stored on my computer, everything was back to normal!!! The page banners and link bars were all just as they should be. I find it hard to believe they were so messed up last night and now they are OK... I never was able to do a system restore, but for now, I don't need to. I'll get back to that when things level off here. I also never got to the Safe Mode, and wasn't too sure what to look for once I got in there, but I'll get back to that also. I was able to copy my website to a flash drive and copy it to my laptop. Then I installed Front Page on that computer, so I have that for a backup if I lose this one again. Oh, one more thing...my PS2 mouse was dead when I got up, but now it's working fine. Thanks again for all your help!I have a feeling I will be back.. Ida

Ida I am praying that your daughter will recover from what ever it was that sent her to the hospital.

Thank you daylilydayzed! My daugher is home tonight but restricted to bedrest for a week. The doctor says she should be fine after that.
Ida

I hope your daughter does well and is fine as the doctor says.

As to your problem this just enforces my belief that we have little gremlins living in our computers that just mess with us on occasion they move from one persons pc to the next and do things just to baffle us! LOL
JUST KIDDING but really it does seem that way sometimes!

Glad your little gremlin moved on!

That's funny, raven, but that's exactly how I felt when I logged on this morning and everything that was stolen yesterday was brought back with no help from me. I'm just glad he(or she) has gone on aggrevate somebody else. My mouse still acts like it is possessed. I can't even play solitaire because I can't slow it down enough to just pick up one card, but I'm glad that's the only problem I have. Ida

Hope things continue to go well for you, Ida.

Getting back to the restore problem, yes, I am able to do a System Restore in Safe Mode. Now, how do I find out if some program is causing the problem, and if so, which program?

Usually it's an Anti virus program or a firewall,

If I'm right you use Avast and Zone Alarm, what ever you use I would disable them one at a time and try a restore in regular mode and see if that helps.

Is this an HP computer?

System Restore can also become corrupted.

You can also reinstall System Restore.

But I don't think these issues pertain to you or it would also fail in Safe Mode.

I might need to open a new thread, as my original problem was not being able to use the Control Panel of my website host, which is ICD. I have never had a problem with ICD. They always answer very promptly when I have a question or issue. My complaint is not with them, but still not able to open or check on anything about my website, which I have always maintained myself. I have been in contact with Support for 2 or 3 days and have done everything they asked me to do. Like clearing my temp files, cookies, even disabling my firewall. Nothing has helped. I still cannot get in past the main Control Panel. Now, they suggest I try another browser. I do have Firefox on my computer, but have never used it. It was downloaded while my computer was in the repair shop one time. I do not have a clue as to how to try another browser. Will one of you please come over and help me?? If you can't do that, maybe you could tell me how to go about using another browser? I'm using IE7 now. Ida

Idaf

Yes open a New thread I'm helping grandms here with a restore issue.

This was initially idaf's thread, Gradms should have started a new thread

Sorry I butted in.

Right I should have asked grandms to start a new thread not idaf but idaf was willing to start a new one that's why I replied that way.

I only posted on this thread because of the title. I didn't realize it concerned an entirely different matter. Sorry.

Doesn't matter idaf said she may need to start a new thread so lets keep you here an carry on with the main issue system restore.

zep

Okay. Works in Safe Mode. That's with both the desktop and laptop, both HPs, both running XP Media Center, SP3. What else would you need to know?

I really have no need to do a system restore on either one, but would surely like it to work properly in normal mode.

"I really have no need to do a system restore on either one, but would surely like it to work properly in normal mode."

I understand that, this could be an hp related problem and I am looking into that.

Actually there is a patch for the problem I think but lets wait till we know more about it.

Some reading here, lots of it just to give you an idea.

I don't see a patch yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: /bertk.mvps.

Quite a read, but the only thing I see that might apply to my situation is that I have free Zone Alarm as my firewall. It never caused a problem in the past, but I'm wondering if the latest update has something to do with this.

By the way, another recent thread referring to firewalls had some interesting information indicating that ZA might not be such a good choice any more. I tried Comodo and found it nagged too much, but I'm thinking of trying the one a poster on that thread recommended.

Since I have a firewall via a router, maybe I'll shut down ZA and try the System Restore. I still like having a software firewall on each computer, however.

Still no restore with ZA shut down, so evidently that is not the problem. Will do some more reading.

I have no idea if this could be related but I have been seeing and hearing of more and more people that are having system restore problems after installing sp3, I see you do have sp3, do you have any idea about when in relation to getting sp3 did you encounter these problems? for example did you encounter it at all prior to sp3?

RC, I have wondered the same thing. I had no occasion to try to do a system restore until the incident of the lost sound on the laptop about a month ago, and that is when I discovered I could not do a system restore except in Safe Mode. I already had SP3 on both the laptop and the desktop by that time. I know I did not encounter this problem prior to SP3, so there very well might be a connection.