Need Help from Computer Savvy People

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:05 am

I have a serious problem with my laptop. Its running WinXP Home edition. Last night I ran Ad Aware and got rid of over 100 items. I restarted and continued using it with no problems. My boyfriend took the laptop on battery power and used it until almost dead. At that point he plugged it back in - I think he said it was in the middle of shutting down when he plugged it in. Now whenever we star the computer it seems to be going great, until we get to the blue Windows screen just before the login where you pick the user. It hangs there. It won't go past it - the mouse seems to work, but CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't. I have to hold in the power key to get it to turn off. So I attempted to restart in safe mode. The same thing happens - it hangs. I have no idea what to do now. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

ebslopp · Post by **ebslopp** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:57 am

Quote, originally posted by desert_dweller Â»It sounds to me that the laptop had lost all power and turned off before shutting down windows, possibly corruping windows. I would try the emergency repair disk or reload WIN Xp.yup...try the emergency repair feature. Boot up your computer with the Windows XP disk in the CD-ROM drive and select r for repair.

Big_Red · Post by **Big_Red** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:59 am

Sounds about right....

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:40 am

Will I lose anything on my hard drive?

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:47 am

Not if repair works.Repair fixes corrupted system files...it doesn't erase anything...Also, when you get to the repair control module, try using sfc /scannowNot sure if it works or not in repair mode, but if it does, that's a great tool for fixing screwy system files...

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:49 am

I must say, having two computers is handy when one goes down.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:04 am

Okay so I hit "r" for repair... it lead to me to a c: prompt. What am I supposed to type there?

kostby · Post by **kostby** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:35 pm

I'd try the Quote Â»sfc /scannow mentioned above.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:15 pm

Okay. I wasn't sure that was the command I should be using, or not. I'll try that tonight when I get home from work!

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:18 pm

Ok, bad news.Just tried that command on my PC. Recovery console doesn't support it. Back to square one.I'll do some thinking at work, see if I can't figure something out. Fear not sputnik, we'll save your pc!

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:19 am

Hmm... I hit r and the C prompt asks me which windows installation I want to login to. "Hit Enter to cancel." The prompt will only take one character. I have no idea what it is looking for... but Enter just restarts the computer.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:25 am

You so smart! Yes it said 1. C/Windows>... so I pressed 1 and voila! I'm now running a checkdesk as you recommended.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:02 am

Well I'm sorry to report that my problem still exists. The check disk command reported that it had fixed some sectors, so excitedly I restarted... and got no farther than the same blue windows XP logo screen. *sigh* It looks like I might have to get it looked at.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:18 am

Ah... no. I used to be able to back it up by moving items of importance to the desktop via the wireless router, but I can't connect to the laptop right now to do that.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:18 am

Do you know - how do you do that? We have two computers, could I make make one a slave?

ebslopp · Post by **ebslopp** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:25 am

if you can pull out the HD, you can do it. You'll need an IDE adapter to use the laptop HD on the desktop computer. You should be able to copy whatever you need onto the desktop computer assuming your desktop computer can read NTSF partitions.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:29 am

*sigh* Okay this is becoming too complicated. Maybe I'll see if my bro can do it for me on Thanksgiving (which is this weekend in Canada)...arg, just being a software tester does not have its advantages!! I can break it, but not fix it.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:40 am

It's possible that if you just re-install XP, all the actual data that you want will be preserved. You may have to reinstall some of the apps though.Doesn't XP have some sort of emergency restore capability?

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:43 am

I'm not sure. My brother thought maybe it did. The microsoft website wasn't much help though. I find it difficult on there to find exactly what you're looking for.I'll put in the xp cd in a bit and see what happens.

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:45 am

If you put the install CD in, boot to it and select install instead of repair, you'll then be presented with an option to perform a repair installation. Under ideal conditions, you should neither have to reload applications or lose documents. However, if registry corruption is involved, look out. In most cases, docs will be safe, but applications can suffer.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:47 am

Mostly I'm worried about my thousands of digiphotos - which I now realize should be backed up regularly!!

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:52 am

OK. Huge discaimer here *I am not responsible for the use of this information or any problems resulting from such use*I've never had a client lose data on a repair install. I have had my personal machine completely lose the ability to boot and lose many applications from them, however.If you're not comfortable with taking that risk, I would recommend installing your drive in another XP machine and backing up your data first.Edit:Doh! Thanks to Rasermon for catching my error. Forgot this was a laptop. It is tough to remove a drive from a latop to put it in another machine, but adaptors are commercially available to make it possible. Might be a good option for precious data.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:37 am

Yes, my brother sent me an email saying the same thing about it being a laptop. He suggested I load some sort of "linux live cd" and copy the data to my desktop that way. I have a whole pile of XP Cds - one just says windows XP English version and its the one I've booted from to get to the repair console. The other CDs is a set of 6 XP CDs that tells me three or four times when I load it, that I am going to lose all data as it will format the hard drive. I haven't found the option to repair / install from XP CD. I am searching google groups as well for info.

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:39 am

The live Linux may work, but may not be able to read that volume depending on the format.OK. The one that allowed you into the repair console is probably the one you want. You should be given an option to install Windows XP. I'll follow up with more details here in a second.Edit:http://www.michaelstevenstech....l.htmThere we go. Not the cleanest or prettiest page, but a good walkthrough at least.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:58 am

You know even if I don't end up getting the laptop fixed from this thread, I really appreciate all the help and advice you are all giving me. Really, I do appreciate it. Thanks to you all.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:43 pm

Arrgh, wish I could offer you some suggestions from the software side, but after completely abandoning Windows for Linux back in the Win 2K era, I just can't. But you've received some good advice from the folks here who know this stuff zillions of times better than I. I like ebslopp's idea of the laptop hard drive adapter... That may be your best bet. Something similar to this:http://www.compusa.com/product...=cat3Take out your laptop's hard drive, and if it is held in by in some sort of bracket, you'll remove that... Connect the laptop's drive to the adapter, connect the other side of the adapter to an IDE cable in your desktop. Boot up, and you *should* be able to see the drive on your desktop. I've used these in the past, works pretty well. As long as the drive itself isn't trashed, you should be able to pull off your files without too much hassle.Along the same lines (sort of) something like what I just bought may be helpful... I had an extra laptop hard drive laying around, so I bought an external USB enclosure for it. Just had to install the drive in the enclosure and connect the cables (one to the USB port, and one to the PS/2 keyboard port for power.) Works like a charm. Something like that may not be very useful for you though, if you don't have an extra laptop drive laying around to use once you're done with recovering your stuff from the laptop. Here's what I bought:http://www.dealsonic.com/kikhalusb20e.htmlThe Linux live CD may work... If the file system used on the laptop is FAT, you'll be able to see it fine. If it is NTFS, you *should* still be able to mount the partition, but it will probably be mounted read only, which is all you really need for this situation anyway. Then, you can find a way to get your stuff to your other box, via the network using Samba or something. That could probably be a bit more difficult than just getting an adapter and slapping the laptop's drive into your desktop.Regardless, once you get your files retrieved, I'd say nuke it and start over. Good luck to you!

sto_vibe04 · Post by **sto_vibe04** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:49 pm

When booting, hit F8 like you did to go to safe mode. Is there a choice that says "Last known good config"? If there is, have you tried it? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but if it does, it's a fix that will only take up about 20 seconds of your time. You won't have to re-install anything. Let me know.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 11:19 pm

sorry for going off topic, butwelcome to genvibe sto_vibe04!

ebslopp · Post by **ebslopp** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:38 am

Quote, originally posted by joatmon Â»sorry for going off topic, butwelcome to genvibe sto_vibe04!Sweet your in Stoughton! I live in Madison, so if you ever want to take a weekend and do some mods together, just let me know!

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:02 am

Quote, originally posted by sto_vibe04 Â»When booting, hit F8 like you did to go to safe mode. Is there a choice that says "Last known good config"? If there is, have you tried it? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but if it does, it's a fix that will only take up about 20 seconds of your time. You won't have to re-install anything. Let me know.Yeah I tried everything option in there. No luck.Best Buy (where I bought it) has a "geek patrol" or something. I may just take it in there to get it fixed.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:03 am

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic Â»you don't have an extra laptop drive laying around to use once you're done with recovering your stuff from the laptop. D'oh! I gave my old laptop to my brother.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:01 am

Okay so I started playing with the windows CD and finally found the option to repair/install WinXP rather than formatting the hard drive. Now my problem is it wants a product registration key which I don't have - it came preloaded so I don't know where this key is.

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:03 am

There should be a Windows XP sticker on the case of the machine with the product key listed on it. My Gateway has it stuck to the HDD cover.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:09 am

Woo hoo! Thanks! It was on the bottom of the laptop, where I never look.

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:17 am

No problem. I do these installs enough in a day that I've gotten used to playing "find the sticker".

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:23 am

millster rocks

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:35 am

Yeah you all rock really! Because *drum roll please*... ITS ALIVE!! I'm now logged into XP on the laptop - I haven't set up the internet connectivity yet, but I'm in! First thing - lets do a file backup. I gotta go put this on my 'blog.

rasermon · Post by **rasermon** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:42 am

Sputnik, thats great!If you have a CD writer on the laptop you might consider buying Norton Ghost to backup your hard drive.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:45 am

My photos have disappeared though - they were saved in "My Photos" a subdirectory of "My Documents"...

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:48 am

Oh no! Check through your "Documents and Settings" folder in your HD. Make sure it didn't just create a new profile when it reinstalled. Also, try running a full HD search for *.jpg. I'm betting they're there somewhere.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:51 am

Yeah i panicked for a moment and then my bf said do a search for *.jpg and voila! there they were! Thanks to all of you for all your help!!!!!!

millster · Post by **millster** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:54 am

Phew! I thought they had to be there somewhere.Good. Glad to hear everything is working again.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:00 am

Yeah, I've got some fiddling to do with settings and whatnot, but at least I'm in!

ebslopp · Post by **ebslopp** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:24 am

now that it boots up properly, I would recommend backing up all important files and then doing a clean install.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 5:25 am

Is there any way to use my old profile? I see it listed in documents and settings called "owner" but when I login as "owner" on the reinstalled xp I don't see any of the favorites etc associated with the profile, owner. Instead when I login as "owner" I seem to really be using a profile called "owner laptop name"

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 5:58 am

Go to start, Log Off "owner" or whatever name it has, then try to logon with your old name...if not,t here are ways to import your old settings...but let's try this first...

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:11 am

Nope won't be that easy because when you come to the login screen its called owner, which is what it was called before it crashed. The new "owner" just doesn't seem to be connected to the new "owner." I'm not sure if I'm making any sense...

millster · Post by **millster** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 8:33 am

It likely did recreate the profile. All you should have to do is copy anything from the old one to the new one that you want to keep. Avoid anything from the local settings folder (unless you're wanting old emails) and any hidden files. Favorites, photos, etc should copy fine. You can normally just copy a profile from one to another entirely, but the reason I'm saying i would avoid it is since it was recreated, whatever corruption caused the crash, might be residing in that profile.

Sputnik · Post by **Sputnik** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:20 am

Okay well I'm just going to try and piece together a new profile I guess. I've got the favorites moved over. I'd like the email as well... and for some reason Norton Antivirus isn't working any longer.

millster · Post by **millster** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:24 am

I would say that's a good idea. What program did you use for email? I can hopefully help you find your messages.Norton will likely have to be reinstalled. This is normal when dealing with registry corruption. You might want to check MS Office as well. It's rather prone to problems.