[wannabe1]

Run chkdsk /r from Recovery Console...again.

Seriously, I just got a Dell laptop running that had very similar issues...I ran chkdsk /r a total of 4 times before it straightened out and let me install on it. I know it's time consuming, but it may get you back into Windows. Try to boot normally after each run.

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Ok I'll run chkdsk /r constantly.


I'll never re-install windows xp.

That will be

My last scenario just re-install windows xp and loose All 2-3 years worth of data, pictures, songs and files.

I know there has to be some way to get back into xp I have searched and searched and searched all over the web for people with the same problem all have turned up with hardly any fixes that I havn't tried.

If you find a way to correct this without re-installing windows in the future let me know wannabe1, and thanks for sticking in there with me.

I will try everything i can even if it takes me years to get this data back and running, because I believe my windows is ok theres just something wrong with the boot file.

one more thing..
If I do install a xp again will my windows0 install still be in the doc and settings folder or will the instal delete everything?

Thanks and post back if you have any commands to try that you have found. I will surely try them out before i clean install.

Edited by quin8484, 01 June 2007 - 04:13 PM.

[quin8484]

Ok I'll run chkdsk /r constantly.


I'll never re-install windows xp.

That will be

My last scenario just re-install windows xp and loose All 2-3 years worth of data, pictures, songs and files.

I know there has to be some way to get back into xp I have searched and searched and searched all over the web for people with the same problem all have turned up with hardly any fixes that I havn't tried.

If you find a way to correct this without re-installing windows in the future let me know wannabe1, and thanks for sticking in there with me.

I will try everything i can even if it takes me years to get this data back and running, because I believe my windows is ok theres just something wrong with the boot file.

one more thing..
If I do install a xp again will my windows0 install still be in the doc and settings folder or will the instal delete everything?

Thanks and post back if you have any commands to try that you have found. I will surely try them out before i clean install.

Edited by quin8484, 01 June 2007 - 04:13 PM.

[wannabe1]

Just run it a couple more times. When I reinstalled, I did a parallel install and recovered ALL of the data on that drive...so all is not lost. The fact that chkdsk backs up and continues tells me that it is still recovering clusters...each pass should recover more.

[quin8484]

Did it 9 times nothing still.

I dont understand why i cant at least get into safe mode or best know configuration

[quin8484]

you may want to try this to recover your data..
you get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds... OR
you can also use it to backup your data to a internal drive or external usb hard drive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

Will I still be able to get to my data with this? Listen to songs, view pics etc?

[wannabe1]

I would think that's sufficient.

Let's look at the RAM. Have you changed that lately? Does your machine have a floppy drive in it?

[quin8484]

yes i bought new a new ram stick (512 mb) some time ago and bios recognizes it and it was working great with my pc yes it has a floppy drive.

Does microsft give a strict reason for a blinking cursor problem on boot?

Thats all I want to do i narrow it down to one problem and work from there

Edited by quin8484, 02 June 2007 - 07:43 AM.

[wannabe1]

Nope...if there were some predefined answer for this, you'd be running by now.

Download the Memory Diagnostic Tool, create the floppy as per the instructions, boot the machine with the floppy in the drive, and let it run for a couple hours. Post back with the results.

Do you have any external devices connected? Printers, flash drives, and iPods can all be seen as boot devices by the machine...make sure you have nothing extra connected to the machine when you try to boot.

Try booting to the Safe Mode options screen (tap F8 during bootup). If you can get to that screen, choose "Enable VGA Mode" from the options.

[happyrock]

you may want to try this to recover your data..
you get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds... OR
you can also use it to backup your data to a internal drive or external usb hard drive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

Will I still be able to get to my data with this? Listen to songs, view pics etc?

yep..and you can backup the whole drive or partition/s...folders ...anything on the drive...save this until wannabe1 has nothing else to try though..he can usually git-er-done

[quin8484]

ok thanks happyrck i will

wannabe1:

I have no external devices connected at all.

I have 3 computers in my house the one that im typing to you on for forums doesn't have a floppy and is using vista.

the other 2 have a floppy one is xp and one is me.

my xp is down and my only other choice is the me comp

so i downloaded that microsoft program memory tool you sent and put it on a floppy through my me machine when i boot that same floppy to my xp and boot from it, it says non standard disk blah blah.

EDIT

Well I downloaded puppy linux 2.16, burned it, and got it fired up and working on my xp that wont boot to xp os.

Seems like a nice program i just need to get to my old files where do i go from here

Edited by quin8484, 02 June 2007 - 09:53 AM.

[happyrock]

do you have a external usb hard drive you can connect to the computer...does the computer have a dvd burner drive...do you have a usb flash drive...I'm real busy today but if you can let me know what we have to work with I'll give you step by step instructions or you could go here and view the HOW TO video tutorials...just click on the HOW TO Icon
quick tip...mount the hard drive...the icon will turn green when its mounted...click on any data folder to see your data...music...ect

Edited by happyrck, 02 June 2007 - 04:34 PM.

[quin8484]

do you have a external usb hard drive you can connect to the computer...does the computer have a dvd burner drive...do you have a usb flash drive...I'm real busy today but if you can let me know what we have to work with I'll give you step by step instructions or you could go here and view the HOW TO video tutorials...just click on the HOW TO Icon
quick tip...mount the hard drive...the icon will turn green when its mounted...click on any data folder to see your data...music...ect

YES! I found the info from my hard drive off this nice program when i mounted it

ALL PICS VIDEOS PROGRAMS ARE THERE I LOST NOTHING.

so from here i can just load it onto an xp comp or an external harddrive via flash or dvd burning

funny it must have been my boot sector that was screwed up.

yeah I have a dvd/cd burner and a flash stick with my ill xp.

I'll check this link out thanks

I might just buy a external hd because i have 114GB of stuff.

Edited by quin8484, 02 June 2007 - 04:51 PM.

[happyrock]

ALL PICS VIDEOS PROGRAMS ARE THERE I LOST NOTHING.

...

so from here i can just load it onto an xp comp or an external harddrive via flash or dvd burning

yep..
try draging and droping files onto the flash stick..IMPORTANT THAT YOU UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE BEFORE REMOVING IT...put the flash drive in one of your other computers ...copy data to that computer...repeat/rinse

REMEMBER...data that you don't have at least 2 copies of is data you really don't care about

[happyrock]

quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to
your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will
mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...

minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..

drag the right edge of it (the flashdrive window)sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen...

at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimizes earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in
again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..
let us know how it went..

[Frustrated05]

YES! I found the info from my hard drive off this nice program when i mounted it

i cant seem to access my info through Puppy but it looks like we were hving the same problem with XP
tell me if im doing something wrong please :
on the desktop display i click the "drives" button, and it displays a msg saying Puppy Drive Mounter, click on the picture of my hard drive and it tells me that its mounted(icon is green), when i view the files it shows me SOMETHING but im not quite sure what, everything is listed in weird symbols and it only shows 2 folders and some of what i think are programs, it also tells me that only 67% of the 160 GB harddrive is used but 3.7 MB are free.....
signs of a bad hard drive or am i just doing something wrong? help appreciated