[Fox07]

My desktop computer has been doing strange things for a few weeks now - nothing big but thinks like my recycle bin just went missing overnight and my windows firewall wouldn't come back again when I tried to get rid of Zonealarm because zonealarm was stopping me posting on forums which was rather annoying so I decided to get rid of it but then found I couldn't get my windows firewall back. I then downloaded a free firewall called Comodo so that I at least had a firewall. My system restore has also been playing up and won't always restore. Last night I did a system restore because I keep having problems updating my computer with the microsoft automatic update - the little yellow shield shows at the bottom of the screen and I update and it says it was successful and then the next day it wants to do the very same update again.

Last night I was trying a system restore and I accidentally pulled the wrong plug out and now my computer won't start. I have tried doing the recovery console repair bit because my computer didn't come with any repair discs. Anyway this is what happens when I turn it on.



















This is as far as it gets and then after about 5 mins it turns itself back off again.


Would our local computer shop be able to get it back to factory settings do you think or is it beyond help? (like me I think )

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do you own a windows xp cd? if you do follow the instruction in topic title 1."how to repair windows xp"

[krmooo]

do you own a windows xp cd? if you do follow the instruction in topic title 1."how to repair windows xp"

[Fox07]

No unfortunately I don't so it looks like it will be a trip to the computer shop really doesn't it?

[krmooo]

well consider this. whats less expensive buying your very own copy of windows xp @ 80 bucks give or take, or having to take your pc down to some computer guy having him do the same thing you can do, but charging you oh im guessing over 125$. its your call. good luck let me add this. were assuming that theres no hardware issues here .unless your experianced in troubleshooting these things likepower, hardware failure, an whatnot ,im not suggesting dont have a professional look at your machine.

Edited by krmooo, 07 June 2007 - 10:05 AM.

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

Before you go out and spend any money, give this a try first..

As per Microsoft with a twist

Go into the recovery console again ..

Now,

Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.

At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command):

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old
Note This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.

At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

copy c:\windows\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers

Where drive is the drive where you installed Windows XP. (usually c:)

Type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.

Restart the computer.


Now, if that doesn't work or you get an error message at any time, see if you can borrow an XP cd that is the same as your setup i.e.: XP Home SP2 or whatever and then holler back.

Murray

[Fox07]

Thanks Murray for all your help - I really do appreciate it. I typed the first bit and it said that the command is not recognised - type HELP for a list of supported commands. I then typed the one beginning with ren ntfs and it said the system cannot find the file or directory specified. For the copy c: windows it command it said the file name, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect.

Thanks again for your help.

[Murray S.]

No problem. Going to make a bit of a change to the commands..

1: Make the change to cd c:\windows\system32\drivers

2: now, use ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old (again, if you get a file not found, then it is missing and not just corrupt)

3: Next, follow the same instructions after "At the command prompt..."

Murray

[Fox07]

well consider this. whats less expensive buying your very own copy of windows xp @ 80 bucks give or take, or having to take your pc down to some computer guy having him do the same thing you can do, but charging you oh im guessing over 125$. its your call. good luck let me add this. were assuming that theres no hardware issues here .unless your experianced in troubleshooting these things likepower, hardware failure, an whatnot ,im not suggesting dont have a professional look at your machine.

I think buying a copy of Windows Xp would be more expensive to tell you the truth - I don't know what they charge in America but they charge the earth over here in the United Kingdom. It's £200 for the XP professional so the Home Edition will probably be cheaper but I wouldn't think a lot cheaper. Last time my computer went down the shop charged £40 for wiping it clean and reinstalling a few programmes.

Thanks for your suggestions though.

Just noticed you are in Florida - my daughter is there at the moment in Longboat Bay..

Edited by Fox07, 08 June 2007 - 08:08 AM.

[Fox07]

No problem. Going to make a bit of a change to the commands..

1: Make the change to cd c:\windows\system32\drivers

2: now, use ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old (again, if you get a file not found, then it is missing and not just corrupt)

3: Next, follow the same instructions after "At the command prompt..."

Murray

Thanks again for all your help Murray but its been taken in to our local computer shop this morning. I'm not very experienced with computers - just a novice really so its probably better to let someone who knows what they are doing look at it although if it was still here I would have tried your suggestion.

[Murray S.]

No problem.

Murray