[ninerfan88]

I HAVE A WINDOWS XP SYSTEM. IT IS A DESKTOP (GATEWAY). YESTERDAY MY COMPUTER CRASHED, AND IT WONT LOAD WINDOWS AT ALL. IT COMES TO THE BLACK SCREEN WITH THE OPTIONS OFF BOOTING WINDOWS NORMALLY, LAST KNOWN CONFIG, SAFE MODE AND THE OTHERS. I CANT BOOT WINDOWS IN ANY OF THESE CONFIG'S. I HAVE EVERYTHING FOR SCHOOL, MY BILLS, MY MUSIC AND PICTURES. I NEED TO BACK UP ALL OF MY DATA BUT I CANT GET INTO WINDOWS AT ALL. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WITH SUGGESTIONS TO HELP ME WITH THIS. THAT DATA IS VERY IMPORTANT AND I NEED ALL OF IT!

THANKS,

THE NEWBIE

[Advertisements]

Hi ninerfan88, welcome to G2G.

First, turn off your CAPS LOCK key. All capital letters is considered "SHOUTING" besides being harder to read. Use upper and lower case, sentences, all the usual good grammar stuff, makes it a lot easier for us.

You have a couple choices.

1. Remove your hard drive and install it as a Slave in another computer (friend, family member), then save your data
2. Buy a new hard drive. Remove your current hard drive, install XP to the new drive. Install the old drive as a slave and copy (and save) your data.
3.See this post by Happyrck for how to boot Puppy Linux if you need to save your data: http://www.geekstogo...21#entry1197721

Doing anything else at this point before saving your data is like playing Russian Roulette. Save your data, then we can work on fixing what is wrong with your computer.

Do you have a XP Installation CD, or a Recovery CD form the computer manufacturer?

[Ztruker]

Hi ninerfan88, welcome to G2G.

First, turn off your CAPS LOCK key. All capital letters is considered "SHOUTING" besides being harder to read. Use upper and lower case, sentences, all the usual good grammar stuff, makes it a lot easier for us.

You have a couple choices.

1. Remove your hard drive and install it as a Slave in another computer (friend, family member), then save your data
2. Buy a new hard drive. Remove your current hard drive, install XP to the new drive. Install the old drive as a slave and copy (and save) your data.
3.See this post by Happyrck for how to boot Puppy Linux if you need to save your data: http://www.geekstogo...21#entry1197721

Doing anything else at this point before saving your data is like playing Russian Roulette. Save your data, then we can work on fixing what is wrong with your computer.

Do you have a XP Installation CD, or a Recovery CD form the computer manufacturer?

[ninerfan88]

Sorry for the caps lock. I was posting from my phone which is defaulted to caps because its easier to read on my phone screen. I know how to reinstall XP, I am just very concerned about the data on the PC. Is Puppy Linux easy to use and bootable from a flash drive?

[The Admiral]

I would also recommend an external enclosure for your hard drive, that way it can be used after you get your data off of it - for data backup, which you need.

[Ztruker]

Puppy is easy to use and seems to be bootable from a flash drive, if your computer supports booting from USB. Might be easier and quicker to burn a CD.

See here for info on booting Puppy from a flash drive: http://www.google.co...G=Google Search