[helpohhelp]

Hi!

Ok, so Wednesday morn I boot up my 3 year old HP Windows XP desktop that I have never had a problem with. Well just before the log in menu is suppose to come up, THE BSOD came!! (Black Screen Of Death), only this black screen had a blinking horizontal (underscore) at the top left.

Oh dear, let me add that I run my home computer/entire office out of this little thing.

So, I cold boot, retry, again...nothing.


So, I turn back on, and the blue HP screen comes up, at the bottome f10 for setup, etc etc. So, I push f10 - and start the setup. Me, not being that computer savvy, and not knowing what else to do, start the process of wiping out my entire computer. My smart daughter comes over, and together we realize that my computer, files, all of my programs I use for work will be wiped out!:eek: EKK...not good. Thinking on impluse we turn off the computer (cold boot). Now what? We turned back on the computer and it began to start up, this time the BSOD did not come up (yay) BUT a black screen with a windows message did. Reading something like `You have not fully completed/installed the setup. Please finish`. Our only option is to puch OK , begins to restart and then it will come to that message, push OK, begins to restart and then comes to that message. Next quick thinking solution, SAFE MODE..where is it? It isn;t there, maybe because we have half finished the set up?

Next idea...what about the 3 year warranty I purchised through Staples, stil in affect? YES! Call Staples, bring the computer in. They tell me I can fix it and to pick it up in two days.

Come in today, guess what? I get told that my only option is to wipe out the entire computer, I will loose all my work, except they can back it up for me for an extra $$, oh ya, and this isn;t covered under warrenty! What? You mean that the only time I have to use my warrenty and it isn;t covered? The guy I talked to on Wednesday said it was covered and they nwould fix it,,, ugh :mad:

So - because of the miscommuncation, they give me back my broken computer and give me my $100 warrenty back. So I am stuck with a broken computer and $100 bucks...I would prefer no money and a fixed computer... sigh.

So, obviously I can back up my computer, but how? I dont mind wiping out my computer if I back everything up...but is this more complicated than I can do? Any suggestions, please, thanks sooo much for taking the time to read my ammusing yet very frustrating situation!

[Advertisements]

Hi Helpohhelp
Welcome to G2g
Ok fingers crossed.
Now before we do anything some answers please.
1) Do you have access to another computer box - Daughter, friend anything but not a laptop.
If not
2) Do you have access to an xp cd and access to another computer that can burn a cd - laptop or desktop.

What I am thinking of is if you can access another another computer (an older one is better then a brand new one.)
We take your hard drive out and make it a slave drive by changing jumper settings (will supply instructions) We then put it into another computer which will see this as a second drive which will allow you to copy your data to CD/DVD
or to the other hard drive.

The second option is we build a UBCD4WIN boot disk and then boot the computer with that and burn your data off.
Click on me
Cheers
Peterm

[peterm]

Hi Helpohhelp
Welcome to G2g
Ok fingers crossed.
Now before we do anything some answers please.
1) Do you have access to another computer box - Daughter, friend anything but not a laptop.
If not
2) Do you have access to an xp cd and access to another computer that can burn a cd - laptop or desktop.

What I am thinking of is if you can access another another computer (an older one is better then a brand new one.)
We take your hard drive out and make it a slave drive by changing jumper settings (will supply instructions) We then put it into another computer which will see this as a second drive which will allow you to copy your data to CD/DVD
or to the other hard drive.

The second option is we build a UBCD4WIN boot disk and then boot the computer with that and burn your data off.
Click on me
Cheers
Peterm

[helpohhelp]

Thanks so much Peter M for replying.

No - daughter only has laptop, however (down in storage somewhere I have my 10 year olf 98 windows computer...wwould that be suitable?)
No XP cd, my puter came with XP downloaded and I was not given the CD.

i do have an update however.

UPDATE:

Ok, so from a great resource, I found that pushing f8 brought me to safe mode! Yay

But there are three options:

Safe mode
Safe mode with Networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Which one, and once I do that what will happen?

Thanks for all your help guys - I really appreciate it.

[123Runner]

If I may jump in here, I believe what Peterm is attempting to do is get your data off the drive. That is our ultimate goal right now. You will probably have to continue the windows reload after that.

If safe mode or safe mode with networking work (kinda doubt they will), we can try a restore to a previous day.
If you do get in, try and get your data off of the drive first.

If that fails, we want to try hooking your laptop to another computer as a slave drive. This will allow data removal. The 98 will work, if it still works.

You could use the laptop, but you need to buy a USB external enclosure to put the drive in. If you did that, you will be able to move the data to you daughters laptop, a flash drive, or burn to CD (if the drive is a burner).

EDIT: Safe mode looks real funky because it is all basic drivers. Screen resolution is off and some programs are limited.

Edited by 123Runner, 27 June 2008 - 02:48 PM.

[peterm]

ok you can try safe mode with command prompt (I did not suggest this as if you formatted the drive it might not work)
But what the hey.
This should work if you pulled the plug quick enough. AND the system restore has been turned on.
Start your machine and tap the F8 key to access the Advanced Startup Options screen. Use the arrow keys to select "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and press "Enter". A list of files will scroll down the screen and the machine will start with "Safe Mode" displayed in all four corners of the screen. Log in to the Administrator account. Once logged in, you will be presented with a command session window.

At the command prompt, type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and press "Enter". The System Restore window should open. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

If not can you borrow a cd from a friend?
Cheers
peterm