[cookiemunsta]

Hey everyone,
After power went out and back, my home desktop doesn't load windows anymore. It starts to boot, but and I get the following message:
======
we apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have cause this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known Good konfiguration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attemp was interrupted to a power failure or because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you
aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.
======

I've tried all options and the windows logo comes up then the computer restarts all over again.

First thing I tried was to get the restore DVD, I can get the DOS prompt. I don't want to restore and lose all data.
A friend gave me a Windows Operating System Disc for a Gateway, which I have, so I could try the repair option.
I get the screen and it identifies a version of Windows in C:, but doesn't allow me to repair. However, I believe I have an OEM Windows Home Edition from a Gateway that I was told was supported by e-machines. So I am not sure the disc is the correct one.

I went back to DOS and tried to type chkdsk C: and I get "invalid drive specification"
I try chkdsk C:/f - "invalid drive specification"
I try chkdsk c:/f/r - "Invalid switch /f/r

A friend from work recommended getting a new hard drive and loading restore on it, then hooking up my old drive to see if I get any info off.

If anyone has any suggestions, please reply. Help.

Thanks in advance.

ju

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Forgot one thing, when I select "safe mode" it goes on to a list of files before going to windows logo and restarting.

Thanks again.

ju

[cookiemunsta]

Forgot one thing, when I select "safe mode" it goes on to a list of files before going to windows logo and restarting.

Thanks again.

ju

[happyrock]

you can remove the drive and slave it to a working system to get your data...
or you can try puppy linux...
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 [url="http://"%20<a%20href="]http://www.snapfiles.com/get/burncdcc.html"[/url]" target="_blank">here </a>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
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
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...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....

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 sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...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..about half the width of the screen...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 minimized 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..

Edited by happyrck, 26 July 2008 - 12:11 PM.

[cookiemunsta]

Thanks happyrck,

Before I jump into your recommendation, let me update you where I am.

I ran the rc.iso disc per your recommendation on the other thread Thread but went into Recovery Console. The windows installation info did not appear, but the C: prompt did.
I then ran chkdsk and it stopped at 31% - with an error message.
I tried "chkdsk /f/r" - unknown parameter
Tried "chkdsk /?" and only parameters available were /p and /r
Tried "chkdsk /r" and it started running. It completed, and said it have corrected one or more errors. I listed the drive info capacity and available.

So I turned off, removed the boot disc (it did not eject while on) and restarted. I selected to load windows in safe mode and IT WORKED! So the first thing I tried was to update my backup (1 month old) but I could not drag and drop to my external hard drive. No CTRL-C / CTRL-V either.

So I restarted, this time it booted up normally. I received some errors on the spyware software and the philips device manager.
I went to Explorer, and again I could not copy files to the hard drive. What is the problem?

By the way, before all this, i disconnected the wireless card from the computer.

I'm glad I see my info, and that the hard drive was not completely gone. What should i do next to get back to normal?
Do you recommend I buy a new drive and go from scratch?

Thanks for the help. I truly appreciate it.

ju

[happyrock]

your hard drive may be on its last legs...try burning the data to cd/dvd's then run chkdsk /r again and see if it comes back as good...any errors and you will want to get another bigger drive and copy the image to the new drive

[cookiemunsta]

Thanks again,

I noticed that I can't pick up and drag icons on the desktop either. So is burning DVD's my only option to copy over my stuff? I'll get a bigger hard drive, maybe trying to hook it up as a slave will also work.

I have music that wouldn't be entirely lost (I have the CD's when I went to MP3) that I would hate to go over the process again.

Is running the Windows repair an option? Of course I'd like to copy over my stuff before I try that. If not, DVD burning here we go.

The hard drive image copy is something I haven't done before. Is there a tutorial you can point me to?

Thanks again,

ju

[happyrock]

yep...use HDClone get it here...there is a manual at the link with instructions...

Is running the Windows repair an option

yep.... but back up your data first

[cookiemunsta]

Thanks happyrck,

I ran the checkdisk and it reported errors. Windows booted up and I can see and open files, I just can't move them. Copy/paste and drag and drop functions are gone. I did not try to burn a DVD yet.

I will probably go and get a new hard drive and start the process to transfer the image. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!

ju

[happyrock]

you can do it...