[sarahmm4]

I had a trojan horse and posted on geekstogo.com to get help with it. In following the steps provided by the guy helping me, somehow it broke my computer even worse! Now I can't even log in. When I boot up the computer, I get to the blue screen with the Windows XP icon but I don't see the icons for the different users I can sign in as. I can't boot from safe mode or use the last known good configuration either. Please help! I don't have anything backed up on my computer so I'm hoping I'm able to get it all back somehow.

Here is the link to my original problem:

http://www.geekstogo...15#entry1448104

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Hello sarahmm4,

Please follow the instructions given by Admin found here
Report back with your findings

Regards,
Olrik

[Artellos]

Hello sarahmm4,

Please follow the instructions given by Admin found here
Report back with your findings

Regards,
Olrik

[sarahmm4]

I just tried following the steps. After I clicked enter to set up Windows XP, I saw the following message, "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3."
Please help!! I'm very concerned I've lost everything!

[Linkhasafan]

Try your hardest to get back on, save all your files, and when/if you back them up, put in your HP Recovery Disk. (if you have it) When you do, delete everything and it'll bring back all the basic programs. If you don't have them, delete everything anyway, you'll have alot of things to find I bet, but it's better then having nothing.

[Artellos]

I just tried following the steps. After I clicked enter to set up Windows XP, I saw the following message, "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3."
Please help!! I'm very concerned I've lost everything!

Hello sarahmm4,

Do you have a computer with a SATA hard drive? Or do you maybe know the make / model of your PC?
I am pretty sure you haven't lost everything, but the windows XP disks usually don't detect SATA drives.

Regards,
Olrik

Try your hardest to get back on, save all your files, and when/if you back them up, put in your HP Recovery Disk. (if you have it) When you do, delete everything and it'll bring back all the basic programs. If you don't have them, delete everything anyway, you'll have alot of things to find I bet, but it's better then having nothing.

Hello Linkhasafan,

I think you're going a bit too fast in taking the drastical steps. There are a few more things we can do before a format is needed.

Regards,
Olrik

[sarahmm4]

I don't know if I have a SATA hard drive. How would I figure that out? My computer is a Dell Dimension 8400.

[Artellos]

I found it out for you
Your PC does have a SATA HDD.

Do you have any floppy disks laying around that you can use? (And does the PC have a floppy drive?)

Regards,
Olrik

[sarahmm4]

Nope, I'm pretty sure there is no floppy drive.

[sarahmm4]

How do I get Windows XP to detect the SATA drive?

[Artellos]

Hello sarahmm4,

You'll need to integrate the SATA drivers into a windows XP CD.
I hope this will work on a dell as dell seem to have their own kind of disks.
A tutorial here explains how to 'slipstream' drivers into a windows XP CD.

this is a download link to your sata drivers.

Regards,
Olrik

[sarahmm4]

I'm not sure I understand the directions but I clicked on the link to the driver, inserted a blank cd, downloaded the file then ran the program (R82876.exe). However, I then got an error message saying that it can't find a floppy disk drive. I'm attaching a screenshot. I don't have a floppy disk drive or have access to any computer that has one. Is this something I need to continue?

Attached Thumbnails

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[sarahmm4]

What do I do now?

[Troy]

Yes, you need a floppy drive to continue.

If you can't get a hold of one, there are some other options to access your data before a format.

Troy

[sarahmm4]

I don't have access to a floppy drive. What are the other options?

[Troy]

Quite simply, the long way around. It would most probably be easier to get a hold of a floppy drive and perform said instructions above.

Nonetheless, the long way around would be to boot your computer using a Linux live CD, Puppy Linux is a lightweight choice that is recommended for this procedure. Here is happyrock's information on how to achieve this, he has written it for a last-ditch effort to save data off a dying hard drive, but it would also be applicable in your case as you cannot boot the system.

for future reference I will post the instructions for getting your data off the dead or dying hard drive...these are for using a flash drive but just substitute a usb hard drive if you have one...

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 may
already be green..if not it will turn 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..

Once all your data is safely backed up, let me know.

Troy