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blue screen and other problems


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#16
zandre

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No, I'm not able to boot in safe mode. if I had to do a reinstall (which I would rather not do if I have a choice) will I be able to recover the data that is on the hard drive?
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#17
rshaffer61

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If you do a repair install then your data should be safe. I have done it alot and other then an occasional path for something being confused my data has always been safe. The issue tho is the active infection you have. Without knowing what virus it is then it's hard to decide what is safe or the results will be.
With that going on there chances of a problem increase allot. This is a decision only you can make. My suggestion though is I have contacted a malware expert and I am waiting on his response. I have asked him to take a look at what we have attempted and to let us know if he can help even though you are unable to egt into windows. I trust our Malware experts 100%, and if he says the only way is to format then we will go that way.
I'm sure another tech will also look at what I have suggested and if possible they may suggest hooking the drive into a different system and pulling off the data you need. If that is suggested then you need to make sure whatever system you use has a up to date virus protection on it and before any file is moved and\or opened that it is scanned.
I await the malware tech and your decision

Edited by rshaffer61, 09 April 2009 - 03:53 PM.

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#18
zandre

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Yes, I would like to see what the Malware expert has to say first. If there is no way I can get this computer to get open windows again, then I definitely need to retreive the data. If the expert says they cannot get this computer back into windows, then I am looking at having to retreive the data from the hard drive and then either buy a new computer or reinstall windows on this computer and then put back the data? Basically, I only need some pictures and tax information from the data, anything else isn't that important if I wasn't able to retreive them. Do I need to send a new post to the malware folks or will the person you asked, respond to this thread?

Thanks
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#19
rshaffer61

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He should respond here. He helped me back in Feb with a virus I had. It caused me to have to format my system and start all over. He saved me hours if not days of work by explaining what I could and could not save.
As I said without knowing the exact infection he will have to give you a generic list of stuff that can safely be copied off.
Replacing the system should not have to go that far. Unless there is something wrong with the HD which I have seen no sign of yet then saving the data and formatting will get most of the iunfection off. Then once the system is back with internet then you should go to the forum and have them do what they do best. that way without any bling installed and just a native OS it will make it easier to check it.
Then after they have certified you clean then it's time to start installing your software and getting you back to a full state of running.I'm hoping he can help you without doing this.
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#20
Essexboy

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Hi there the first thing to do is to ensure you get your data back There are two ways of doing this

The first is a parallell install

Boot to the Windows XP installation cd by pressing a key when the "Press any key to boot from cd" prompt appears at the top of the screen.

  • At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press Enter to set up Windows XP.
  • Accept the License Agreement by pressing F8
  • With your current installation selected in the box, press Esc
  • Select C: Partition1 [NTFS] in the box and press Enter
  • To continue setup using this partition, press C
  • Now you should see formatting options...choose the last one, Leave the current file system intact (no changes), and press Enter
  • To use a different folder, press Esc
  • Name the folder WINDOWS0 (just type a 0 (zero)) and press Enter
The Windows installation should begin. This will install Windows to a new folder, leaving your data intact. Any programs installed on the old directory will have to be reinstalled to the new one. Device drivers will also have to be installed for all the hardware to work as it should.

The data will be located in the Documents and Settings folder (C:\Documents and Settings) under your old user account name...so when you set up the new installation, give yourself a slightly different user account name.


And the other is to run a Linux live CD and copy the data. There is a full tutorial and download link on this page

On completion of that then post in the malware forum and I will either help you clean, although that may be difficult if you cannot access safe mode ( although I could clean from a parallell install ) or ensure you get good clean start
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#21
rshaffer61

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Thank you Essexboy. I knew if anyone could help with the malware issue in the condition he's in. You could figure out a way. I just believe we need to get the infection taken care before we can constructively fix any other issues.
Again thanks for your expertise and assistance
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#22
zandre

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Thanks to both of you. Now let me confirm the procedure. When I start up the computer, put the windows xp installation disk in and follow your instructions below. This will let me install windows again in a different partition on the affected computer?

This will help me get rid of the blue screen that I am encountering now when I turn on my machine?
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#23
Essexboy

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If you have a spare partition then yes you can put it there, the initial instructions were for an unpartitioned machine

You should not get blue screens unless it is a major hardware problem
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#24
rshaffer61

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To Essexboy :) :)
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#25
zandre

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ok, my computer now has a blue screen, will your procedure still work?
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#26
Essexboy

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Is this after doing a parallel install ? Or is it whilst trying to install ?

Can you boot from CD ?
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#27
zandre

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Let me give you the full story. The computer was getting a mgrview.exe error. I followed some instructions from geeks to go, to run the atf-cleanup do a system restore and install a malware program. I did that and the system restore didn't work. While waiting for a response from geeks to go about the next step, I uninstall an 800MB game that the previous owner had installed. After I uninstall that program (game), when I cut the computer on, it goes directly to the blue screen, I am not able to open windows even thru safe mode. All I want now is to be able to get some data that was on the hard drive and then I want to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall windows xp. Right now I can't get by the blue screen at startup, It will boot to the cd because I ran a memtest with a cd and there were no memory errors.

Thanks
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#28
Essexboy

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If you can boot from CD yes it will then start up the windows installation
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#29
zandre

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ok, so put in the installation cd and follow the steps in your previous post to me correct?

thanks alot, I will be receiving the cd tonight and will give it a try.

Thanks
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#30
Essexboy

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Keep us informed of your progress and any further assistance you require
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