[islandcat]

whew!!!! think I have got it all burned. Now off home to try it.

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k had to download winzip so hopefully go everything on cd so off to home to try it.

[islandcat]

k had to download winzip so hopefully go everything on cd so off to home to try it.

[rshaffer61]

No problem and good luck with your tests.
I will wait for your return and results.

[islandcat]

Well after 10 hours it didnt work for me. I think it did not download and save to disc properly and couldnt hold friends computer up any more. So to further mess things up I found the XP disc and used it for repair. Well know you are already ahead of me on this. Couldnt get past password which has never been asked for before. Called the shop where bought from and he said I have installed XP over existing XP and probably corrupted the harddrive. So for a good chunk of change he can fix it. So guess stuck. ??????

[rshaffer61]

Called the shop where bought from and he said I have installed XP over existing XP and probably corrupted the harddrive.

Ok there are only two options in this case. Either you did a fresh install or a parallel install.
Either way the password problem is strange for sure. Now the best thing is to install fresh and start over but also there is the data that needs to be saved. First is the XP cd genuine, downloaded or a burned copy? Is it a full version or a recovery disk?
So without knowing exactly what kind of install you did then we need to secure the data first. To do this you will need a linux live cd to be able to get to the drive and backup the data.


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 get Burncdcc from my signature...it is 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....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 your 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...

==========================
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..

Thanks to happyrock