[rshaffer61]

Well at this point since puppy won't boot then you would have to slave the drive in a known working system and try to backup your data on to another drive from there.

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what do you mean? Can't i can just back up my hard drive using Ubuntu Live CD?

[alexander255110]

what do you mean? Can't i can just back up my hard drive using Ubuntu Live CD?

[rshaffer61]

That is what Puppy was suppose to do but if you have a bootable Ubuntu then yes you can.

[alexander255110]

So how can I do that? I have a External hard drive where i can save all my stuff

[rshaffer61]

When you boot up with Ubuntu you would copy and paste the data files just like you would do if you had two hard drives in Windows. You need to make sure external drive is connected before booting up so Ubuntu can see it when it starts.
You should be fine but if the External does not accept anything you may have to right click on it in UBuntu and then click on Mount

[alexander255110]

How can I Back up all my files so when i do a clean restore i won't have to install and download all the programs again?

[rshaffer61]

You can't backup programs. Programs have to be installed to write to the registry. Copying them over won't do that and they won't work without doing that.
The only thing you can backup is the data from those programs.. videos, movie, music, pictures, data documents

[alexander255110]

So what do you recommend is the best way to back up all my files and use minimal amount of time to restore and return to my computer before it was broken?

thanks

[rshaffer61]

If a restore doesn't work then the only option is to backup the data and then have to do a complete format and reinstall.
That would mean all programs have to be reinstalled and data copied back to its original place,.I don't think we tried a restore and if we did I apologize for the repetitive instructions.

If you have Windows XP CD...

1. Boot from the CD.
2. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the repair or recover option by pressing R:



3. You'll find yourself at this screen:



4. Once you are at the Recovery Console you will be given at least one choice of Windows installations. Normally the choice you want is the number 1 choice. Click the number 1 key at the "top" of the keyboard and click enter.

NOTE: at this point your numbers to the right of your keyboard are turned off. If you insist on using these keys for your numbers remember to hit the Numbers Lock key before clicking a number over there or your computer will automatically reboot and you will have to wait through the previous steps to get back to the console.

5. You will be given a message asking for the administrator password. Unless someone or something has messed with your computer there is no password so you just click the Enter key.

6. This will bring you to a prompt that says:

C:\WINDOWS>

7. Type:

cd \

Press Enter

Note: between "cd" and "" there should be a "blank space" otherwise the command won't work

8. The prompt should now say:

C:\>

9. Type:

cd system~1\_resto~1

Press Enter.

Note: If it gives an error "Access Denied" while accessing the folder, follow the method below

Type: cd \

Press Enter

Type: cd windows\system32\config

Press Enter

Type: ren system system.bak

Press Enter

(note the spaces between ren and system, and then between system and system.bak)

Type: exit

Press Enter

now the computer should restart, then follow steps 1-6

10. Type:

dir

Press Enter

NOTE: When you hit enter it will list all the restore points folders like "rp1", "rp2" we have to see the last restore point to copy the file from a recent backup. If the restore points have more than one page then you have keep on hitting the key to view the last restore point folder.

NOTE: It is a good rule of thumb to choose the files from the restore point folder which the second to the last one.

11. Type:

cd rp{with the second to the last restore point number }

Press Enter

Example: cd rp9. if rp10 is the last restore point

12. Type:

cd snapshot

Press Enter.

NOTICE: Now the command prompt will look like this:

c:\system~1\resto~1\rp9\snapshot

Note : restore point 9 assumed for clarity of the content.


13. Type:

copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system

Press Enter

14. Type:

Exit

Press Enter.

Final note : If the above procedure won't solve the problem, repeat all steps, but in step 13 type:

copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software

Alternatively, select different restore point.



If you don't have Windows CD...

Download Windows Recovery Console: http://www.thecomput...om/files/rc.iso
Download, and install free Imgburn: http://www.imgburn.c...hp?act=download
Using Imgburn, burn rc.iso to a CD.
Boot to the CD...let it finish loading.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

Follow steps 3 - 14.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[alexander255110]

Oh thanks for the great help!
But are you sure that this is the only problem? because i suspect that there might be another hardware problem since i cannot boot up Puppy Linux... However i can still boot up Ubuntu Live CD. What do you advise?

Thanks

[rshaffer61]

Well if puppy doesn't boot I would suspect a corrupt file download as you said Ubuntu boots. Whatever you can do with Ubuntu you can do with Puppy so if Ubunutu boots then do everything with it.

The instructions I sent before will hopefully allow you to restore the system back a couple of days before all this started and maybe run correctly then.

[alexander255110]

Wait no, the file I downloaded isn't corrupted as either you or Happyrock told me to test out Puppy Linux on another computer to see if its really corrupted, but it wasn't because it worked perfectly on that computer, it had the Win 95 Desktop feel and stuff..

Thanks.

[rshaffer61]

I can't answer that then because if it boots on one system and not the other then it makes no sense.
If you boot with any other bootable disk and it works then I can't say.