[Toadywot]

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I am using a Lenovo IBM Thinkpad, type 6457. Unfortunately I stupidly left my computer running and made the mistake of turning my back to my nine-year-old granddaughter, who then decided to take it upon herself to change the settings from a domain to a workgroup and somewhere changed the information that identified the computer as a company device to a home device.....she thought the term "company" meant the kind that comes to visit and therefore considering herself family, at home, and not company, changed it. She may have also changed the Admin password. All this was done while Windows was runnig. Later, upon reboot, the Windows logon screen was different and while it identified the correct user, the password was not accepted. I tried booting into safe mode, but encountered the same problem. I attempted the "Start Windows with last good configuration that worked" and that too failed. I then tweaked the network BIOS, changing it to the default configuration. I also tried the Recovery Console from CD, but it gave a message that no hard drive was detected. Now I can't even get to the Windows login field....the splash screen opens, and the progress bar starts, then stops, then throws up a blue screen with the following error number:

0x0000007b

Short of reinstalling the entire operating system, is there some resolution to this? I have a goodly amount of data that I need on it and don't want to lose it. I travel a great deal and there is no convenient time I can return it to my IT department for repair.....not sure they'd know what to do anyway, as I seem to know more about computers than they do. Someone told me I could use an IDE/SATA USB cable to "open' the hard drive and retrieve any needed files. If possible, can that cable also be used while the hard drive is opened to make the necessary adjustments in BIOS to restore the laptop to it's previous configuration? I REALLY don't want to reinstall the entire OS, but when I tried using the Recovery Console using the XP Pro CD, it said that no hard drive was found. "Would it help if I included a HiJack This" report?

Can anyone help?? I'm desperate!

Thanks,
Toad

TIP: Do not EVER turn you back on your computer if it's on!!

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The error 7b usually means inaccessible boot volume.
There are two possible ways around the problem
One is to boot the computer from a boot CD ie: Hirens or Ultimate boot CD (UBCD)
The other is to SLAVE the HDD to another computer and then run chkdsk on the drive and see if that works.
Using either of them you can recover all your personal data, but not of course any programs installed unless you have the installation CD`s.
When you run chkdsk, you will need to run it on another computer using XP see this
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103
Run it as chkdsk /r as per below
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265


Hirens
http://www.hirensboo...t/download.html
UBCD
http://www.ultimateb...m/download.html

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 May 2010 - 05:38 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

The error 7b usually means inaccessible boot volume.
There are two possible ways around the problem
One is to boot the computer from a boot CD ie: Hirens or Ultimate boot CD (UBCD)
The other is to SLAVE the HDD to another computer and then run chkdsk on the drive and see if that works.
Using either of them you can recover all your personal data, but not of course any programs installed unless you have the installation CD`s.
When you run chkdsk, you will need to run it on another computer using XP see this
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103
Run it as chkdsk /r as per below
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265


Hirens
http://www.hirensboo...t/download.html
UBCD
http://www.ultimateb...m/download.html

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 May 2010 - 05:38 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Is the HD seen in the bios? If not then most likely it has failed but may still be able to recover the data using one of the Linux Live cd's mentioned by Macboatmaster

[Alzeimer]

If your ever able to get to your login screen try this:

Here is a simple way to access Windows XP with Administrator rights and privileges if you have password protected your User account on your Windows XP system and can't remember the password(s) to login. Whenever Windows XP is installed on a system, it creates a default account called "Administrator" and by default this account is not password protected. Therefore, if you bought a brand name computer (such as Dell, HP, Compaq or Sony)or you have installed Windows XP yourself. You should be able to login to the computer through the unprotected Administrator account.

The built-in Administrator account is hidden from Welcome Screen when a user account with Administrator privileges exists and enabled. In Windows XP Home Edition, you can login as built-in Administrator in Safe Mode only. For XP Professional, press CTRL + ALT + DEL twice at the Welcome Screen and input your Administrator password (Type nothing as password) in the classic logon window that appears.

Once in you can go and change any of the other users password and settings if you so desire.

Good luck