[nwwoman]

I have a second desktop that I use for a local dev server. It's running Windows XP. A couple of days ago, I noticed that it had gone down -- powered completely off -- and when I powered it on, it would not reboot. The Windows loading bar displays and progresses to the end. Then, I get -- of all things -- a menu that says "Windows 98 Start-Up Menu" (Yes, Windows 98) Command prompt only is highlighted. I cannot select using keyboard or mouse. Screen says "Windows has detected a registry config error. Run scanreg " That's followed by a list of the files that are missing or corrupted:

C:\windows\himem.sys, There is an error in your config.sys file on line 1
C:\windwos\emm386 error in config.sys file line 2
C:\windows\highmem.sys
C:\windows\dblbuff.sys
C:\windows\ifshlp.sys
command.com

Type the name fo the command interpreter, eg..windows\command.com

It won't allow me, though, to type.

On this particular desktop, the only thing I really need to save is a second hard drive, which has a ton of photos on it. It boots from drive one. I have a virtual image of drive one that I can access on my windows 7 machine.

Long, long ago, I had someone load XP onto this machine. It was running 98 at the time.

Any way to salvage this?

I have the XP CD but haven't found a way to run it.

[Advertisements]

The easiest way to get your data is to take out the hard drive on which it is and place it in an enclosure then connect to another computer and access it just as any other external driive and recover your photos.

Alternatively I can send you a program to boot it from a CD and if it has a usb port with a flash pen you can take the data off that way.
All being well.
Personally I would do that before attempting recovery, as for some reason the computer is booting to the remnants of the old 98 installation due to a corrupted MBR I would think.

[Macboatmaster]

The easiest way to get your data is to take out the hard drive on which it is and place it in an enclosure then connect to another computer and access it just as any other external driive and recover your photos.

Alternatively I can send you a program to boot it from a CD and if it has a usb port with a flash pen you can take the data off that way.
All being well.
Personally I would do that before attempting recovery, as for some reason the computer is booting to the remnants of the old 98 installation due to a corrupted MBR I would think.

[nwwoman]

Thanks! What's a corrupted MBR?

I'm interested in this -- thanks!!! --- "Alternatively I can send you a program to boot it from a CD and if it has a usb port with a flash pen you can take the data off that way."

Do you think the hard drive #1 is toast? No clicking, ticking or other sounds coming from it. And it powers up quickly.

I was wondering what would happen if I went into set-up and set the CD drive with the XP install disk in it to the primary drive to load from on boot. ?

[Macboatmaster]

Master Boot Record.
No I have no evidence at this stage to suggest the hard drive is "toast"
Is the XP CD the same version as is installed on the computer ie: Home - Professional etc.

There are a number of ways of recovering your data. One is below and probably one of the best.
Puppy Linux
See this link
http://distro.ibibli...fulldrivers.iso
and
Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd using this
http://www.snapfiles...t/burncdcc.html

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 puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start
make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....

• Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
  Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
  You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

Make sure the cd you burned is in the cd drive before clicking Y and then your system will reboot. 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 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...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.. and download to another computer.
Ensure 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..
Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption.

POSTED with acknowledgement to the authors of this information

Edited by Macboatmaster, 28 March 2011 - 03:36 PM.

[nwwoman]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. (WoW!) I'll tackle this tomorrow evening. When I've completed pulling the data from the second hard drive, I presume there's a way for me to get the machine to boot up? You asked about my XP CD -- yes, it's the original CD used for loading the OS. It's XP Pro with service pack 2.

Thanks so much for volunteering your time to help me!

[Macboatmaster]

Put that CD in.
If the Cd is first boot device the computer will boot to the CD.
If not you will have to enter setup to make the CD the first boot device in the part of setup that deals with boot priority.
When you boot from the CD after the initial screens, you are looking fro the message press R to repair using recovery console.

as here.
To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD drive, and then restart the computer.
  
  Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD drive if you are prompted.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
• If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose and repair your Windows XP installation.

The first command to use if the XP CD see the Windows installation is
chkdsk C: /r
type that at the prompt and press enter.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 28 March 2011 - 05:02 PM.

[nwwoman]

Thanks againi!

Hypothetical -- If, for some odd reason, this is unsuccessful, wouldn't I still be able to remove the second hard drive and grab the photos from it?

[Macboatmaster]

Hypothetical -- If, for some odd reason, this is unsuccessful, wouldn't I still be able to remove the second hard drive and grab the photos from it?

I am sorry if | am missing the point
That was the suggestion I made at first.
The reason I thought you asked for the program was because you either did not have an enclosure/docking station, or another computer in which to put the drive in, - as if a PATA a slave.

The recovery console has nothing to do with the drive with the photos on, does it, they are on a separate hard drive are they not.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 28 March 2011 - 05:59 PM.

[nwwoman]

Oh, it's probably me missing the point, not you. :-) What I was understanding (or misunderstanding) is that I should get the stuff off of drive #2 first and then do the recovery work on the system. What I was asking is if it would also work if I do the recovery first and then, if it works, no problemo with drive #2 cause I will either be able to access because OS operated or I can access by removing the drive.

So you're saying..yep..just do the recovery first..etc.

Boy, the English language is always fun... it's been a bad day for me, so apologies if I'm just making a mess of this.

[rshaffer61]

Can I just add something here that might help make things easier?
Why not just disconnect the second drive until you get everything resolved with the OS drive. If there is only data like music, videos, movies on that second drive then even in the worse case scenario your data will be safe.
If there are programs on the second drive then the worst case scenario is you will have to reload them into the same folders then.

[nwwoman]

Hi -- Yep, I could do that. I never have but I'm game. Just open the tower and disconnect the cable to the second drive, right? And to help me learn, why I am doing this. What could happen if it's not removed?

There are no programs on the second drive..just a ton of photos.

Edited by nwwoman, 28 March 2011 - 07:31 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Make sure the power is off before opening the system and always make sure you are grounded to prevent static shock to the inside of the case.
You are doing this so that the data on the second drive will remain safe regardless of any steps you take for the first drive.
If not removed and you accidentally type in the wrong drive letter you could erase and lose everything on the second drive.

[nwwoman]

OK..sounds easy enough. Thanks for the edu. I'll work on this and then update later..after I've made progress... Thanks for all the help!

[Macboatmaster]

Most likely but NOT guaranteed those drives will be what are known as IDE.
The drive connectors from the motherboard will very likely be a grey ribbon type cable.
It is possible that both drives are connected on one cable to the primary IDE connector on the motherboard.

If of course you know which drive you are disconnecting there is no problem.
If you trace the ribbon type cables from the motherboard you may well find that one goes to the CD/DVD drive, one to the floppy drive and the other to the hard drives.

If it is as I have described then you need to disconnect the ribbon type cable from the drive that is connected

Starting with the 80-wire cable defined for use in ATAPI5/UDMA4, the master device goes at the end of the 18-inch (460 mm) cable—the black connector—and the slave device goes on the middle connector—the gray one—and the blue connector goes onto the motherboard. So, if there is only one (master) device on the cable, there is no cable stub to cause reflections. Also, cable select is now implemented in the slave device connector, usually simply by omitting the contact from the connector body.
Also disconnect the off white coloured power connector from that drive.

If you have disconnected the wrong one by any chance, then on booting the message will be that no operating system disc can be found.

Any problems just post back.

[nwwoman]

Work on this is now one of my Sunday projects -- taxes, learn how to set up an unmanaged linode server, and try to repair this old Gateway desktop. So, I'm back, ready to work for the first time on disconnecting the second hard drive. Thanks to the help here and some research online, I am sure I do have a master/slave one-ribbon two-drive set-up. I'm trying to determine which hard drive is the master and which is the slave -- and could use a second opinion or three or four.. Here:

** Ribbon is gray with red on edge (both edges) -- and has three black (no blue, gray, black) connectors -- master, slave, motherboard. They drives are in a metal box container, on on top of the other.

**Maxtor N256 Model 90841U2 --
...........this is at the end of the ribbon --
...........looked up model # online and it's 8.4 GB which matches some specs I got at purchase that tell the size of hard drive but not make/model. At purchase there was only one hard drive in this desktop.
...........there are two rows of five pins ...... 1.2.3.4.5
.............................................................6.7.8.9.10
...........jumper is on 4 and 9
...........red, black, yellow power cable is labeled P3
**Unknown hard drive -- this is in the middle of the ribbon
...........on the two rows of five pins, the jumper is on 3 and 8
...........red, black, yellow power cable is labeled P2

So, my thinking is Maxtor is the master because it's at the end of the ribbon ..the jumper setting made me think slave (given some online reading.)

Questions:

1. Per Macboatmaster -- the master is the first one on the ribbon despite the jumper, right?
2. Do I need any tools to remove the ribbon from the slave? It's a tight area to work in, even for jiggling.

My inexperience is showing, I know. But, I'll learn!

Thanks for your patience..