[happyrock]

If you do as dipak_helpdesk tells you will lose all your 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 go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...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 yor 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...
==========================
before booting up with puppy...have any external USB hard drive or usb flash drives plugged in...

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...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...
then mount your hard drive...(C drive normally)
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..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..

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Try to repair the problem by using the Recovery Console. For this you will need xp installation CD. To get to Recovery Console insert the disk into the cd drive and reboot the computer. You should be instructed to press any key to start. You have about 5 seconds to do that. Setup Windows screen will show up. If it doesn't, enter BIOS and set the cd drive to be first priority boot device. If you don't know how to do that please ask.

Let Setup run until three options are shown. Choose Recovery Console by pressing R. When asked for XP installation type 1 (assuming you have only one operating system installed). When asked for Administrator password enter the password and press Enter, or press Enter if you don't have a password. A black DOS-like screen will show up.

1: At the prompt type chkdsk /r and press Enter. (please note the space in the command). Let the process run to the end. If still no good:

2: Type bootcfg /rebuild (please note the space in the command).
Type n (no) when asked to add installation
Type exit to boot to windows. If still no good:

3: Type fixboot and press Enter. If still no good:

4: Type fixmbr and press Enter.

There might be some stages in each command. I don't remember them and I don't want to run the fixes on my present computer. I hope yopu manage.

Edited by The Skeptic, 10 January 2008 - 01:51 PM.

[The Skeptic]

Try to repair the problem by using the Recovery Console. For this you will need xp installation CD. To get to Recovery Console insert the disk into the cd drive and reboot the computer. You should be instructed to press any key to start. You have about 5 seconds to do that. Setup Windows screen will show up. If it doesn't, enter BIOS and set the cd drive to be first priority boot device. If you don't know how to do that please ask.

Let Setup run until three options are shown. Choose Recovery Console by pressing R. When asked for XP installation type 1 (assuming you have only one operating system installed). When asked for Administrator password enter the password and press Enter, or press Enter if you don't have a password. A black DOS-like screen will show up.

1: At the prompt type chkdsk /r and press Enter. (please note the space in the command). Let the process run to the end. If still no good:

2: Type bootcfg /rebuild (please note the space in the command).
Type n (no) when asked to add installation
Type exit to boot to windows. If still no good:

3: Type fixboot and press Enter. If still no good:

4: Type fixmbr and press Enter.

There might be some stages in each command. I don't remember them and I don't want to run the fixes on my present computer. I hope yopu manage.

Edited by The Skeptic, 10 January 2008 - 01:51 PM.

[amusinglisa]

******** Edited to say that the 2.16 seamonkey seems to be doing the trick. I will let y'all know when I am at the next crossroads. Should I start a new topic, edit the title to this topic or jsut wait? Thank you so much. any one of you is welcome to my firstborn -- particularly today


>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...

** No red icon for either the CD drive or the "Drive: IC25N080ATMR04-0" (is that my hard drive). I clicked on that and got it to turn green and proceded

>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...then drag the window to the
>right edge of the screen...


>then mount your hard drive...(C drive normally)


** I can't see where I might do that. Help?

>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

** No C: drive on there - at least not listed a "C: Drive" I see a ROX file manager in the filing cabinet section. there are some other tools in there and all, but that's it






****It occurs to me that I am using 3.01 seamonkey, so I am going to burn a disc (disk?) of 2.16 and see if that's different.

Edited by amusinglisa, 10 January 2008 - 06:39 PM.

[The Skeptic]

Hi happyrck.

Thanks for joining forces. I used my puppy, which is of a different version, and encourted a similar problem with finding my files. I could find only part of them. I did this after amusinglisa had her difficulties.

I will try the version you mentioned and see how it works. The truth is that I use, almost exclusively, BartPE windows based bootable cd.

[happyrock]

Thanks for joining forces. I used my puppy, which is of a different version, and encounted a similar problem with finding my files.

no problem..I tried puppy 3.0 awhile back...didn't like it as well as 2.16...3.0 didn't want to let me drag and drop files to a external usb drive

The truth is that I use, almost exclusively, BartPE windows based bootable cd.

you may want to try Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
its like BartPE...( I used to use it too)....but the registry editor in UBCD4Win will let you get rid of those seemingly impossible to remove .dll's or any file or folder (malware) you want removed with ease...

any one of you is welcome to my firstborn

I'll trade first borns with you...mine's a PITA..

Should I start a new topic, edit the title to this topic

nope

[amusinglisa]

OK!

I have my files saved to my external hard drive (puppy Linux 2.16 seamonkey worked!!).

I am guessing I can go ahead with a windows repair from the CD and/or formatting the hard drive. I will start with the repair and keep y'all posted.

[happyrock]

[amusinglisa]

thanks happyrck

and let's just be sure our kids don't meet in the near future. I understand fusion could be an issue when PITA - ness gets combined in large amounts...

[amusinglisa]

ckdsk /r took quite a while and at 75% complete, gave me:

"The volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems"

Now what?

[Ztruker]

Buy a new hard drive. If you have unrecoverable errors from chkdsk then the drive is almost certainly going bad. You can try downloading the diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturers web site and running it, but even if it passes the extended test I would replace it. My data is too important to me to risk it on an iffy drive.

[amusinglisa]

OK.

in my estimation, this is now an "old computer" -- being an old bird myself, I am not ready to just toss it without knowing what the *^%%$ might have happened to it or having the option of it being a (disposable) toy.

Anyone?

[The Skeptic]

Try to reinstall XP, formatting the disk in the process (full, not quick format). When finished, run chkdsk /r again from the recovery console. If that doesn't work then your best option is to run a program that sets all the bits on the hard disk to zero, and then reinstall windows. Could you write down the make and model of your hard disk?

[amusinglisa]

OK.

So I got it all backed up using Linux.

I ran the system repair option from the XP CD and ckdsk said I had one or more unrecoverable problems, so I did not get to bootcfg /repair, so I ran ckdsk again and went out with the girls. It appeared done when I got hoome, but the machine was off in the morning (I was not the dd, so who knows what happened there).

This morning, CD in, I turn on the machine to format is (slowly). I went to the other room for a minute,figuring it would do its thing, but when I got back it showed me a MS-looking screen that looked sort of like a Safe Mode screen and then it proceded to boot into windows and is running seemingly normally!

Now I am afraid.

I am running disk clean-up and defragmenting (which the analysis said I don't really need, but I thought what the heck).




...and Skeptic, I can't find the make and model of my hard drive in the literature in my little zip lock filing system. If you can tell me what to look for inside the machine, screwdrivers don't scare me much...

Edited by amusinglisa, 12 January 2008 - 11:27 AM.

[The Skeptic]

Hopefully the chkdsk fixed the problem or, at least, bypassed it. Use the computer normally and see what happens. If the problems start again then we'll have to proceed with this topic.

[Ztruker]

You can see what make/model the hard drive is in Device Manager.

Winkey + R, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. Look under Disk Drives.