ultras67 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Guys I need HELP!! Was using my laptop as normal yesterday and decided to remove a couple of programs - google desktop, dvd shrink. I also updated my anti virus which needed a reboot to complete. I deleted the programs through the control panel add/remove programs and apart from having to shut down Word & Firefox before continuing the delete there were no other messages. I switched off last night and now this morning its not working!!. It boots as normal up to me entering the password. then my wallpaper comes up. but no icons, no taskbar. The taskbar appears for maybe half a second then disappears again. the mouse still is visible and moves around the screen. I have left it for 5 min plus on the wallpaper and nothing happens. I have tried it in safe mode and same thing. i tried a system restore from safe mode and same thing. I only have the standard MS firewall. the virus is Avira Antivir which has always worked fine. Dont know if this is helpful but when its stuck on the wallpaper, when I hit the power button, it logs off and switches off the machine. it doesnt ask to switch user, or hibernate or switch off. it just does it. Even if my laptop isnt working - would it be possible to set up a network with this working pc ( its on XP as well ) with an ethernet cable to recover the files? I need a file from the hard drive desperately!!!! Any suggestions....??? ( i am obviously using another computer at the moment ) thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Have you tried to do a "restore"? from the XP System Recovery? Sounds like you registry got hosed. Do you have a backup of the registry to do a restore with? XP keeps a fairly good backup so the restore may do the trick for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Hi, do you have a setup CD for the OS? Not a recovery CD but a normal setup CD. It's Win XP, right? Pro or Home? You have a serial? If you have a setup CD I suggest you boot from the CD, when it asks about setup or 'repair via recovery console' choose setup, then it should detect the already installed OS and offer to repair it, which you should choose. Trying to repair the OS does not delete any of your user data on the computer. Some restrictions: If you have SP2 installed you need to have a setup CD that includes SP2. You can create it yourself via slipstreaming. You have to reinstall all updates to the OS after you repaired the system. If you have Sp2 installed it's only the updates since SP2. I don't think that you have a virus or anything like that. I guess you rarely reboot your computer, rather use standby or hibernation. All Windows OS have the tendency to get a little funny when used over long periods without the occasional restart. Specially if one installs/deinstalls various programs. A repair should get the registry back in shape and your OS acting straight again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultras67 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 it is xp home - but it isnt SP2. I got a cd from MS that has SP2 though if that helps. how do you slipstream? never heard of that before. and yeh, i tend to hibernate than switch off 70/30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 How to slipstream SP2 into WinXP So your CD with SP2 comes handy, you don't have to download it. Once SP2 is installed in Win XP there's no chance to repair the system with a setup CD that doesn't have SP2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultras67 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 aw feck that looks awful to do. I will have a try at it anyway and see what happens. Do you know if the ethernet cable/network idea would work with the broken laptop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 'aw feck that looks awful to do.' That's why there's a guide. I am not sure about the network connection. Did you set the files/folders an the troubled OS to be shared? Unless they are shared they aren't accessible from another computer. However if it comes to extracting your data to an USB stick, external hard disk or CD/DVD (assuemed the laptop has a burner) there are some ways. Almost all include a kind of LIVE OS. That's a bootable CD/DVD with a system like Knoppix or UBCD for Windows . UBCD for Windows boots into a Windows-like environment. It doesn't do any changes to the hard disk and allows do lots of checks or to save data. Unfortunately creating the UBCD for Windows requires about as much effort as slipstreaming SP2 into XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultras67 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 I have no idea if I changed the default settings of the folder sharing properties - I doubt it. thanks for your help. ( I just hate it when the helpful explanation is so complicated!! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Since Data Recovery is your primary concern the safest approach would be to. Get hold of a casing for external USB HDD Remove drive form effected laptop Copy all Data needed onto second computer Reformat the Laptop HDD Replace into laptop and reinstall windows. Also when you restore the laptop, make a secondary Partition for your data files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultras67 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 interesting. didnt think of that. I have a hdd in an external case that I can swap out. Will try that first. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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