More computer issues - DPChallenge Forums

10/11/2005 08:17:31 AM · #1

I've asked you guys for computer help so many times...I apologize, here's another one.

I got the blue screen of death and it shut down...went to restart and it tells me that "....blah/blah/config/system" is missing and it can't start windows. It tells me to load the original cd and hit 'r' at the opening screen to attempt a repair.

So I boot from the cd and the only option it gives me is to format my hard drive and start over...the problem is, there's some stuff I really need to get off of my hard drive before I do that.

What are my options? Do I need to take it to some data recovery guy or is there something I can do?

Beagleboy

Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4.0 AT-X Pro DX

10/11/2005 08:21:56 AM · #2

I had the same thing happen on my old PC. The hard drive had failed. They couldn't get it working again to run Windows, but they were able to save all the data.

I'd let the pros look at it.

Telehubbie

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/11/2005 08:23:02 AM · #3

Do you have another hard drive? Or possibly get one? Then you could set up your current drive as a slave with the new one as master and go in and copy the stuff you need. You'd have to reinstall Windows on a new hard drive of course, no big deal. That would be cheaper than taking it to somebody, and you'd have a newer (and probably bigger) hard drive.

conglett

Nikon D70

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

10/11/2005 08:24:39 AM · #4

Depending on how comfortable you are with hardware you can do this. Take your drive out and replace it with another of equal or creater capacity. Format, install windows etc. and then add the original drive back in as the secondary.

You will have the entire contents of your current drive available to copy, paste and delete and not lose a thing.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

10/11/2005 08:39:31 AM · #5

Originally posted by conglett:

I'm not that comfortable with it...how much would it cost for a new hard drive, and how much would it cost to have somebody do this for me?

DanSig

10/11/2005 08:43:02 AM · #6

the answer to all computerproblems.. get a mac ;)

Nikon D200

10/11/2005 08:43:06 AM · #7

If you don't want to buy another hard drive, you can buy an external hard drive case at CompUSA. Take the hard drive you have now and put it into the newly purchased case. Take the case to work and plug it in to your computer there, back up your personal stuff, then take your hard drive back home and do your repair. This is basically a master/slave thing but it's $30 for the case instead of more than that for a new hard drive.

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

10/11/2005 08:45:32 AM · #8

Originally posted by thatcloudthere:

Originally posted by conglett:
Depending on how comfortable you are with hardware you can do this. Take your drive out and replace it with another of equal or creater capacity. Format, install windows etc. and then add the original drive back in as the secondary.

You will have the entire contents of your current drive available to copy, paste and delete and not lose a thing.

I'm not that comfortable with it...how much would it cost for a new hard drive, and how much would it cost to have somebody do this for me?

A new hard drive can be had for under $100 USD, if you're not after huge capacity or the highest speed. The installation is really a snap, but if you're not comfortable doing it, you'd be better off taking it to someone who doe sit for a living, or asking for assistance from a friend or relative who has experience building/maintaining their own PC.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

10/11/2005 09:03:06 AM · #9

Silly question, perhaps...but I just bought a 40gb Flashtrax. Could I use that as a backup hard drive in this case? If so, how would I go about it?

henry_buckle

Canon EOS-20D

10/11/2005 09:11:01 AM · #10

You should be able to reinstall without formatting, otherwise in the recovery console there is an option for repairing it (cant remember what it is off hand) type "help"

If your in doubt, take it to a computer shop and strongly emphisise that you need your files.

With the flash disk option it is possible to use Flash Linux but for that I say good luck to you, you could also try Norton Ghost, it may let you make an image onto your flash disk but this option requires a working computer.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

10/11/2005 09:25:51 AM · #11

Originally posted by Telehubbie:

Blue screen of death with this associated error message is usually either a hard drive failure OR a missing system file. Telehubbie gives very sound advice and it's relatively simple to do. If you are not comfortable doing this, you probably know someone who is. If you know someone who is relatively computer savvy, they should be able to do this for you. If not, here's an outline of what to do.

1.) Shut down PC and remove existing hard drive.
2.) Install new hard drive (which will need to be formatted).
3.) If you have a relatively new PC, the drive should be a cable-select drive so all you have to do is plug in the new drive to the same plug you had your old drive plugged in to.
4.) Get new operating system (if you don't have one). This should be a "bootable" CD.
5.) Boot PC with OS CD in CD drive. This will take you through the installation process on your new "raw" hard drive.
6.) Once the new hard disk is formatted and the OS is installed, shut down the PC.
7.) If you have windows XP and a relatively new computer, you should be able to plug the old hard disk into the cable marked "slave". This plug should be located on the same ribbon cable as the "master" plug for your main hard drive.
8.) When you reboot your system, XP will "see" the old drive and assign it a letter.
9.) You will have booted from your new hard drive "C:" and you can then move important files from your old drive to your new one.
10.) **NOTE** If you have had a total drive failure, you will not be able to "read" the old drive and should probably get a professional to help you at this point.

This was a quick and dirty overview, if you have questions, you can PM me.

Edit: Just re-read your original post. Looks like it's probably a missing system file that won't allow you to boot (probably caused by a virus or worm attack). The steps above should allow you to retrieve your data. Once you have your data moved to the new drive, FORMAT the old one to get rid of all the "nasties". You can then probably leave it as a slave and then you'll have two drives!

Hope this helps :-)

Message edited by author 2005-10-11 09:29:02.

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

10/11/2005 09:27:31 AM · #12

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode?

soup

10/11/2005 09:27:56 AM · #13

best bet if you install a new drive is to set up at least one other partition besides windows. this way you can store all the important data on the other partition - should windows die again - you can safely ( in most cases ) format the windows partition with out losing all the data from the storage partition...

you can set up partitions using FDISK located on the windows boot floppy for win98 - or winXP will give you the option during installation.

10/11/2005 09:30:04 AM · #14

Originally posted by micknewton:

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode?

These type of errors usually occur before you even have the option to boot into safe mode.

Originally posted by soup:

Good advice! That's how I have all my PC's set up. Keep the OS separate and you are less likely to lose important data in the event of a crash.

Message edited by author 2005-10-11 09:31:25.

10/11/2005 09:30:40 AM · #15

Originally posted by micknewton:

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode?

I believe I tried this and got the same "missing critical file" message...perhaps it didn't even work.

Message edited by author 2005-10-11 09:31:09.

10/11/2005 09:31:51 AM · #16

Originally posted by Palmetto_Pixels:

Hope this helps :-)

Absolutely...this sounds doable. Does it matter that this is a laptop? Do I need to worry about buying a drive that 'fits' my laptop?

soup

10/11/2005 09:32:51 AM · #17

i would question the integrity of the files on the bad drive - possibly due to a virus deleting - or renaming - that missing critical file - copying the old data from a slave drive to a brand new one could result in a similar issue on the new one.

10/11/2005 09:34:52 AM · #18

Originally posted by soup:

I wouldn't copy all of the data...All I need is about 5GB worth of photos.

sabphoto

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

10/11/2005 09:35:39 AM · #19

what brand of system is it? I was just helping my parents fix their computer this weekend (again) and found out HP pavilions after 1993 have the recovery info in a system partition and you can activate it by hitting f10 repeatively when booting. You will get a screen asking which option you want. One said it would destroy EVERYTHING in the customers partition (C:) and the others said all your data files would be safe but you would have to re-install programs that you added. We opted for the full destroy since we had the user data backedup.

Otherwise I would do as the other have said and get an additional hard drive.

Good luck

10/11/2005 09:36:20 AM · #20

Originally posted by thatcloudthere:

Originally posted by Palmetto_Pixels:

Hope this helps :-)

Absolutely...this sounds doable. Does it matter that this is a laptop? Do I need to worry about buying a drive that 'fits' my laptop?

Hmmm.... that makes a big difference. Personally I draw the line at laptops. I don't ever take the case off of them because they are so dang hard to work on. Theoretically it would still work, but I'm not sure how they handle dual physical drives. Sorry :-(

10/11/2005 09:39:38 AM · #21

Originally posted by Palmetto_Pixels:

Crap...I'll have to take it into a data recovery place, I guess. I sure hope they can help me out... :(

soup

10/11/2005 09:40:41 AM · #22

yeah but do you know what is or isn't potentially corrupt?

just connecting them and booting - if it is a virus issue - is sketchy - the virii generally seek out windows system files. not trying to hamper your efforts - just pointing out the possible consequences without having the old drive checked out first.

Originally posted by :

I wouldn't copy all of the data...All I need is about 5GB worth of photos.

Message edited by author 2005-10-11 09:40:57.

10/11/2005 09:42:33 AM · #23

What if I just take it to a data-recovery person and say "I only need the stuff that was on my 'desktop' burnt to a couple DVD's", will that work? Please?

10/11/2005 09:50:49 AM · #24

Originally posted by thatcloudthere:

What if I just take it to a data-recovery person and say "I only need the stuff that was on my 'desktop' burnt to a couple DVD's", will that work? Please?

They should be able to help you, but they typically charge tons 'o money. If you know someone who does "techie" stuff, they probably know someone who works on laptops (kind of a friend of a friend thing). You might want to explore that route before shelling out tons to a data recovery service. As in my case, I don't work on laptops, but I know someone who does (friend of a friend). This type of option will usually cost you something (bottle of wine, dinner, six-pack, something) but is cheaper than a data recovery service.

kawesttex

Apple iPhone 11 Pro