hello - i was wondering if anyone can help. basically when I turn on my laptop it keeps going to the screen where it says windows has failed to start successfully and if i try to start using safe mode, or last known good configuration, or any of the other options, it keeps coming back to that screen.

I spoke to a tech guy from the company I bought it from and after we tried starting it up by alternating the memory cards, he suggested I use the windows xp disc to conduct a repair.

What I am wondering is that if i do a repair using the XP disc is it likely that I will lose my unsaved work whether it works or doesn't?

I know, I know, I should regularly save my work and I do, but the last time was a couple of months ago and I could lose a ton of stuff. This is the second problem i have had with this laptop and I am wondering if I should just send it back to them again rather than risk the xp repair option.

if it's not blatantly apparent I am a total noob when it comes to anything to do with computers, calculators, pretty much anything with buttons. :shakehead

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

i had this a few weeks ago
i fixed it myself
if u do a repair u can pull all the data onto a external meory but u will lose all ur program links and will need to reinstall

however u can fix this 2 ways
norton have a disc u can by that has a recovery console so u can do it without losing data

2 a little bit of comp fiddling - insert xp disk and u should get the option to log on (cant remem if u go to repair first) it will look like cmd screen (black with white writing)
type in help
there are a few scans to do which can find the corrupt or missing file ect.
u need to replace it with the one on hte disk
then log off and reboot with out the disk
should work fine

that may be a little too complex and a vague explanation but it can be done with out causing any damage no lost files or program links

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Now at SMU doing BSc 3D Computer Animation so its hard to get on here
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thanks pbman - i think i get what you're saying - i'll take a look at it when I get home from work.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

a couple of stupid questions though...

If I can't get to my start page, how do I move the data to an external memory and also...

can I use my other pc as an external memory?

thanks!

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arran3D

arran3D blog

another update - just tried to start it again and this time a blue screen came up saying that the problem was 'Unmountable Boot Volume'.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

u should be able to fix but im no expert

u haveto do in mannly and go to the directory teel it the code to copy and where to

also an idea just came to menot sure if it will work though
get a free linux op system on the net. burn the .iso file to disk as an image (read on the sie where u get it to find more) and boot up on that then u should have access to all ur files except for encrypted ones to copy over in a way that is very user friendly

or u can take the HD out plug it into another comp - take ownership and take all ur files off onto that comp and may even be able to fix the problem there as well

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Now at SMU doing BSc 3D Computer Animation so its hard to get on here
My wire render tut https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...threadid=20973

ok thanks mate - will give it a shot when I get home tonight.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

just incase arran since you might be abit fraid from losing all your things, burn them onto a dvd with the things you really need such as MAYA that way if you do loose anything, youved got it back again :p

marlon

kinda got bored reading through all this nonsense... so i didn't bother, sorry. if you're having problems getting into windows as it is, then i would recommend getting another laptop hard drive. they're relatively cheap nowadays, and if you have the ability to connect more than one, then you should be able to install your operating system onto the primary drive, then leech off of your secondary drive, as you don't need to run windows (or OS) off of it anymore. any secondary drive should show up as independent, and you SHOULD be able to navigate it like any hard drive and find the files you wanna save. if you were hit with a virus or the like, then the recommended solution would be to run your anti-virus program on the infected drive, and THEN try to copy whatever files you need from it - then reformat that drive.

IF you happened to be running windows and also saving your files to the same hard drive, you should be able to recover your lost files by just adding the hard drive that has your data as a secondary (or even tertiary) drive and just cutting or copying your data (assuming it's still intact) to your new drive or to a new partition.

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Accept no substitutions.

thanks for your help neostrider A friend is going to lend me his USB drive with XP installed on it and I'm going to try to transfer the files to it and then to my main pc. hopefully that will work.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

ive repaired windows several times and your data is usually saved. i only experienced problems once out of 5 times. so instead of re installing, do the repair and chances are that your data will be safe. you'll need to reinstall drivers and stuff like that though.

yeah, the safest bet is to fire up your hard drive on another machine (or via your mates usb thingy).
You should then be able to get everything you need before formatting or sending back the drive.
I often back up to zipstick AND DVD and sometimes to an external hard drive I've got (very handy for things like this) as windows is never failsafe

Hope you get it sorted arran, I find it more frustrating having to get the system back to a usable state afterwards (usually a half day job installing, updating, securing etc).
Si

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Its a right pain when stuff like that happens. Like everyone suggested your best off trying to get the data off the HDD then just doing a complete reinstall.

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

thanks a lot guys - think i'm going to wait until i can borrow my friends drive before using the xp disc - i'm sure it will be fine, but knowing me I'll probably do something wrong. i must admit I feel like a real dumbass not backing up my work - especially as the same thing happened a couple of months ago - definitely think it's time to invest in an external drive.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

The repair option should not cause any damage to data that is intact on the drive. If the data is already damaged then you have little hope of recovering it anyway. No point in reinstalling XP if you can repair the original installation.

To repair:
Boot from the CD
Select repair at the first screen
Select repair console

In the repair console (essentially a DOS prompt)
You may have to select the windows installation
You may have to enter a username and password
Once at the prompt you want to type the following:
chkdsk /r

This will run a check of the files on your system as well as the indexes. Depending on the size of the drive this will take some time (I've had it go up to 3 hours) and could look like it is stuck for much of the time. Once it is finished try rebooting the computer.

If it still doesn't boot, I recommend either getting another drive, installing windows and using the old drive as a secondary or getting the data off the original drive and then reinstalling windows. A handy tool I use occasionally at work is the Ultimate Boot CD