General Computer Help

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

tjkeller,
You're a brave test pilot! May the force be with you...
You're experiencing every friggin problem I've had with mine...some how over the years, I've learned how to to actually make a backup!

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

There's a way to change the administrative password in windows xp to whatever you want.  Google "Hiren's boot disk"  It's a cd image that you burn and boot with.  It will contain a program to let you change any password in an NT/XP/Server200x installation.  I use whenever somebody turns in their laptops but don't remember the admin password.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Thanks Jay    Now if I had any intelligence at all I would have posted the question BEFORE I re-installed Windows. 
Always good to have info though as you just never know when it will come in handy.

Thanks Rick I went to THIS website. They even have some Data Recovery info,
amongst many other things, listed here. Methinks it's worth some looking into.

Best Regards,
Travis

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I uploaded the USB_MEMORY_BOOT.EXE as a PDF in the Submit a new file section. You need to rename it to .EXE after you download it.

Anybody brave the final frontier and try this yet???

I am too "C_____K" (Hint: Kentucky Fried) to try it! 

Inquiring minds want to know......
and they prefer that someone else be the guinea pig..... 

HC
 

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

kinda remainds me of that tv show where they had a pail next to the table where people were wolfing down gazelle balls and goat intestines.
there was the host that always opened the show with the disclaimer saying "Don't try this at home"

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Anybody brave the final frontier and try this yet???

I am too "C_____K" (Hint: Kentucky Fried) to try it! 

Inquiring minds want to know......
and they prefer that someone else be the guinea pig..... 

HC
 

I'll guinea pig it.  I have a laptop at work which is no longer in use with windows xp on it.  It can be my guinea pig.  I'll post results when I get to it.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I'll guinea pig it.  I have a laptop at work which is no longer in use with windows xp on it.  It can be my guinea pig.  I'll post results when I get to it.

That is what VMware is for... test unknown software on a virtual machine that you can restore to a snapshot if something goes wrong.

Makes a great sacrificial lamb.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Never thought of that.  I have a couple of vm machines that are just clean installs for quick deployment.  Though I have never tried to boot off a usb key on a vm machine.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

VERY frustrated. I haven't had much time to spend working on computer.
Just want to salvage some info, in particular pics of my kids. I had I don't
know how many gig of info on there, there's GOTTA be something???
Seems everytime I make one step forward, I'm pushed two steps back.
Not much time to try until next day off. Still looking for some good recovery
software. i haven't had time to research that either. GRRRrrrrr!!!

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

we use Ontrack Easy Recovery Professional, it's kind of pricey, but it has worked well the time's i've used it.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

If you are just looking to recover some data the easiest way is to get a new hard drive, and install a clean set of windows as you probably can't rule out hardware failure as the cause.

You then slave the old drive to the computer and copy off the data.

If you don't want to fool with jumpers and such for slaving then you can get a USB adapter that fits on any type of drive.

This is not mine but simimar -
http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php

I picked mine up off the shelf from CompUSA.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

VERY frustrated. I haven't had much time to spend working on computer.
Just want to salvage some info, in particular pics of my kids. I had I don't
know how many gig of info on there, there's GOTTA be something???
Seems everytime I make one step forward, I'm pushed two steps back.
Not much time to try until next day off. Still looking for some good recovery
software. i haven't had time to research that either. GRRRrrrrr!!!

If you are just looking to recover some data the easiest way is to get a new hard drive, and install a clean set of windows as you probably can't rule out hardware failure as the cause.

You then slave the old drive to the computer and copy off the data.

If you don't want to fool with jumpers and such for slaving then you can get a USB adapter that fits on any type of drive.

This is not mine but simimar -
http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php

I picked mine up off the shelf from CompUSA.

I would agree that Jay's suggestion would be your best bet.  However, if your problem is being caused by a bad hard drive sector, you may want to invest in a Hard drive recovery utility called "SpinRite" by Steve Gibson at www.grc.com
I have heard countless testimonials about Spin-Rite. It uses a very low level disk surface check and data recovery system.  It recovers data and restores hard drives that were thought to be unrecoverable by other programs. 
It's not cheap - $89 I believe, but if it does the job it will be worth it!  Check it out at www.grc.com.  There are also countless FREE utilities that Steve created, all written in Assembly Language so they are very small and efficient!
Steve also has a weekly Pod-Cast called "Security Now", that covers all aspects of Computer security. It is Co-hosted by Tech-TV's Leo Laport and is very informative!  You can also get the Podcast, along with all the show notes at GRC.com as well.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I would agree that Jay's suggestion would be your best bet.  However, if your problem is being caused by a bad hard drive sector, you may want to invest in a Hard drive recovery utility called "SpinRite" by Steve Gibson at www.grc.com
I have heard countless testimonials about Spin-Rite. It uses a very low level disk surface check and data recoavery system.  It recovers data and restores hard drives that were thought to be unrecoverable by other programs. 
It's not cheap - $89 I believe, but if it does the job it will be worth it!  Check it out at www.grc.com.  There are also countless FREE utilities that Steve created, all written in Assembly Language so they are very small and efficient!
Steve also has a weekly Pod-Cast called "Security Now", that covers all aspects of Computer security. It is Co-hosted by Tech-TV's Leo Laport and is very informative!  You can also get the Podcast, along with all the show notes at GRC.com as well.

Apparently my hard drive sectors are fine. This program hasn't really done anything for me.
Although this program DOES have rave reviews and seems to be a very beneficial utility.

My problem is a worm corrupted files so the operating system would not longer boot...couldn't even boot to DOS command prompt or Safe Mode.
Instead of finding a way to boot,  I re-installed the operating system (Windows XP)
without formatting the hard drive and keeping file system intact. I did this HOPING files would
still be available. There ARE tons of files that stayed in the Program Files area and even
a couple documents in my wife's documents folder but what I need to get to is MY documents folder.
This is where I had all my stuff ie all Slots info, Chilrens pics, etc.

The program files does not concern me neither does all the slots info and everything else I had.
The programs can be reinstalled and my slots info library can be rebuilt hopefully with some
of the folks here (hint,hint...I lost EVERYTHING). My BIG concern is my kids' pics. I had pics of my
kids from birth to current and SADLY, LIKE AN IDIOT, I never burned them to cd. Always had
the intention but just never did it...damned procrastination!

Now my documents folder did show up but when I try to get into it I get a "Not Accessible" "Access is denied" error.
Even going through DOS, I can't get into it. Seeing the many, many gigs of program info that stayed
in the Program Files area, out of the oodles and oodles of pics I had, SURELY there must be ONE
that I can retrieve. I would not doubt that I had a thousand pics...my kids are 1, 3, & 5yrs old and
I had birth, birthday, holidays, vacations, everything even pics from before the kids. I refuse to accept
I cannot retrieve ANY of these. Some how, some way there must be a way. This drive has not been
wiped and re-written so I know there is info there, but how to get to it?

There are several Data Recovery Programs out there. I've tried IOLO Search and Recover and SpinRite.
Also tried going in through DOS. Thus far, still no luck. Will keep trying though.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Have you tried Hiren's boot disk to change the Administrator's password?  Then you login as the admin and should have access to all files.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I would not do any more to the drive than you have. Recovery programs are generally trying to retrive bad data or data from bad spots. The more you add to the drive the greater the risk of losing data.

On a positiive note It sounds like you simply have access permission issues.

By slaving a hard drive you would have full access to the information as the onboard permissions are no longer considered.

If you are really not familar with how to bypass MS security  - may I suggest you take this down to geek squad at best buy and tell them what you want back.

It will probably cost $150 by the time your are done but at least it will be done and then you can wipe the whole thing and start again.

I will however reitterate my advice in getting a new hard drive.    I once thought I had a virus. Turned out my machine crashed due to a bad spot on my hard drive right in the middle of the swap file. When I reformatted the drive it simply excluded the bad spot and I was good for about six months. At somepoint the bad spot got worse and my whole drive died. If I had to pin point the root cause I think the fan on my power supply went, the drive got hot and warped which first manifested itself as a bad spot but later caused a full crash.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Actually...

There are worms that will encrypt parts of a drive and try to extort you into paying for a key to unlock data.

It IS odd to have one that renders the drive unbootable though. I think you probably just have a bad drive or a corrupt directory table.

First step: put the drive in the freezer overnight then put it back in and try to boot. If it does, grab all the data off and throw the drive away. If it doesn't then try booting to your OS CD's Recovery Console and try to run a CHKDSK command on the drive. That should fix a corrupt directory table problem.

My old PC would corrupt the directory table from time to time as it had been a Win95 PC that was upgraded to 95, then NT 4.0, and finally to 2K Pro and would occasionally hang on shutdown due to software issues. When it would hang there was a 25% chance that I'd have to use the dang CD to boot and run CHKDSK to fix it.

RJ

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. You will see in my earlier posts when I was getting the lsass error and my pc would not boot,
I re-installed Windows. That took care of the boot problem. Although, rather than re-installing I SHOULD HAVE used a boot disk of
some sort to get around the error...hind sight. ANYWAY, after re-installing Windows, my pc DOES boot up to Windows.
It is as if I am starting up a brand new computer...there is only basic windows installation although SOME info did stay.
Program files has tons of info from before and my wife's documents file had a few things. MY documents file showed up but denied
access. Properties did not indicate any file space used for the file but C: drive showed only 6-gig available on a 30-gig drive so I knew
the info was there, just needed a way to get to it. SpinRite did not find errors or bad sectors on the drive so this further indicates this
was a worm that corrupted the boot info in the operating system.

IOLO Search and Recover found a lot of info but nothing I was looking for so I kept trying different software recovery programs.
RICK, I HAVE YOU TO THANK FOR DIRECTING ME TO HIREN'S WEBSITE. While I did NOT use Hiren's software for anything, they
did have SEVERAL links on their website for HD Recovery. One of those links led me to powerdatarecovery.com. THIS PROGRAM
WAS THE MIRACLE I WAS LOOKING FOR! Sure enough this program FOUND ALL OF MY INFO and then some! This program
essentially uncovered ALL info that was on the hard drive! I now have to just figure out the logistics of copying all the data. On that
computer (laptop) I have a cd burner but that's only 700mb max at a shot. My wife's laptop has a dvd burner which would be much
nicer as I could get 4.7GB at a shot.

Other than removing the drive and using a setup like Jay suggested, Is there any other way to connect two laptops? I have never
set up any kind of network before and don't even know if that would accomplish what I want. Ideally, I would be able to connect
the two PCs and save the info from the one to the other where I could burn the data to dvd vs cd. If Tech Support can access your
pc remotely and access info on your pc, surely there is a way YOU can do the same???  Any ideas here?
(ps: I do have a 4-port gateway/router if that makes any difference)

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Hey TJ - I'd recommend something like this...

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ST900803FGA1E1RK-R&cat=HDD

or this

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NOU10-120&cat=HDD

With the second one - you can hook it up to your router and any PC on your home network can access files stored there.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Since you procrastinated your backup,  NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME to get an external USB based hard drive and backup your data that way.  Then you can just copy from the external drive to the other laptop at your leisure.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Since you procrastinated your backup,  NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME to get an external USB based hard drive and backup your data that way.  Then you can just copy from the external drive to the other laptop at your leisure.

VERY Good Advice! And thanks RG for pointing me to some ideas...that 8port 120GB HDD seems to be one heck of a unit

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

The only issue with the ximeta product is that it's not based on open standards.  You will need to install the software on each pc in order to access the drive as a network drive.  In your case, I would recommend you just get an external usb drive and drag and drop the files you want to backup into it.  Easy and it works.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

The only issue with the ximeta product is that it's not based on open standards.  You will need to install the software on each pc in order to access the drive as a network drive.  In your case, I would recommend you just get an external usb drive and drag and drop the files you want to backup into it.  Easy and it works.

The Ximeta drive also has a USB2.0 interface, you get the best of both worlds.

I have one of these, after 2 years I replaced the 160GB drive with a 400GB drive.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

After seeing that Seagate FreeAgent Go 80GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive on geeks.com and doing a little research,
I just bought a 160GB version off Ebay.
Now let's hope I don't get screwed again.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Awesome TJ!,
You're on your way to FINALLY backing up your stuff!
I'm proud of you!!!!
I'm just kidding really....good job.
I had all the problems you had at one time and the ONE thing I learned was to back up stuff.
Nowadays it's so easy really to back up your pictures and documents.
What would really suck is that you put it off and the hard drive bunrs out and you do NOT get a chance to back up anything.
I strongly suggest putting that particular hard drive aside until you recieve your back up drive so it doesnt get worse.
Mean while, treat yourself to a nice new hard drive - it'll last a few few years before it dies out or gets corruppted again.
Again, good luck!

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Hi all,

I have an big big big problem with my new Portable PC HP Compaq nc6120 and on the work nc 6320.
I have many old programs that works only in DOS but on this PC I have originaly installed Windows XP Professional.
I need to use this DOS programs on Windows XP Professional. I try this programs but they don't work.
On my old PC with DOS and Win 98 its work fine, but this PC its old, without battery and broken LCD.
I need to use Mikohn PSP program and software for my old Xeltek EEPROM Burner thats work only in DOS.
I need help if this is possible that this program work in an Virtual Machine or DOS Box or every other program on Windows XP.
I'm not familiary with Virtual Machine and DOS Box, can anyone help? Or if exist another topic or forum for this?

Thanks,
Elvis