Oh Cak... I've Messed Up!

[compuclean]

Alrighty There People!

So. My father has a laptop, which I agreed to look at because it was running terribly slow. So I went round yesterda, and discovered the problem - he only has 256mb RAM. Ordered him 2gb, hopefully that will solve the problem.

Meantime, I started deleting things that I didn't think he needed - a lot of pre-packaged AOL stuff, LaunchManager, McAfee, etc.

Installed a trial version of NOD32 and The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

Now it won't start up. I was getting an error message about a corrupt folder in the Prefetch folder, which I then deleted - but now the computer is in a perpetual loop of starting up, hitting a blue screen for .2342 of a second, and restarting. It even does this if I want to start it in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt and Last Working Settings.

So. What do I do to resolve it?!!

My problem is that I can't seem to read the error message on the blue screen, as it disappears too quickly - all I've managed to see is "Beginning Physical Dump of Memory", or something along those lines.

Is there any way I can create a CD Boot disc to help me, or is there anything else I can do to get this damn laptop working again?

It's an Acer Aspire laptop running Windows XP, with a 1.8ghz processor.

Thanks in advance!

[pcservicenetwork]

Have you got the original CDs that came with the laptop? Or does it have a hidden partition for restoring to 'as delivered' state?

[compuclean]

I would think that he has the CDs that came with it, I haven't got them with me, not sure if it has a hidden partition - it does say that it has "Acer eRecovery System Back Up Technology" - but not sure how I can even get into that...

[Subbynet]

Ok, grab a Live CD. (Ubuntu will work fine)

Go to the Windows Directory and grab the (called minidump) .dmp files. Copy these to another machine and use Dumpchk.exe to check the files... Inside the files you will hopefully find the reason its rebooting.

Other than that you probably want to delete everything from the Prefetch folder, this isn't normally recommended but you've possibly broke more links, and Windows will recreate the folder data afterwards.

[compuclean]

Ok, grab a Live CD. (Ubuntu will work fine)

Okay, I'm currently downloading a Live CD. Can I just express my ignorance and ask for clarification on the next steps??!

Go to the Windows Directory and grab the (called minidump) .dmp files. Copy these to another machine and use Dumpchk.exe to check the files... Inside the files you will hopefully find the reason its rebooting.

So, I take it I go to the Windows Directory on the CD - but then how do I copy the files to the messed up laptop? I can't get it to boot up for me to do anything useful! Or do I need the CD in the drive for that?

How will I find the reason it is rebooting?!

Other than that you probably want to delete everything from the Prefetch folder, this isn't normally recommended but you've possibly broke more links, and Windows will recreate the folder data afterwards.

Again, how do I get access to the computer to do this - I can't even access the C:\ prompt!

Please excuse my ignorance!!!

[That Guy]

Boot from the Windows XP CD

Choose "R" (for repair)

When you get to the consle type "fixboot"

That should work :)

[cjd]

Just use system restore - pick the nearest date to when you started fiddling.

[compuclean]

Just use system restore - pick the nearest date to when you started fiddling.

Tried that, it didn't work - let me select a date to roll back to, then froze at that point. Now, for some reason unknown to me, I can't even get to Windows, in any mode - Normal, Safe, etc.

[ken_uk]

Have you tried pressing function key F8 to try to get the menu up when XP is starting, then selecting safe mode, or last known good configuration?

[edit]
after I posted, just noticed you cant get into safe mode, so the above is not required..

[Subbynet]

Hi Chris,

No worries, let me expand on this a little...

Okay, I'm currently downloading a Live CD. Can I just express my ignorance and ask for clarification on the next steps??!

Most Live CD's, even Linux ones, have the ability to read NTFS file systems, so you can go to the "My Computer" part in Ubuntu (or any other Live CD), and it will show your Windows Drive physically installed on the computer. You can then see all your existing files - without loading Windows.

So, I take it I go to the Windows Directory on the CD - but then how do I copy the files to the messed up laptop? I can't get it to boot up for me to do anything useful! Or do I need the CD in the drive for that?

Yes you insert the Live CD and boot the computer, you'll then start another OS instead of Windows (one which works) and then you can access the existing Hard Drive (which contains Windows). So basically you're loading a different OS to give you access to the existing OS files.

You'll need a Floppy or USB Flash Drive to save the files.

How will I find the reason it is rebooting?!

Inside those files will be (hopefully) the reason its rebooting. The text you seen on the BSOD is saved inside those files for times like this. They're just plain text files, so you can open with any text editor.

Again, how do I get access to the computer to do this - I can't even access the C:\ prompt!

Pop the Live CD in the computer and turn it on.. You won't be using Windows per-se to do this.

[dataferret]

Start the computer and boot it into DOS mode by hitting the F8 key

Insert the Windows XP CD

at the DOS prompt type chkdsk /F

This will check the files and folders and make sure the correct files are loaded from the XP CD. It should also replace any corrupted ones with the original ones.

If you cannot getthe DOS prompt then you need to boot from the XP CD and choose "R" for repair.

(EDit: just noticed someone already mentioned this earlier - oops)

Good luck

[compuclean]

Okay. I managed to boot up the laptop in Ubuntu. I found the minidump folder, copied across the file to my laptop. Run chkdsk, didn't find anything.

Went back to Ubuntu, deleted the contents of the Precheck folder. Shut down Ubuntu, tried the laptop again - exactly the same problem.

HELP!

[cjd]

You've tried booting from windoze CD and selecting 'repair'?

[Subbynet]

Hi,

Honestly, I think you're going to have problems fixing this without going the old reinstall route.

You possibly would be best off waiting to fix this until you obtain a Windows CD.

[compuclean]

Okay, I've contacted the Father in Law - he's bringing the CD's. Would've been much simpler if I'd just done that in the first place, but I thought it was gonna be an easy fix solution. Never mind, thanks to everyone for all the help and suggestions.

[bigmouth241]

The easy & fast way to fix this is going to just be an in-place re-install.

Given it's a new machine anyway by the sounds of it, it's far better to start off with something fresh that's not been messed about with.

For the sake of half an hour, just blast a fresh image onto it :)

[Fourex]

Boot from the Windows XP CD

Choose "R" (for repair)

When you get to the consle type "fixboot"

[leemason]

Okay, I've contacted the Father in Law - he's bringing the CD's. Would've been much simpler if I'd just done that in the first place, but I thought it was gonna be an easy fix solution. Never mind, thanks to everyone for all the help and suggestions.

Before you go for a complete re-install try to backup any data on the machine. I you boot from the Ubuntu Live CD and have a memory stick or external USB disk available you should be able to save any data to that.