"blue screen of death" help needed

[SGT T.]

enter the number 1 and see what happens. Don't be too surprised if this does not work, it usually doesn't. You may still have to do a clean install, but at least you are getting there.

[mikelum]

yep i tried 1
then it asks me for an Administrator's Password which i of course have not set up, so i tried 1 and a few other things including the bar-code nr on the label of the packaging of the win xp cd, but each time it said Wrong Passowrd
so now i tried nothing and just pressed enter and
this time it went to the next line and it says
C;\WINDOWS>
and after this again a small white square requesting something from me but what???

As i would hate loosing all the data on that computer, by doing a "clean install" i have one question:

This DELL win xp Reinstallation CD asks to select between 2 choices:
-install win xp
or
-reinstall win xp by using what they call Recovery Console

in your opinion, is the first choice, "install win xp" a "clean install" ?

and if not, would this first option be what you call a "install on top of the old one" ?

[SGT T.]

The Recovery console is what you are already using when you get the c:\windows _ display. Here's what I would type:
chkdsk
and see what happens.
Yes, the first choice is going to be a clean install
and the reinstall... well.... see above. If whats wrong with windows is in the start up commands (I would bet it is), then chkdsk MAY, MIGHT, KINDA fix it. Then again, it might not. A clean install is going to be your best bet, and I hope you had an external back up of your data.

[Jolly Rancher]

Great to see you can help from Iraq. Hope all is well. Good luck getting Mikelum up and running.

Hope your time in Iraq is very short and successful.

Mikelum: Welcome

[mikelum]

Jolly Rancher thank you, and yes indeed i am very impressed to get help from over there, and wish SGT T. all the best.

SGT T. i found the DELL Dimension 4500 owner's manual. There is a Reinstalling WIN XP chapter. Yes you are right, the first choice is a "clean install" which i would hate to use, since i have critical data on that computer and did stupidly not back up anything since a year!

i tried followed their instructions, basically same as yours, except that once the "set up xp" has run, and after selecting R for Repair option, they say "then go to step 16" which is: "Remove the CD from the drive" but....the drive doesn't let me take the CD out at this point.
So i am stuck at this level now.


May be this is relevant: the owner's manual reinstalling chapter description does not correspond entirely to what happens on my computer. On my computer it goes immediately to the Set Up WIn XP, while the manual says you have have select it first and to accept per F8 the agreements first.

what are your suggestions?

[SGT T.]

As much as I hate to say it, because I know you don't want to hear it... clean install it. Once you curupt the .sys files (which I believe is what happend to your winXP) there is not much that can be done. Don't worry about that F8 stuff, you only have to do that for a clean install. As for removing the CD from the drive, thats just so it won't boot from the cd-rom, and it should go back to booting from the Hard Drive.
Keep me posted.

[mikelum]

SGT T. you are right again, i hate to make that "clean install", given the consequences. But what is unavoidable has to be done.
i'll do it tomorrow morning and keep you posted as to how it went, as right now i have to give back this laptop to his owner.

I enormously appreciate your assistance, SGT T. Thank you.
i am not sure as to your location, but whether it is Camp (....) in Iraq or V. Italy, i wish you really all the best. Are you from Dodge City originally, or are you just like by coincidence on this board?

Also, being new on this board, i was also browsing a bit the forum and let me tell you, i am impressed how friendly you folks are. Quite different from my adoptive neck of the woods here in California. Makes me want to visit Dodge City, and since i have the intention to relocate, ya never know, might get a new neighbor

mikelum

[K C Muffin]

I feel your pain, mikelum.....our computer failed and we were both sick about it, as we hadn't backed anything up - we were pretty fearless!!! The one thing we did NOT want to lose was the Quicken - 5 years of transactions. We called in a repairman, whom I found completely by chance. He took our hard drive out, took it with him, froze it, then downloaded info off it to another hard drive a little at a time. He had to repeat the freeze and download 3 times before he got it all downloaded. Something to do with ions, I think - youse computer guys would know. I'd try it, though - nobody wants to lose data....

[SGT T.]

Sorry you had to do it, but there wasn't much you could do. I am at the moment keepinig an ear on the Battalions communications from inside the operations center on FOB Rustamiyah (Rust-ah-maya) on the south east edge of Baghdad. I have the night shift here from 22-10 nightly. Yeah, us Kansas types are a peace loving people who will bend over backwards to help our friends and hurt our enemies. (Or maybe that last part is just me.) I am originally from Dodge, born at Trinity hospital and did alot of my growing up there, even attended school at DCHS for a year or two. I don't know if I'll ever relocate there, but I would love to go back and visit sometime. I still have a few friends there. And a few more if you count the DodgeBoard members.
Again, sorry I couldn't save your data, and Welcome to the Board!

[gunnar1073]

If your files are important to you, then I wouldn't go for the clean install just yet. You could still piggy back that hard drive to another and grab the important files off their since it seems that your operating system seems to be the root of the problems at this point.