Hi

From what you have said you have messed up something in your computer the NTFS cannot be by passed as it is how the harddrive has been configured which is the correct way for WinXP home or pro.

 

What you have to do now is the use the Dell disc to completely format the hard disk and then re install the machine back to new, this is all done by the Dell disc provided with machine. There is no way around your issue, the only other thing you could try is system restore back to a point before you broke the machine but I am not to hopeful as you have played around with the machine.

 

Tony Miller

I didn't mess it up....some program did. A program called Traktor DJ Studio 2 messed everything up. After the install, a bluescreen came up and then it started serving me bluescreens when I tried to start up the computer. I've never touched the NTFS.sys file or something in the Windows map.

But aren't there any way to copy some of the files on your harddrive before you erase it?

Hi

 When I say you messed up the machine, by putting the software you mention on and what you have described has caused it.

Now we have to get you up and running correctly, firstly if you have a cdrw drive you can back up all email address book, all your favorite web sites in internet explorer all your word docs, and any other files which you have created with software, ie pictures, music, however please understand no software which runs programs they will have to be reinstalled after you get the machine back to correct state.

 

As long as you have Dell reinstall disc which must contains all drivers, WinXP etc which came with your machine from new, if not sure either email or phone Dell support or have a look on the cd in windows explorer to ensure you can see the sub folders otherwise it will not work.

When you have then got the machine running correctly and before reinstalling all your software you must go to Microsoft windows update site and install all files in critical and recommended areas for your machine which will involve a mininum of 100 meg of files which need to update your computer, then visit either nvidia oe ATI web site and update your video card after that ensure you do a disk defrag, now reinstall all your software which you know will run correctly with your machine and then the software which you put on the cd and saved and you should have a good machine again, normally will take about 8-10hrs to get everything correctly done.

 

Tony Miller

 

Tony Miller

Ok then, but how do I copy the files to a CD-R from my CD-burner when I cannot start Windows?

Computer092,

You will probably be restricted to copying only to floppy diskette unless you have either a second hard drive or a second FAT32 partition on a single hard drive. The program here will allow you to do that.

Alternatively, if you have a friend with an XP system you can install your hard drive in that system, copy the files to CD-R, then reinstall the hard drive in your computer and do a clean reinstall of XP.

Message Edited by Denny Denham on 06-18-2004 07:33 PM

If your data is important, you could buy a new drive, replace the original and install XP on it and get all M/S updates and your antivirus up to date. . then attach you original drive as a slave and copy files over to the new installation.  You could then format the original drive for additional storage.

Drives are pretty reasonable now.

Good luck . . wrs

Denny . . the link you tried to include di not come out a link . .

wrs

 

simpswr,

Thanks--it's fixed. You'd think that Windows would be smart enough to know that when I enter herf I really meant href.

Yeah . . well . . whadda expect from something that has you click on start to turn off? ? ?

Well, I found a solution to the problem at last. I had a friend of mine to burn a Knoppix image to a CD, then I started Knoppix on my computer from the burned CD-ROM, then I now will have to copy important files to a CD, then formate the harddrive and reinstall Windows.

In case you dont know, Knoppix is a program that can run Linux directly from a CD-ROM without writing anything to the harddrive. So actually, Linux saved me this time :)

Anyway, I have one more question. How do I format the harddrive, and when I've done it, the harddrive will be completely empty, so is it actually possible for my computer to boot at all when it's been formated?

Good job! . . glad you were able to salvage your data.

Here is a good general guide to reinstalling XP . . for a guide specific to your model, click the Solutions tab at the top of this page and navigate to your model.

You might want to print a copy for reference during the installation.

When you boot from the CD, you will get a black screen with the prompt "Strike any key to boot from CD" . . it will not be there very long so have a finger on the keyboard when you boot.

Good luck . . wrs

Thanx for the guide, I've now managed to restore Windows and mostly everything I had before I formated my harddrive. Thanx for all the help you guys gave me :)