Hey everyone, I am on my sisters computer as I downloaded a virus that was REALLY new, Kaspersky didn't even detect it. Well, the damn thing erased my HDD as far as i can tell because when i go to reboot it says "NTLDR is missing" which from what i remember when i put it togeather means its missing an OS. Well, I put in the Windows XP Pro CD that I got with the PC and nothing happens. It says "Push and key to boot from CD" and i push a button, nothing happens. I have pushed a ton of them to, no key works. I CAN format as nothing really valuable is on it, except a few picture that i would like to recover (i don't need them, I just want them). What do you guys think? What can i use to format the drive/repair windows?
Hey ddp, I assume so as it is the Windows XP Pro CD that i installed the OS with when i made the PC. I change the boot sequence so it boots from CD and when it says "Press any key to boot from CD" I pushed a button, nothing happened. I reboot, with the CD still in the drive, and that same message is displayed, so this time i pushed a bundle of buttons and it still didn't boot from the CD. My Mobo has a dual-bios and it says "If the first BIOS is comprimized by a virus etc. the Mobo will boot with the secondary, secure BIOS." I can access my BIOS so i assume everything on that level is fine.
any key you hit should work. since the install disk temporarily instals setup files on the HDD, perhaps it has been so corrupted the install disk can't read it, and thats why it doesn't load. You can format if you have a win98 startup disk, as it has a bootup sequence with format and fdisk on it.
do you do routine backups? If not, now would be a good time to start...I have learned the hard way too many times.
As far as getting back the pictures that you wanted, I have found Knoppix very good for accessing corrupt Windows installations. It is a Live Linux cd that boots and runs from CD. You can mount your Windows drives in it and recover the files that way. http://www.knoppix.net Of course if you are having trouble booting from cd you might have trouble with booting the Knoppix cd though.
Thanks guys, I still haven't got it running yet and I am going to start backing up stuff to burnable DVDs from now on (probably once a month or so, whats recommended?) @Xian, I will try knoppix and see if it helps. Thanks for all the support, Pop Smith P.S. What if I can't get Knoppix to boot? Maybe then its a lost cause but, I hope not EDITED by Pop_Smith
If it were me I'd backup more often than once a month, but I guess its a personal preference. I backup every weekend to a removable drive, then store that drive in my fireproof safe. (Yes, I'm paranoid and anal.) But some people I know have their computers backup everyday, which is pretty extreme.
Well, right now I have a Dell machine with a 120GB HDD, maybe i will set that as my "Backup" drive on my network and backup to it every week or so. If I had a personal server to back stuff up to I would back it up probably 3-4 times a week, once on Monday, again on Wednesday, again on Friday and every other time, alternate between Sunday and Saturday. Too bad I don't currently have a server. If I get my hands on a good one for a good price, thats whats going to happen from now on. So, that being said, if you find any servers for a good deal, reply to this forum or hit me up with a PM.
Here is what microsoft say to do, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314057 Hope this was of some help! Pulsar
ok, I will try that (as soon as i can get a hold of a Windows 95, 98, or ME disk) wish me luck Pop Smith EDIT (by Pop Smith) its too bad that my connection has been down, I miss reporting spammers to Neph and other Mods
Pop_Smith If what is left as your final outcome is to format your original HD you might want to try this first: Boot up with a disk, either Windows98se or ME and get to your HD if it will read by doing the c:\ and enter. Since you say you only need a couple of things from your HD and if you know where they are located at, (which folder,) you might be able to copy them to disk(s). Also, you might try and format a new HD with Windows and slave your old one and see if you can get into it that way to try and recoup your pictures. Yep, that's me! <G> Every morning at 2:00 AM my PC automatically does a full backup to my slave HD using Drive Image 7.0. It does it’s thing while windows is running, so there is nothing for me to do but delete older backups when my second drive is getting full.
i actually can boot into a thing called Bart's PE http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ It seems to let me access my C: drive but, I am not sure, I will have to see if it will let me access it. Maybe that will work, i will try your idea Scubabud Thank you for all your ideas everyone Pop Smith EDITED by Pop_Smith, I added the Bart's PE link so you guys could check it out.
scubabud: to be honest I probably would backup everyday as well, except I don't leave my main computer running all night, and am too lazy to do it manually everyday. Also I like to remove the backup drive from the computer when not in use. But I think the bottom line is no matter when or how you backup, its an essential key to good computering, cause sooner or later either hardware or software is gonna crash and you're gonna need to restore.
djscoop I agree 100%. Talk about anal, I also do a full backup on an external drive once a month and it too is in a fire safe.
Don't know if this will help but it has a lot of hard drive utilities on a bootable cd. The Ultimate Boot CD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Screenshots http://mrbass.org/ubcd/
just a fyi, most of the download links are down. but this one works for it: http://mirror.csie.ntu.edu.tw/pub/ubcd/3.2/ubcd32-basic.zip
Well, I tired the UBCD and my keyboard wouldn't respond, this happened with several other recover apps as well. So, I got sick of it, my computer is currently reformatting the HDD. I do have a question though, is there anyway (with any sort of software) that i can recover data after i format it and reinstall XP? I have heard you can't but, I want to check before I reload anything that was on the HDD before it got a virus.
