Posted on 10/17/2009 10:12:59 AM PDT by Spacetrucker
PLEASE HELP: I recently suffered a BSOD event on my other computer, which happens to be the one my children use for schoolwork, reports and the like - I had to re-install Windows XP, which solved the problem, but now nothing wants to work (internet, screen laggy and can't access old files). I can see a lot of what I had on the computer before this problem, but cannot access it and cannot connect to the internet at all now... I realize this may be an involved process, but could someone please help?
Geek Squad....Your problems are far beyond typing you an answer.
ST, im sure youre a great person - but between the recent spate of computer posts and cooking recipes, isnt this better served on a tech board?
/mark
I just hope this never happens to me. I have no money to be fxing this computer.
We have a fairly substantial presence of Tech enthusiasts and IT professionals here on FR that are happy to assist those asking for help.
Open ‘My Computer.’ Double click the C Drive. Double click ‘Documents and Settings.’
From there you should see all the old Users and should be able to access what was there for each user.
Let us know if that worked or, if there are still problems, what are the problems.
Sounds to me that you have to got start from scratch and reformat your disk and then reinstall XP. Assuming of course that your hard drive has not been trashed. Replacing the hard drive is not too expensive. I had to do that on a Dell laptop with Vista recently. The drive was $56.00.
“I can see a lot of what I had on the computer before this problem”
That makes me think that you didn’t do a complete reformat, and that probably now you will have to.....if you did, though, you ought to get a fresh HD...everything should be gone after a full reformat.....just my best guess
You can also do Google searches on the text of the error messages.
If you don't already know, you can access your event logs by right-clicking on My Computer. Select Manage. Then expand the Event Viewer tree. The two logs you want to look at are Application and System.
Good luck.
Unless you used an oem restore disk, you have lost most of your drivers.....So, If you have a name brand computer(such as dell/HP/compaq/etc) that has a web site....you will need to get on a computer that has web access and down load all of the suggested drivers for your model number to a disk and then load them on your computer. Then you will have to reload all your programs and start from scatch....
You’re lucky. When I got the infamous dreaded BSOD (”Blue Screen of Death” for non geeks) my hard drive was toast.
Please don’t do crazy stuff like reformatting your drive before trying the easy, non-destructive stuff.
You may well need to run the Network Setup Wizard from the Start menu in order to get back on the internet. Depending on how you are connected, you may also need to retrieve the MAC address from the modem you are connecting through and make sure it is being read correctly by your router (assuming you have one). There is also the possibility that your problem originally stemmed from malware, spyware or a Trojan virus resident on your hard drive. It may take a while to figure it all out, in any event. Good luck!
screen laggy is a new one. Old files are marked for deletion. Re-install a “driver” disk and install files one at a time with reboots in-between, as prompted.
Remove your disk drive and buy a hard drive case for it with a USB interface. Connect the drive to your other computer and get the files you need off it. Reformat drive and wipe eveything off it. Reinsert the drive into the orginal computer and do a clean install of windows.
Pinging you to a FReeper who needs tech help.
“recent spate of computer posts and cooking recipes”
Yea, it has severely degraded around here in the past few months. I know the FR admins have big problems trying to figure out a way to get a handle on our recently found ‘anything goes’ atmosphere that has developed. I LOVE FR, but it has gotten that no one uses search, vanity tags, posts in the proper category, or complies with what has always been FR etiquette. Well, it was great while it lasted....HOLLY101 was right!
BSOD? I have suffered from DSB many times in my life.
is a consrvative forum dedicated to political issue sthe best place for that?
Would you trust a lib to give you important technical help?
That screen lag indicates that the correct video driver’s not installed and a generic one is installed. Sounds like this guy did a “repair” and not a fresh install.
point well taken - objection withdrawn
If the concern is the data DO NOT REFORMAT!!!
I |
When you reinstall Windows (as opposed to doing a "repair" from the install CD), the registry and other configuration files are recreated just like a fresh install. So while the programs and document files (Word and Firefox, lets say, and Word docs) are still on the hard drive (you can navigate to their directory in Explorer -- maybe this is what you mean by still "seeing" them), some parts of Windows that they need to run have been erased. Most programs will not run in this mode. You'd need to reinstall all the programs to recreate the registry entries and so on.
I wouldn't trust a lib to get me a cup of coffee. They'd probably bring me some kind of latte macchiado frufru doohickey with a half gainer.
The internet problem may be due to not have the appropriate network card drivers (NIC) installed. A lot of factory systems have three recovery disks.
One for the OS, one for factory installed applications and one for factory installed harware.
One way to check this is to right mouse click on “MY Computer” left click on “manage” then click on “Device Manager.” Any incorrectly installed devices will show up with a yellow error message.
If you don’t have the correct disk to install device drivers, go to the manufacturer’s web site with one of your other computers and download the correct driver.
If you can see it but can’t get to it, then the permissions may be off due to reinstallation. Basically, Windows honors file permissions, but those accounts that had permissions don’t exist anymore due to reinstallation.
First, log on as an account with Administrator privileges. Right-click on a folder, click Properties. If you see something about simple or advanced sharing and security, go to advanced. I can’t remember the instructions for the dumbed-down simple security UI.
Click on the Security tab. If you see a bunch of accounts listed that are just numbers, then I’m probably right about the permissions problem.
Try to add yourself with “Full Control” permissions. If that doesn’t work, go back and click the Advanced button. Go to the Owner tab and click Add. Put your account in. You are now the owner and should be able to access the folder, if CREATOR OWNER had permissions on it. If not, go back and try again to add yourself with Full Control permissions. You should be able to do it now that you’re owner.
If all that works, and permissions was the problem, you should be able to access your files.
I want to offer my heartfelt thanks for all of your help and apologies for troubling you all ... My problem was solved by actually installing the drivers for the motherboard, which were on a separate disk - it was a custom-built computer, and they needed to be installed after Windows was fixed. Geez I feel like a big dummy X-P~
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