help please! Computer has been eaten!

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1
I know some of you guys are good on pcs - so please can you help me!

My pc running windows xp sp2 has died big time. It has done this before so I am not too suprised.

I have done a parallel install and so can now at least get of my old data (yes, I am a bad girl not backing things up!), but how do I get to my mail folders? Can anyone help me? I don't know where they are to back them up? I have searched and searched and can't find where the pc has put the address book and emails.

I am basically quite naive on computing, but thanks to window reinstall .com have managed to sort myself out of trouble before now.

I will probably then reformat the disc and do a(nother!!) clean install - unless you can help me!?

Any help gratefully appreciated!

THe devil of the detail is -

system restore doesn't work, safe mode won't work either, last known config shows that a repair is needed to the registry, it self repairs and then tells me that

"security accounts manager initialization failed because of the following error: THe handle is invalid. Error status 0xC0000008. Click OK to shut down and reboot is safe mode. Check the event log for more detailed info."

I click OK and then it reboots and comes up with the same message and safe mode comes up with this:

"isass.exe" won't work

Crikey!

I really hate these machines!

Anyway,thanks in advance

2
I have now found the darn personal folders and have copied them to a cd, but when I try and upload them on a different pc, the machine won't let me access them on the disc. I have changed the file to read/write but it still won't let me upload them? Any ideas! Help!

3
You've installed 2 versions of Windows on the same box, right? Did you try to reinstall Windows over the the initial installation? You would have to reinstall some applications though.

What you need to do first though, is run an antivirus on ALL directories and partitions (if you have partitions other than C:\ - by the way, this is one reason why it's wise to create partitions to keep data files safe and separated from system files)

If any viruses are found they need to be removed.

You mentioned that you are looking for your mail file? Which email client do you use? Outlook, Outlook Express?

For Outlook Express, please read the following to see where your mail files are:

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/files/store.htm

then read the following on how to backup and resture OE files

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q270670

You cannot repair or recover because authentication is used in the process, adn since your security accounts manager is corrupt...

As far the error message is concerned, your Security Accounts Manager file (SAM) is corrupt and needs to be replaced. This can be done from your restore disc, please read the following KB entry on how to do this...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316751/en-us

If you are looking for your old files, because you have 2 installations of Windows on your machine, there will be a directory called C:\Windows (since you have two installations on one box, you must have called the second installation something else) - so rummage around there for your personal files.

Once you've got your files, format, fdisk, do yourself a favor and create partitions, reinstall, ghost (find a copy of Nortons Ghost, ghost.exe - I can provide the .exe and a walkthrough on creating drive images) your machine, this will save your life and time in future.

Let me know if any of this is of use to you.

4
Thank you very much.

I have looked at the kb link and will work my way through it. THe problem is, is that I have 8 relatives turning up in 2 hours - b****ger.

I have a parallel install (called windows and winxp) and am running straight outlook.

I will let you know how I get on!

Thank you very much indeed

5
did you create any backup.pst files from outlook? (File->export->personal files and folders-> to.pst file)?

If you did, you're in luck as to retore it would be File->import->from .pst and just like that your mail files will be restored.

Let us know how you get on. I'm away for the weekend, if you're in ZH adn still having trouble by next week, feel free to contact me by sending me a PM, I'd gladly help where I can.

6
Hi misplacedheidi,

I realise that such problems can be very frustrating, but I should also point out that this issue is way off topic in this area, in fact it is way off topic for this forum.

There are many other forums on the internet that are specifically for computer related problems (hint: if you have a PC related problem try googling - you'll almost always find the answer), so you should really post such a question on one of those forums. When I have problems that's what I do.

Please note that to post messages on this forum there should be some sort of relationship to Switzerland, the expat community or anything else which a reasonable person would consider relevant to our members.

I'm going to move this thread to the "Off topic" forum where messages which are NOT related to the themes of the forum should be posted (please see the relevant guidelines in that section if you are not sure).

Mark

7
Well I am also no computer guru, but I am cheating a little bit....

I bought a hotswap rack and installed it in my normal PC housing. I have two system drives in hotswap trays, keeping one as a backup. After about 12 months I transfer all files and settings to the backup, swap, and then do a clean install over the old system, which then becomes the backup. And the cycle of life goes on...

8
I'm always amazed at how people trust all their important data to a single hard disk. I mean it's a mechanical device and it's not a question of if it will fail - it's a question of when.

I knew someone once in Cape Town who ran a small business. He had absolutely everything to do with the business on a single PC. I asked him once what would happen if he lost that data. He seemed to think that it would spell the end of his business, so I suggested he burn all the data to a CD/DVD (which takes all of what - 5 minutes?) He said he would do it. Each time I saw I asked him if he'd done his backup - he said he'd get around to it later. After a while I stopped asking him. Haven't seen him in a couple of years, I wonder if his business is still running.

I backup my home machine every month or so, but since almost every motherboard does raid these days I think I'll go to mirrored discs at some point. I've already had 2 hard disc failures in the last 4 years, luckily all I lost each time was a couple of weeks' worth of emails.

9
Hi Heidi,

Not sure how you got on..... Your windows installation sounds not so healthy... I've had problems like that before, and sometimes I've spent up to a week trying to find the fault and get windows to boot - and I think I'm a bit more skilled than the average user. I guess most people just give up and reformat...

If you are trying to save your data then the best bet is rip out of the disk and go and connect it to another PC and then go copy the data off.

The outlook .pst files are buried deep, or specifically:

C:\Documents and Settings\(your name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Get to know that location - it won't be the last time you'll be fishing around for those file :-)

Like gooner said - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. My tips for healthy computing:

* Use Firefox, and not IE. In fact, remove the IE icon from the desktop and bury it somewhere so other people can't run it - this alone will probably save you from a ton of spyware.

* Be selective about what you install, don't run programs or install drivers that aren't absolutely necessary

* Check for spyware every few weeks. I use spybot search and destroy. Since I'm careful about what I do I don't find any, but I did catch a keylogger last week.

* I don't use a virus scanner on my PC because my server filters out all the viruses from the email. I'd recommend all users only use ISPs that filter their mail for them.

* Enable automatic updates in control panel and have these installed at a certain time each day. Not keeping your system patched with the latest security patches is just asking for trouble.

Of those points above I reckon that not using IE and running automatic updates would solve 95% of people's PC problems these days.

They say that computers increase productivity, but anyone who actually works in the industry knows the real story :-)

10
Hi Mark - I have found the pst files buried where you said.

I have copied them to a floppy and tried to upload them on the other working pc, but it states that they are read only and "access is denied, contact the administrator".

I am the administrator and even though I have changed the status to read/write, it will not let me import the pst file.

I have a feeling I have been here before.

It's running outlook 2002 - any ideas?

The visitors are heading off today, so I'll have some time this week to try and fix it

Thanks in advance

11
Ummm, you copied them to a floppy? A floppy is way to small to fit such files - unless you never get any emails. My .pst file is around 600MB, so it would take 400 floppies to store that file

Perhaps you go the wrong file? The main one (and usually only one) is called outlook.pst, check the file date, it should show you the date and time of the last email that you received. If so - this is the correct file. It will probably be quite large, it will have to be copied directly or put on a CD.

When I move computers I usually get outlook to accept the new file like this. Go to your fresh outlook install, and locate the .pst file. Make sure outlook is not running (or it will lock the file) and rename the outlook.pst to outlook1.pst.

Now copy your original outlook.pst (the big one, from your previous install) to this folder. You should see that outlook.pst is big, and outlook1.pst is small. Now start outlook. It might complain that it can't find it's .pst file, and will ask you were it is, simply browse to your file and select it. Your mails will now be visible.

Unless you have some sort of burning need to use outlook I'd checkout Thunderbird ( http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/ ) - it's from the same people who freed us from the tyranny of IE with Firefox. It will import all the data from your outlook.pst file and you should find it really easy to use. You can try it - and if you don't like it just delete it and go back to Outlook.

12
As well as firefox there is also opera ( www.opera.com)) , I've been using it for years. It is browser, email and newsgroups all in one.

13
Thank you Mark - it worked. Outlook would not upload from the floppy (I do of cource mean cd! - am I showing my age?) but once I moved it and renamed it, then all was OK - I have my emails back. You star.

Gooner - Thank you very much for your advice. I am not sure I am brave enough! (I am a bit of a technophobe!- but not too rubbish hopefully.)

I think I'm probably going to wipe it all off and start again from scratch.

(Just off for a beer before I face the washing - the 12 guests have now gone! Then I may tackle the pc later!)

Thanks again

14
please do yourself a favor when you reinstall...

1) format the drive so there are no previous installations

2) partition the drive so that you can keep your data files on another partition (if this is greek to you, i can send you a walkthrough guide, it's as easy as 123...)

3) once you've installed windows, ghost the installation, this is a tool that creates an image of your installation drive, compresses it, and can be stored on a partition (another drive) or a CD or a DVD, but not a floppy ;¬) - if you are interested in these tools, let me know. If this happens in the future, you can replace the image in minutes without waiting for hours while you try and restore data and install applications

Happy you got all your stuff sorted.

15
Hi Gooner,

Yes please - could you send me a walkthrough?

I have got all my data off fortunately. I am now cursing again though (badly).

Yep, reformatted the disc and did a new install of everything (don't know anything about partitioning though, so didn't do that).

On reboot it told me that it had had to recover a registry file. Would you believe it? Why? - there is only system stuff (and programmes and sp2) on it. Surely the reformat would have killed everything lurking?

If that wasn't enough, the bluewin starter disc will not behave and is not letting me upload the netopia cayman usb thing to let me connect to the internet on my main pc.

Good job I have another pc connected.

I'm off to have a (nother) beer and a small scream!

If you have time to walk me through anything, then it would be appreciated. I am not a complete idiot (I hope anyway) and have a reasonable idea, but I am out of my depth here.

If you weren't here, I'd wipe again and start again!

Have a good evening!

16
Just something else to mention. I've often had problems with those horrible USB ADSL modems... But anyway - good tip for the future - if you have a driver disk for something like a modem try to go online and get an updated version of the driver.

Quite often these CDs will be printed when the device is first invented, then millions of them go out into the field with these CDs and choas ensues. The manufacturer then gets flooded with complaints about their dodgy drivers and at some point issues a fixed version. But since all those CDs have been printed they decide to just ship the old CD, and if a customer has problems then they get told to update the driver.

Moral of the story - if starting a fresh install with old hardware check the website of the manufacturer for updated drivers before starting anything... As a matter of fact I do this anyway for brand new stuff that I buy. I'd rather not be hit by problems that have already been fixed.

I also try to avoid installing USB devices whenever I can. I choose modems / routers that have a direct network connection, and cameras where I can remove the memory and insert it directly to the PC (via a card reader). I lost an entire windows install once due to a crappy Canon USB driver (and accompanying software) which totally mangled my system.

In the case of ADSL modems there is an extra thing to watch out for. ADSL uses ATM cells at the datalink layer, and if you have a USB modem then your PC has to deal with all of the overhead of framing and deframing these cells. Ok - that's a bit of a technical explanation - the layman's version is that your PC has to work much harder than if it could talk to a router via your network port.

Do you ever get the feeling that you are worse off than when you started after you talk to someone for tech support?

17
Yep!

I think perhaps ignorance is bliss!

The good news - my pc is up and working again with nothing lost- I will look at ghost ing it too. That's my next job! Am also using mozilla thingy - seems fine!

A big thank you to you all. I know it's off topic, but you guys are here and responsive and seem to know what you're doing!!!!

So many thanks indeed.