HELP! PC Problems

[Jeremy]

My windows installation has broken... possibly a virus. At first windows just kept crashing, and then it refused to start up at all.

Anyway, I have the windows XP install/boot CD. I ran the procedure for repairing the installation, but this didn't work. Now, I get the windows startup "splash screen", but after that, just an empty black screen with a mouse pointer (and no subsequent HD activity).

So, it looks like a complete re-installation is in order. BUT - I don't want to re-format the drive, as I need to keep the data (obviously I'm far, far too lazy to backup). Any suggestions? I thought of creating a new partition and creating a fresh XP install on that, but the install procedure won't let me do that. Using a second hard-drive would be another option, but I don't have a spare, and don't fancy buying a new one unless I absolutely have to.

Any ideas??

[tog_in_sox]

Jeremy,

IF the repair install option didn't work then you're kinda stuffed unless you:

a) Get a new hard drive (doesn't have to be expensive, say under ?40 for 160GB IDE if your PC is that old or ?30 for a SATA drive

b) Get a USB memory stick over 2GB and make it a bootable Windows XP drive installed with AV to disinfect your main drive. You'll need a another functioning PC to build this. Alternatively you can create a bootable CD.

c) Remove the drive, get someone else to hook it up to their PC and then use AV on it to remove the virus(es)

Too sleepy to think of other options, sure others will be forthcoming.

[HAL9000]

Could it be a faulty HDD, I wonder?

[Jeremy]

Well, I realised that you can actually install another windows installation on the same drive, without overwriting the first one (i.e. dual boot). So this is what I'm trying at the moment. If this works, then I'll copy the data I need onto DVDs, and then reformat the drive.

Also, a very kind forumite has offered me the use of an IDE/SATA to USB adapter, so I can copy the data onto my laptop. So that could be another good option for copying off the data.

I'm not sure if there's any point disinfecting the drive, as what's left of the OS will probably be useless. And i don't actually know that it was a virus which caused the issue!

[Jeremy]

HAL - good call, but the HDD seems to be OK. It responds under recovery mode, and my second windows installation currently seems to be ticking along. It seems that the XP files just became corrupted somehow.

[HAL9000]

Does an XP dual boot install create a new partition on the fly - if so, that's useful to know?

[DJKillaQueen]

Unless you overwrite the files on your corrupte OS you won't lose your data. Personally I would attach another drive with an OS pre-installed or install one and then copy the files you want from your corrupted drive before reformatting that drive and reinstalling everything from scratch. But it seems as though you are on the right tracks.

[Jeremy]

DJKQ - yes, I agree that attaching another drive with a clean OS would be a good solution, but I don't have a spare drive. And I don't want to spend another penny on a 5yr old PC which has already had more replacement parts than I care to remember!

HAL - It seems as though several XP installations can co-exist in a multiple-boot configuration. No new partition was needed. However - Microsoft don't recommend it, and it doesn't quite seem to work properly. But I'm hoping it works well enough to copy off my data. After that... I think I'll probably trash the thing.

[Loz]

If that doesn't work, you could try booting a Linux Live version - a version of Linux that boots from a cd/dvd. You could then mount the disk and get the data off from there.