Huge PC screw up!

[Megadude]

I've got major problems with my PC. I was on it yesterday using Hammer and Google Images, when Adobe Reader decided to open by itself, then my PC closed down by itself. I switched it back on, and tried going back into Hammer but after the Hammer logo appeared the program would close down without an error message or warning. I thought it might be a virus, so I did a scan, found a couple pieces of adware and trojans. Got rid of them, and I shut down the computer for the night.

Today I start it up, the Windows XP logo appears, and then I get the blue screen of death with the message:

Stop: 0000021a (Fatal System Error)

The Windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000135 (0x00000000 0x00000000)

The system has been shut down.

I've googled for the error and checked the Microsoft website, but the solutions I've found so far haven't worked.

• Some solutions say to start in safe mode - blue screen of death still appears when system is started like this.
  
• Some solutions says to start in safe mode with a command prompt - blue screen of death still appears when system is started like this.
  
• Some solutions say to start in debugging mode - Some solution says to start in safe mode with a command prompt - blue screen of death still appears when system is started like this.
  
• Some solutions say to start wth the Last Known Good Configuration - Some solution says to start in safe mode with a command prompt - blue screen of death still appears when system is started like this.
  
• Some solutions say to do stuff while inside Windows - I can't get past the Windows logo.

The last available solution I've found is to reinstall Windows and reformat, but my PC cam with Windows already installed, so I'll have to contact the manufacturer to see if they will help getting a disk. Also I will probably lose everything on my hard drive.

Does anyone have any alternative solutions that will fix this without me losing all my data?

[marnamai]

Buy a new hd (they 're cheap these days), get a copy of windows (arrr). Install windows on the new hd and try recovering the data from the old hd by plugin it in as a secondary hd?

[MELVIn]

http://soft.softoogle.com/ap/hiren-s-bo ... 6916.shtml


Try this. whenever someone needs help with their computer I bring my copy of this, and it often saves the day.

[Megadude]

marnamai - I'm hoping to avoid buying a new windows copy as I'm quite short of funds at the moment. I have found an old hard drive of mine with Windows 98 on it though, so I'm going to see if that will work for what you suggested.

MELVIn - I'll have a look into that. Seems really useful.

[Dionysos]

marnamai - I'm hoping to avoid buying a new windows copy as I'm quite short of funds at the moment. I have found an old hard drive of mine with Windows 98 on it though, so I'm going to see if that will work for what you suggested.

MELVIn - I'll have a look into that. Seems really useful.

You already own a copy of windows, no need to buy a new one.

[Jeeves]

As previously said you don't need to buy a new copy of your OS,if you can get access to another computer just pirate a copy off the internet, as you probably own a legal cd key which entitles you to the software anyway; regardless of how you aquire it. Your problem sounds like it caused by a dodgy file related to windows, so when you get a back up copy boot from the cd and do an upgrade installation (as oposed to a new installation) over your windows directory without reformating, and you should be able to keep your files. This used to work with xp pro when I got BSOD.

Best of luck

[zombie@computer]

win 98 probably cant access the xp disk, as your disk is likely nfts. I'd start with a good ole chkdsk tho. If you could get a cd (or borrow) of xp, you can get into the recovery console and do stuff.

[Cysticcraze]

Umm, you own a Windows copy and its actually hidden in your computer, (no joke). Contact Microsoft and they walk you through the proccess. Just have your computers model number ready. Im serious Ive done this at work 10-20 times, they just end up storing the installation disk on the hard drive somewhere, but it varies based on model. Just call them they are usually really easy to work with.

[Megadude]

Update:

Tried the 98 hard drive, but it had to be used as an external drive as it woluldn't fit in my pc. Woudln't load. Said there wasn't enough memory so I'm guessing it couldn't access the ram in the computer since the drive was external.

Don't have a CD key since everything was already installed, unless it's hideen away in some kind of documentation. Never thought of asking Microsoft for help. I've managed to get a recovery disk from someone who has the same OS as me, but I'm not going to use it until I know my data will be safe.

The good news is while searching google to see if the recovery disk would leave my data untouched, I came across something called Knoppix, which is a OS that runs from a CD, so I'm using that at the moment. Apparently you can access hard drives from it, so once I figure that part out, I can backup my data! WOOHOO!

[city14]

good luck, boot disks are always sketchy with me, and when I have problems, I usually resign myself to losing all of my data... so yeah...

I don't know if anyone had offered this idea, but you can run a recovery install which repairs windows files, and doesn't delete your data, other than some registry entries...

[Megadude]

don't know if anyone had offered this idea, but you can run a recovery install which repairs windows files, and doesn't delete your data, other than some registry entries...

when you get a back up copy boot from the cd and do an upgrade installation (as oposed to a new installation) over your windows directory without reformating, and you should be able to keep your files.

I think I need a Linux or Gentoo expert. The part of this OS CD that lets me read my hard drive isn't working. After I bit of reasearch, it seems like I have to do a, "revdep-rebuild", which I don't have a clue how to do or what the hell it is. Anyone got any experience in this?


Edit: Started up the computer today, and the hard drive reading bit is working. Guess I just had to reboot the computer. I think I have all my needed data backed up now, so now it's onto hopfully getting this thing fixed.

[BillyDa59]

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/51 ... 31733.html

This helped me after my computer fell into the shitpit.

[Turd Ferguson]

win 98 probably cant access the xp disk, as your disk is likely nfts. I'd start with a good ole chkdsk tho. If you could get a cd (or borrow) of xp, you can get into the recovery console and do stuff.

Fucking Windows 98!


Sorry, I had to jump on the chance.

[ErikKiller]

Don't have a CD key since everything was already installed, unless it's hideen away in some kind of documentation.

It is and you can see it.
Use this: http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/uti ... roductkey/
They have tons and tons of other useful and entertaining products.

[Terr]

I would suggest using Knoppix or whatever boot-off-a-cd tool that can read/write NTFS. (Some only do reads.) Then find the little .exe or .dll bugger and rename it's extension. Even if you don't get it all and it somehow reinstalls itself from a reservoir of infection, if you can boot, you have a chance to wipe it out with Spybot SD or MalwareBytes.

But #1 rule for XP machines now: You do everything possible on a non-administrator account. Nobody uses the admin account except for deliberately installing software, etc. Rigorous application of this principle to all of my relatives has kept me sane from their mysteriously-no-longer-booting computers.


___


For all you sysadmins out there, I used to use BartPE to make some incredibly handy windows-off-a-cd boot disks which could boot up a clean copy of XP for fixing up machines, mounting drives, ghosting them, etc.

Also, I recommend everyone get the Sysinternals suite of tools (since acquired by Microsoft.) It has a very useful Process Explorer for seeing what's running, as well as an "Autoruns" tool which can even diff your startup configuration so you can see what was added or changed compared to a known-good copy.