Re: Help with recovery of system with damaged XP O/S
From: Mike O. (msodonnell_at_that-smile.com)
Date: 08/04/04
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Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 22:51:20 -0400
Well, the system is all back up; I didn't lose anything.
I put the hard drive in another XP machine and checked it, there were no
errors. While it was in the second system, I went into the
Windows\system32\drivers folder and removed the various DLL and SYS, etc.
files installed as part of the modem driver. I then checked for other
copies in other locations, and removed the INF files for the modem from the
INF directory. I put the drive back in the original system, and it booted
up into XP without any problems (except of course the modem showed the
yellow question mark). I put the original driver CD in for the modem and
installed it.
Mike O.
"davetest" <davexnetzerotwo@hooya!.com> wrote in message
news:pa2pg010jfqhc7nk9nfcjd4emio524hgjc@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 02:01:40 -0400, "Mike O."
> <msodonnell@that-smile.com> wrote:
>
> >I'm looking for some advice on repairing a system with a damaged Windows
XP
> >O/S.
> >
> >
> >
> >The computer (actually it belongs to my parents) is a Dell Optiplex, P3
500.
> >What happened is that the internal PCI modem (a Best Data 56HP92 /PCTel)
was
> >giving an "excessive line current" message and disconnecting them from
the
> >net. The phone lines seemed OK, and all the phones work properly. I
tried
> >a laptop into the same phone jack, and everything worked fine with that
with
> >no problems (connected at 48+K). Based on some research I decided it was
an
> >erroneous warning. I decided to try to replace the driver with the one
> >downloaded from the Best Data support site, thinking that it might
possibly
> >take care of the problem.
> >
> >
> >
> >About three quarters through the driver replacement, with no warning, the
> >system rebooted. Now I can't get Windows to come back up. I figured I'd
> >use safe mode and use "system restore", but even though I can hit F8 and
get
> >the menu, any of the options (safe mode, last known good, etc.) lock up
> >after they start. On the modes that show the drivers loading, it stops
> >after loading the NDIS.SYS. I'm assuming at that point it's trying to
load
> >the damaged/corrupted modem driver. I've tried physically removing the
> >modem from the system, it had no effect.
> >
> >
> >
> >I had showed my parents how to periodically copy critical stuff to
floppies,
> >but I'm sure it's not been consistent, and I'm trying to avoid a full
system
> >rebuild. They have kept up on the antivirus & security updates (mostly),
> >and don't open unknown attachments, so I'm pretty confident it's not
virus
> >related.
> >
> >
> >
> >I've been in the computer field for a long time (20+ years), and work
pretty
> >extensively on Windows PC and server management in my job, everything
from
> >DOS/Win3.1 through Server 2003 (I'm not trying to impress anyone, I just
> >want to show that I'm not totally clueless<G>), so I've got some ideas on
> >some things I can do, but I figured I'd post this message to see if
there's
> >some direction I'm missing. Besides, on most of the cases I deal with,
it's
> >in a corporate environment; it's often easier to just rebuild the
"standard"
> >configuration and restore the data from the previous night's backup.
> >
> >
> >
> >Here's some of what I plan:
> >
> >1) Put the drive as a secondary drive in another WinXP system. Verify
that
> >the disk is not completely corrupted. If it is, I'm pretty much looking
at
> >a rebuild anyway. If' it's readable, copy off what I can so if I end up
> >making it worse, I can at least recover something.
> >
> >
> >
> >2) Assuming the drive's not hosed, find the modem driver files in
> >Windows\system32 and delete them. Windows may still complain if it can't
> >find them on boot up, but at least it won't try to load the
> >corrupted/damaged drivers.
> >
> >
> >
> >3) Use the XP CD to do a system repair (then all the service packs, hot
> >fixes, etc.)
> >
> >
> >
> >4) Reinstall windows on top of the existing O/S, but don't format the
drive.
> >It would save their data, but unfortunately, I'd still have to reload all
> >the apps and reconfigure everything.
> >
> >
> >
> >Sorry about the length of this posting. Any suggestions would be
> >appreciated.
> >
> >
> >
> >Mike O.
> >
> Can you get to the safemode COMMAND PROMPT ? (using F8
> at startup) If so, try restore from there:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q304449
>
> Dave
>
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