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Brighton Belle
25th-June-2009, 07:23 PM
I hoping a kind computer expert can help me please!!

I got a message that I have a corrupt system file on my Dell PC and that I should run a repair from the original Windows set up disc. I've put in the disc and followed the instructions and got as far as this:

After you start the Recovery Console, you receive the following message:

"Microsoft Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.

The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality

Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart this computer.

1: C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows installation would you like to log onto (To cancel, press ENTER)?

Enter the number for the appropriate Windows XP installation, and then enter the administrator account password.


At this point I can't get any further. After the word press ENTER)? where the cursor is flashing, it will only allow me to put in one digit. I would assume I put in '1' but if I key '1' then 'return', then it does nothing. If I put in anything else, 2, 3, a, b etc it says 'Invalid selection. Please select a valid installation number.' As its a personal PC I don't have an administrator account password (I've never set one up) but I can even get that far.

What am I doing wrong??:confused:

Thanks very much:kiss::flower:


Computer Numpty.

Lee Bartholomew
25th-June-2009, 08:21 PM
I hoping a kind computer expert can help me please!!

I got a message that I have a corrupt system file on my Dell PC and that I should run a repair from the original Windows set up disc. I've put in the disc and followed the instructions and got as far as this:

After you start the Recovery Console, you receive the following message:

"Microsoft Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.

The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality

Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart this computer.

1: C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows installation would you like to log onto (To cancel, press ENTER)?

Enter the number for the appropriate Windows XP installation, and then enter the administrator account password.


At this point I can't get any further. After the word press ENTER)? where the cursor is flashing, it will only allow me to put in one digit. I would assume I put in '1' but if I key '1' then 'return', then it does nothing. If I put in anything else, 2, 3, a, b etc it says 'Invalid selection. Please select a valid installation number.' As its a personal PC I don't have an administrator account password (I've never set one up) but I can even get that far.

What am I doing wrong??:confused:

Thanks very much:kiss::flower:


Computer Numpty.

I dislike Dell more than Apple. At least Apple products are well made and thought out. Dell just throw a couple of cheap parts together, give you a service center in India and make things difficault when stuff like this happens.

I assume you can still log on your machine as per normal as you wrote this post.

Personally I would say save all the documents you want and give your machine a clean install of XP (pref a non Dell one if you can get hold of one). If it is starting to give errors, you might find it gets worse or can not be saved at all even through recovery mode lossing all your pics etc.

You can also try :-

go to my computer, RIGHT click on your hard drive and go to tools. Somewhere in there you will find checkdisk. Run that

Another way of doing it might be to go to START the RUN and type in CHKDSK.exe

I am writing from memory so cant be sure it is the correct way of running check disk esp on XP which I have not used for ages (now on Windows 7) and be sure to BACK UP anything you dont want to loose if the wost happens.

Someone might have a better solution but this is the best I can do off the top of my head without it involving an axe :wink:

Brighton Belle
25th-June-2009, 08:29 PM
No I can't log on. I can't get anything apart from the 'run repair' message. I'm writing this from my daughter's computer.:love: Actually everytime I've rung Dell's helpdesk, they seem to be Irish but they are very long winded and very expensive. :eek:

So no I can't save any files etc. If I can't get into it to do this repair, I've lost everything. :banghead:

Thanks for the advice about the axe though:flower:

Lee Bartholomew
25th-June-2009, 08:32 PM
get as far as you can. Does it say anything on the screen?

after pressing 1 try typing fixboot

DavidY
25th-June-2009, 08:34 PM
After the word press ENTER)? where the cursor is flashing, it will only allow me to put in one digit. I would assume I put in '1' but if I key '1' then 'return', then it does nothing. If I put in anything else, 2, 3, a, b etc it says 'Invalid selection. Possibly a silly question, but which key are you using to select the "1"?

Assuming you have a full-sized keyboard, are you using the numeric keypad on the RHS of the keyboard, or the 1 on the top row of the keyboard (above "Q").

If you're using the former, try the latter... (because the numeric keyboard may not have NumLock switched on when you boot in recovery mode)

Lee Bartholomew
25th-June-2009, 08:41 PM
If you're using the former, try the latter... (because the numeric keyboard may not have NumLock switched on when you boot in recovery mode)

Good thinking Batman

Brighton Belle
25th-June-2009, 09:40 PM
Possibly a silly question, but which key are you using to select the "1"?

Assuming you have a full-sized keyboard, are you using the numeric keypad on the RHS of the keyboard, or the 1 on the top row of the keyboard (above "Q").

If you're using the former, try the latter... (because the numeric keyboard may not have NumLock switched on when you boot in recovery mode)

I'm using the one above the Q. The figure does appear on the screen but I can only type the one digit. There's no more space. Then when I hit 'enter' nothing happens.

Lee Bartholomew
25th-June-2009, 10:06 PM
I'm using the one above the Q. The figure does appear on the screen but I can only type the one digit. There's no more space. Then when I hit 'enter' nothing happens.

have you truid typing after you hit enter?

Brighton Belle
25th-June-2009, 10:17 PM
have you truid typing after you hit enter?

Yes but there's no cursor. After I hit enter, I can't do anything at all. Complete silence. Nothing flashing. Nada.

David Franklin
25th-June-2009, 10:24 PM
So no I can't save any files etc. If I can't get into it to do this repair, I've lost everything. :banghead:This is a slight aside from the main thread, but even if you can't get the repair to work, you can almost certainly recover your files.

There are various "Live CD" versions of Linux available. You can download one and burn it to CD. This then allows you to boot the machine from the CD without touching your hard drive. You can then copy any files you need to an external drive of some sort. For what it's worth, I used Knoppix when I needed to do this in the past.

This isn't very difficult, although realistically you probably want to get someone who knows what they're doing to do it for you.

David Franklin
25th-June-2009, 10:33 PM
I hoping a kind computer expert can help me please!!

I got a message that I have a corrupt system file on my Dell PC and that I should run a repair from the original Windows set up disc. I've put in the disc and followed the instructions and got as far as this:

After you start the Recovery Console, you receive the following message: It's a while since I've done this, but apparently you shouldn't use the Recovery Console.

From http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx


Do not choose the option to press R to use the Recovery Console.

If you go to that Microsoft link, there are instructions on what you should do instead.

It does feel a bit heart-in-mouth when you agree to "Setup Windows Now", but as far as I remember when I had to do this it did actually work without losing any of my files. Although I would still suggest it's worth doing the LiveCD backup if you can find someone who'll do it for you.

Agente Secreto
25th-June-2009, 11:07 PM
Hold on a minute. Brighton Belle signs herself as a computer numpty, so well-meaning remote advice is more likely to lead to data loss than any other action.

My take, if you can't find a friend that can do this then let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages and find someone that knows what they are doing. It might cost an hour's labour, but it's well worth it!

Minnie M
25th-June-2009, 11:18 PM
Hold on a minute. Brighton Belle signs herself as a computer numpty, so well-meaning remote advice is more likely to lead to data loss than any other action.

My take, if you can't find a friend that can do this then let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages and find someone that knows what they are doing. It might cost an hour's labour, but it's well worth it!

:yeah:
Been there myself, very dangerous - good advice AS

You could go to PC World in Old Shoreham Road or there is a good PC Repair shop in Boundary Road, Hove (left hand side if you are facing the sea, nearly at the bottom) - you could try the Friday Ad, but personally I would go somewhere that is established, just in case (if you know what I mean)

Good luck !

David Franklin
25th-June-2009, 11:22 PM
Hold on a minute. Brighton Belle signs herself as a computer numpty, so well-meaning remote advice is more likely to lead to data loss than any other action.

My take, if you can't find a friend that can do this then let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages and find someone that knows what they are doing. It might cost an hour's labour, but it's well worth it!Which, you'll note, I've advised her to do in both my posts.

But if she can't find someone, the truth is, you don't need to be any kind of expert to follow the repair installation instructions in the link I gave. The problem is that it's a "all-or-nothing" solution: if those instructions don't work (which is certainly possible, depending on what's wrong with the system), preserving and recovering your data files really is going to require an expert.

Minnie M
25th-June-2009, 11:37 PM
.......But if she can't find someone, the truth is, you don't need to be any kind of expert to follow the repair installation instructions in the link I gave. The problem is that it's a "all-or-nothing" solution: if those instructions don't work (which is certainly possible, depending on what's wrong with the system), preserving and recovering your data files really is going to require an expert.

Trouble is David, when all is going well, no probs......... but if it takes you into an unfamiliar area and the next step is not as the screen states, you could get yourself into a worse problem (I am speaking from experience)

David Franklin
26th-June-2009, 12:38 AM
Trouble is David, when all is going well, no probs......... but if it takes you into an unfamiliar area and the next step is not as the screen states, you could get yourself into a worse problem (I am speaking from experience)As I said, it's all-or-nothing. But going into the recovery console is also fairly all-or-nothing, and she's already done that.

There are times when the most rational thing to do is go for it and hope for the best (typically when you don't have much to lose, or there's no other option). Although (for the third time now), I'll say that she should try to consult an expert first in this case.

I confess, I find myself somewhat exasperated that I'm the only person who's actually provided a link to the correct solution, and the only person who's explained how she can retrieve her data if needed, and yet I'm the only person getting given a hard time here. :banghead:

Minnie M
26th-June-2009, 07:16 AM
..........I confess, I find myself somewhat exasperated that I'm the only person who's actually provided a link to the correct solution, and the only person who's explained how she can retrieve her data if needed, and yet I'm the only person getting given a hard time here. :banghead:

:blush: really sorry David, wasn't having a 'go' at you - I truly respect your knowledge :hug:

Mind you, I didn't really digest your posts - and that is possibly why I am useless in doing anything technical :really:

This is Brighton Belle's thread and problem and I am sure she is very thankful for all the advice and is more sensible than me.

Brighton Belle
26th-June-2009, 07:32 AM
Oh dear I'm sorry I didn't mean to start a controversy:blush:

Thanks very much for all the advice guys and girls.:worthy:

I haven't had time to look at the link yet but I'll have a go at that and see how I get on. If it looks like I'm getting to a stage where I'm going to mess up the whole thing totally then yes I think it'll be time to get someone in.

The main thing of value on there is my music, most of which I have on back up discs but there is some other stuff I don't really want to lose.

I'll keep you posted!:flower:

David Franklin
26th-June-2009, 07:39 AM
Oh dear I'm sorry I didn't mean to start a controversy:blush:

Thanks very much for all the advice guys and girls.:worthy:

I haven't had time to look at the link yet but I'll have a go at that and see how I get on. If it looks like I'm getting to a stage where I'm going to mess up the whole thing totally then yes I think it'll be time to get someone in.I do actually agree with the other comments. If you can, get someone in first. It would probably be fine for you to do it yourself, but if something goes wrong you could easily end up losing all your data (you could probably still retrieve most of it, but you'd need a specialist company to do it at the cost of many hundreds of pounds).

Lee Bartholomew
26th-June-2009, 08:16 AM
:yeah: What you have to consider is that doing this kind of thing will not physically damage your PC at all. The worst case is that you loose all your data. So what you have to ask yourself is "Is my data worth x Amount that PC repair guy is going to charge"

Personally I would say give PC a wide berth. I know someone who went top work in my local one repairing PC's. His previous experiance of PC's was selling fridges in Currys and playing an xbox. Dispite having 0 pc knowledge he was given the job and a manual to work from !!!!!

You also have to be warry that alot of people advertise PC repair in the Friday-ad who have very little experiance (again I know someone who went in to it after owning their first PC for 2 weeks because they heard how much money was in it. Headache for me as constant calls of how do I do this or that ! :mad: )

I guess what im saying is even if you do get an 'expert' in, there is no garantee that they wont loose your data either.

Lesson to be learnt? BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP !!!!!!

David Franklin
26th-June-2009, 09:08 AM
Personally I would say give PC a wide berth. I know someone who went top work in my local one repairing PC's. His previous experiance of PC's was selling fridges in Currys and playing an xbox. Dispite having 0 pc knowledge he was given the job and a manual to work from !!!!!Word missing I think. I assume you meant "give PC World a wide berth". I agree, though funnily enough there's one guy in my local Currys.Digital who actually seems to be reasonably competent (I thought that was against company policy!).


I guess what im saying is even if you do get an 'expert' in, there is no garantee that they wont loose your data either.If you're not sure if the guy is competent, my advice would be to say:

"I've been told to use a Linux LiveCD to get access to the filesystem and backup my data to an external drive, but I don't know how to do it. Can you do that for me?"

Not only will it weed the "haven't a clue" brigade out, but the LiveCD route really is a very safe way of recovering data. It takes a certain amount of skill, but even if you don't know what you're doing, you're very unlikely to actually lose any data (the problems will all be to do with getting the live CD to work and finding files within a Linux environment).

[Note: A proper windows support guy (which I'm not) may know other ways of doing a repair with no risk to your data, but I wouldn't know how to advise checking if they were doing it right].


Lesson to be learnt? BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP !!!!!!Always a lesson you learn too late, however.

Lee Bartholomew
26th-June-2009, 11:15 AM
Word missing I think. I assume you meant "give PC World a wide berth". I agree, though funnily enough there's one guy in my local Currys.Digital who actually seems to be reasonably competent (I thought that was against company policy!).


Yeap was early morning :grin:.

I always have arguments with PC world staff. I remember looking for a vid cam once and having an argument that USB and FireWire are not the same thing. The woman was adament that it was. In the end she got her manager who said that it was as well.

When I showed them that they were not even physically the same, They just said it was a different sized USB like the different size Printer ones :what:.

Wuzzle
26th-June-2009, 12:18 PM
Yeap was early morning :grin:.

I always have arguments with PC world staff. I remember looking for a vid cam once and having an argument that USB and FireWire are not the same thing. The woman was adament that it was. In the end she got her manager who said that it was as well.

When I showed them that they were not even physically the same, They just said it was a different sized USB like the different size Printer ones :what:.

That really doesn't surpise me. PC world is a rip off with quite alot of there staff only knowing as much as the average granny knows about PC hardware... With the odd person who has done I.T and knows there stuff that would be the one guy that never deals with customers.... :banghead:

Only buy from PCWorld if your in a hurry. Otherwise its good to window shop... :whistle:

Lory
26th-June-2009, 01:29 PM
I always have arguments with PC world staff.


That really doesn't surpise me.

So, where does average Joe, who's not a computer buff go, for reliable, easily accessible, non biased advice :confused:

(ignoring the fact I'm now a bit of an Apple convert! :waycool:)

bigdjiver
26th-June-2009, 01:30 PM
:yeah: What you have to consider is that doing this kind of thing will not physically damage your PC at all. The worst case is that you loose all your data. So what you have to ask yourself is "Is my data worth x Amount that PC repair guy is going to charge"

Personally I would say give PC a wide berth. I know someone who went top work in my local one repairing PC's. His previous experiance of PC's was selling fridges in Currys and playing an xbox. Dispite having 0 pc knowledge he was given the job and a manual to work from !!!!!

You also have to be warry that alot of people advertise PC repair in the Friday-ad who have very little experiance (again I know someone who went in to it after owning their first PC for 2 weeks because they heard how much money was in it. Headache for me as constant calls of how do I do this or that ! :mad: )

I guess what im saying is even if you do get an 'expert' in, there is no garantee that they wont loose your data either.

Lesson to be learnt? BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP !!!!!!I am short of time.

A big advantage of having a PC is that there are so many of them that some is almost certain to have solved the same problem before, if it is solvable. The first port of call is a search on Microsofts site, eg for

run repair message xp

http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?form=MSHOME&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&q=run+repair+message+XP

if that fails use google advanced groups search

http://groups.google.co.uk/advanced_search?hl=en&q=&hl=en&

David Franklin
26th-June-2009, 01:36 PM
So, where does average Joe, who's not a computer buff go, for reliable, easily accessible, non biased advice :confused:www.cerocscotland.com/forum , surely?

Lee Bartholomew
26th-June-2009, 01:38 PM
So, where does average Joe, who's not a computer buff go, for reliable, easily accessible, non biased advice :confused:

(ignoring the fact I'm now a bit of an Apple convert! :waycool:)

Independent Computer shop.

PC world relies on the fact people don't know any better :nice:. Over priced hardware (£14.99 for a USB cable. Local comp shop £1.99, Ebuyer £0.75) staff that don't have a clue and poor quality (belkin and PCLine range of hardware is pretty shocking to use and for support)

Something like £45 for a health cheack??? Whats invloved? Runing an anti-virus and defragging the hard drive!

under par
26th-June-2009, 02:01 PM
www.cerocscotland.com/forum , surely?

Geeks corner is the absolute best place for IT solutions... IMHO always had tremendous help and support from the forum geeks.:respect::cheers:

Brighton Belle
26th-June-2009, 02:37 PM
www.cerocscotland.com/forum (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum) , surely?

Where else?:respect:

frodo
26th-June-2009, 07:09 PM
It's a while since I've done this, but apparently you shouldn't use the Recovery Console....
The instructions don't refer to the recovery console.

Ironically using the recovery console to rename the corrupt file and replace it with the best available alternative may well be one of the least risky courses of action.


It would be interesting to know which file the error message said was corrupt.

Typically with Windows 2000 / XP it is the system registry file C:\WINDOWS\System32\CONFIG\system, which corrupts easily especially if the machine isn't switched off properly.

If it is anything else I'd be a little worried it might be a disk problem.

Brighton Belle
26th-June-2009, 08:38 PM
It would be interesting to know which file the error message said was corrupt.

Typically with Windows 2000 / XP it is the system registry file C:\WINDOWS\System32\CONFIG\system, which corrupts easily especially if the machine isn't switched off properly.

If it is anything else I'd be a little worried it might be a disk problem.

I did a scanning/analysis thing and it said it was the video I think.

I've tried the instructions above about not choosing R etc and followed the rest of the list but the next screen is not what it says it will be. It says 'make sure your current installation of XP is selected in the box then press R.'

well what I've got doesn't mention any of that. It's about partitions and unpartitioned space.

I think at this point I'm going have to admit defeat and call someone. :tears:

Thanks to everyone for all your imput. I owe you all a drink!:cheers:

Minnie M
26th-June-2009, 08:53 PM
....... when all is going well, no probs......... but if it takes you into an unfamiliar area and the next step is not as the screen states, you could get yourself into a worse problem (I am speaking from experience)


.......well what I've got doesn't mention any of that. It's about partitions and unpartitioned space...........

Unfortunately, that usually happens

Miguel
31st-July-2009, 02:12 PM
A recent Sky News report on computer "repair" shops:

Story (http://tinyurl.com/nddf5k)

Video (http://tinyurl.com/myhvvf)

The only honest company in the report: http://www.pix4.co.uk/

:flower:

Brighton Belle
31st-July-2009, 02:31 PM
Just a quick update. I finally gave up and called the Dell helpdesk. There's a fixed price of £57 for major faults for however long it takes. I then spent about 10 hrs on the phone over about 8 days with the most condescending, irritating and impatient man in Calcutta. He's definitley taken the wrong career path.

I did finally get it fixed but had to wipe everything off the computer and start again from scratch and load everything back on it.

He also loaded something called AVG anti virus which was free and you get free updates apparently. Previously I've used McAffee and Norton which are quite expensive but he said this was as good. Anyone know anything about this software? And do I need any extra protection as well?

Thanks very much

Agente Secreto
31st-July-2009, 02:38 PM
A recent Sky News report on computer "repair" shops:

Story (http://tinyurl.com/nddf5k)

Video (http://tinyurl.com/myhvvf)

The only honest company in the report: http://www.pix4.co.uk/

:flower:

It's a good point. I'm lucky since I have a guy that I know personally who is a member of the same church that my wife attends and he is extremely trustworthy. I also store my personal stuff in an encrypted partition so have extra protection.

Dreadful Scathe
31st-July-2009, 02:40 PM
A recent Sky News report on computer "repair" shops:

Story (http://tinyurl.com/nddf5k)

Video (http://tinyurl.com/myhvvf)

The only honest company in the report: http://www.pix4.co.uk/

:flower:
this doesn't really surprise me, what does surprise me is how when these exposês reveal criminal behaviour e.g. attempted fraud (trying to logon to bank account), criminal damage (damage to motherboard), fraud (pc world charging for new motherboard and not replacing the old) ... the police are not involved - surely they should be ? :confused:

Dreadful Scathe
31st-July-2009, 02:47 PM
I did finally get it fixed but had to wipe everything off the computer and start again from scratch and load everything back on it.

er...why ?



He also loaded something called AVG anti virus which was free and you get free updates apparently. Previously I've used McAffee and Norton which are quite expensive but he said this was as good. Anyone know anything about this software? And do I need any extra protection as well?


Yes it is as good. McAfee and Norton are evil insidious pieces of software, steer well clear. Theres a rundown of, arguably the best free anti-virus software here (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-anti-virus-software.htm).

No you do not want any extra protection, you should only ever run one anti-virus program at a time. unless you mean protection in general, then yes, you need a firewall of some kind - preferably one that notifies you if a rogue program tries to contact external servers e.g. zone alarm.

Agente Secreto
31st-July-2009, 03:03 PM
Just a quick update. I finally gave up and called the Dell helpdesk. There's a fixed price of £57 for major faults for however long it takes. I then spent about 10 hrs on the phone over about 8 days with the most condescending, irritating and impatient man in Calcutta. He's definitley taken the wrong career path.

I did finally get it fixed but had to wipe everything off the computer and start again from scratch and load everything back on it.

He also loaded something called AVG anti virus which was free and you get free updates apparently. Previously I've used McAffee and Norton which are quite expensive but he said this was as good. Anyone know anything about this software? And do I need any extra protection as well?

Thanks very much

I'd drop a note back to Dell and tell them their call centre staff have an attitude problem. Mind you I get the same feeling about our tech support at work.

I'd also take the opportunity of creating some system restore points and/or CDs now. That way if you have some problems in the future you can quickly get the system back to a known good configuration. Just in case you've never done this see the notes at http://www.ehow.com/how_4995016_create-system-restore-point.html or http://www.ehow.com/how_4478351_make-system-restore-cd.html.

The free version of AVG gets good write ups and for lots of people this is all they need, especially if you don't need your security package to give you a firewall (most routers/modems have these inbuilt anyway) or fancy things like parental controls etc. I'd still deploy a firewall mind. I've never used AVG myself but I have a mate that builds PCs for others who swears by it.

Miguel
31st-July-2009, 03:06 PM
He also loaded something called AVG anti virus which was free and you get free updates apparently. Previously I've used McAffee and Norton which are quite expensive but he said this was as good. Anyone know anything about this software? And do I need any extra protection as well?

AVG Anti-virus Free Edition is really good (I use it) - read a review here (http://www.computeractive.co.uk/personal-computer-world/software/2043735/avg-antivirus-free-edition). Just make sure everything is turned on. To do that launch the AVG Free user Interface and click on Overview. If you have any computer problems look here first: Computer Act!ve (http://www.computeractive.co.uk/)