Guys I need HELP!!!

[digitalduck]

O, I have a big problem with Vista...yesterday I noticed AVG caught something and asked me to heal, vautl etc.... so i healed but it couldnt heal all items looked like a trjoan yada yada etc.... a couple minutes later my computer went to a blue screen saying a major OS problem occured and it is shutting down i was going through some cycles and hten restarted..


So im back up in VIsta... then 5 mins later it would do it again... this continued for a couple more times while im trying to boot in safe mode and unistall anythign I could think of or wahtever....

So it did it again after i did a system scan....but this itme it came up after thw "welcoem to Vista" screen with a black screen, blocking my access to Vista saying something has changed the configuartion etc and it needcs to verify vista is genuine (it is) but it allowed me access to teh web to dl the verification tool..i ran that and its saying its not genuine... great so I restart and im back to the desktop..good...

However now I decide to do a system restore back to when I installed and up date two dasy ago...howeverthe error/crash happenedd during the restore.... so now im back to dedsktop...i tried restore again and now when it crashed i restart and...no longer have accesss to Vista because a kernal is damanged etc....

So...I get out my install CD and pop it in to run the system repair...however ..it is taking over 6 hours and its just hanging on the "attemting to fix errors" progress bar... its moving but I cant tell if its doing anything.....should it take this long? Now granted when I put the cd in to boot fdtrom CD it id take a loong time to get access to teh cd. You know how sometimes the cd will nto spin fast enough and it is slow to read it initially? kind of like that... but should it take over 6 hours?


What can I do? My only thought is that I go buy a new HD today...install Vista... hoo up hd as backup and copy fiels from my C to D then take new HD off and dump my C: to put Vista back in....

Dumb quesiton but its SATA and i just bought it (meaning im new to sata and not eide) can I just hook up this HD to an open sata port and it will show? Is there any type master slave settings i need?

OR...and i know this isnt reccommended, but can i do a dirty install just to get teh files off of C then format and do a clean install?


OR...can I , from the install CD, just make a new partition off of the sapce from C or D , install vista on that..bott from that, move data, then dump that new partiton and C and install?
Thanks

 

[Rebel44]

SATA dont have master/slave - just connect your HDD and start PC.

IMO best solution will be to install Vista on new HDD, Use antivirus to check files you want to save and if they are OK copy them to new HDD. After that I recommend to format old HDD.

 

[digitalduck]

Rebel44..I agree with you, but could I also create a new partition out of my "D" drive (since my HD is already partitioned) and then install windows on that partition, boot, then copy files, then delete both C and E drive and recreate C? Im just tyring to not have ot buy a HD then return etc...

 

[RebateMonger]

Rather than return the hard drive, put it into an external housing and use it to make periodic full system image backups of your PC. That way, next time you get infected, you can restore the entire PC back to when it was working and you can keep updated backups of important data files, too.

There are several name-brand image backup programs that will keep up-to-date image backups that will make fixing your PC next time a lot easier.

 

[digitalduck]

Thats true, and like Rebell, I agree with what youre saying too..however, I just bought this HD Id rather not keep another one...so assuming I use this HD can i just partition D and install Vista on that one...then once i have access move files, then delete C and E and recreate C and install?

 

[C1]

If your going to attempt to redo the system on the same drive then it is best to "ZAP" or "WIPE" the drive before you proceed. I always do this when something weird has happened such as the thing you are reporting. Cant tell you how many times this has saved the day not only for me, but for friends who brought me their machines after a repair shop told them that they needed a new motherboard.

Mainly, some things can get written into the zero sector (usually trash) that "format" doesnt eliminate.

 

[digitalduck]

True, but I have thigns i need to get off of C before i format it...and i cant get into it..what was wierd is I was just home and hte repair screen was sitll goin... 13HOURS into it!!! Soo.. I restarred and tried the cd and on the install section...the "ake new partition" was al greyed out!!!

 

[C1]

OK.
Just about two weeks ago my daughter brought two computers for me to deal with. Hers & her husbands. In both cases the HDDs went bad & failed to boot. The HDDs needed to be replaced (yes they did) but they wanted the data files (iTunes, mp3, photos, work stuff, etc.) off the old drives. Here's how I did it. Remove the drive and attach it as an external drive (eg, use an external box or just temporarily connect to the motherboard controller). THIS IS IMPORTANT NOW .....BOOT UP FROM SOME PARTITIONING SOFTWARE OR IMAGING SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO TOGGLE ACTIVE/BOOTABLE and SET THE DAMAGED DRIVE TO NOT BOOTABLE. DO NOT BOOT INTO A CHICAGO SYSTEM WITH TWO BOOTABLE CHICAGOS ON THE LINE AS THEY MIGHT DUAL EACH OTHER AND YOUR MASTER MAY GET CORRUPTED (this was observed to happen during demonstration testbed). You can use a friends machine if you dont have a spare, but follow the rules please.

After toggling the damaged drive to non-active, you may now boot into your normal Windows and use Windows Explorer to attempt to recover files. (You might even try to run a check disk recovery on the HDD but a better approach would be to run SeaTools free HDD checker available as download and test the HDD first. If its bad, then recover what you can & throw that damn HDD away or RMA it if possible.)

Post Note: In my case both HDDs tested bad - non-fixable - using SeaTools. However, I was actually able to recover the sacred data from both HDDs to the satisfaction of all concerned and impressing everyone very much. Nobody paid me for the work though (SAD).