Question SYSTEM LOCKOUT - BLACK SCREEN - WILL NOT BOOT UP

[Ladyseahawk]

Hello everyone - I am desperate for help - I know that Incredimail shut down however I was still successfully using it until I inadvertently allowed Microsoft to automatically download KB4577586 on my Acer Laptop which automatically removed Adobe Flash Player needed by Incredimail to operate. Microsoft says that this update cannot be uninstalled but before I discovered this information I allowed it to happen to my Surface Pro which I am now using. Anyway I searched the net and someone posted that if I downloaded Flash Player Pro 6.0 that I would get Incredimail back – I did this to the Acer and at first for about 1 minute it worked – I opened my mail unfortunately I took a break and when I came back my system was totally GONE – the computer won’t boot up – All I have on my Acer is a dark screen. I took it to a computer guy who has told me that all my info is still there however he can only rescue my docs and pics and to do that means new sys install. All my desperately needed emails along with other program information will still be there but I will be unable to access them. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas how I can get it all back to where it was? I am hoping and praying someone can help me. – No I stupidly do not have a recent system backup of either machine & now Incedimail (which was working on here Surface Pro) will not work and I am too frightened to download Flash Player Pro 6.0 again in case it happens to this machine. I am desperate because the Acer and in particular Incredimail holds VITAL INFORMATION that I desperately need. Thanks for listening or reading.

 

[deustroop]

There are options to repair the Win 10 installation using a USB media with the setup files.Download the setup files to a USB .

Download Windows 10

Set bios to boot from the USB and start the install process. When the screen says install now , select Repair your computer .

Good luck.

 

[UsandThem]

Backups, backups, backups for "vital" or irreplaceable data.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

There are options to repair the Win 10 installation using a USB media with the setup files.Download the setup files to a USB .

Download Windows 10

Set bios to boot from the USB and start the install process. When the screen says install now , select Repair your computer .

Good luck.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

I used to back up regularly but I guess time and laziness caught up with me.

I have learnt a valuable lesson – that is to religiously do a backup and system restore weekly.

Backups, backups, backups for "vital" or irreplaceable data.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

Hi deustroop

Thank you so much for your attention, response & advice.

Have booted it up off another computer & discovered that the hard drive is healthy and the data is all there - just cannot access the data as the programs I require to do so are also inaccessible. The hard drive has not been corrupted or wiped so from a check of the amount of bytes etc on the drive we know that the programs and data are all there but still not sure of what steps to take to get at them and restore it all. My OS is Win 10. It is not only my Incredimail that are extremely important but there is also other vital information that I need.

I intend to get a backup of the hard drive (keeping another copy) from the repair shop and I have an old tower here that I can hopefully get going. If so, I will use it to try out your suggestion.

I have learnt a valuable lesson – that is to religiously do a backup and system restore weekly.

 

[UsandThem]

I used to back up regularly but I guess time and laziness caught up with me.

I have learnt a valuable lesson – that is to religiously do a backup and system restore weekly.

I wasn't trying to rub salt in the wound by any means, I've just seen a lot of these over the years on here, and just driving home the point to anyone who happens to stumble upon this thread via Google. I could only imagine the feeling if I suddenly lost things like family pictures, financial documents, or even my music collection (which has taken 10+ years to accumulate).

Hopefully you can get things sorted out with your PC, and retrieve your data.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

I wasn't trying to rub salt in the wound by any means, I've just seen a lot of these over the years on here, and just driving home the point to anyone who happens to stumble upon this thread via Google. I could only imagine the feeling if I suddenly lost things like family pictures, financial documents, or even my music collection (which has taken 10+ years to accumulate).

Hopefully you can get things sorted out with your PC, and retrieve your data.

Believe me when I say I know you weren't trying to rub salt into my poor wounds. Like you I too have years of accumulated stuff on my Acer and am just hoping like hell that I can get it all back - as I said I will get a backup and use it to try everything suggested. Tomorrow I am going to try and get my old tower up and running to use it for the effort. Fingers and toes crossed. But again you were right and do not stop reminding us all that the maxim should be BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP - do not let time or cant be bothered get in the way

 

[RLGL]

I learned that painful lesson back in 2001. I now run backup software and do a system image about once a month and store them on external drives. I keep the images for 2 years prior to deleting them. Despite several computer failures I have not lost anything.

 

[Iron Woode]

shouldn't all your emails be backed up on the server? Mine are.

The docs and things can be copied directly from the hdd and stored until needed by an application that can either access them directly or import them. Depending on the size a USB drive should work fine for this.

There are many email clients out there. There are some conversion programs that can convert incredimail to other email platforms.

I haven't used incredimail since 2007.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

I learned that painful lesson back in 2001. I now run backup software and do a system image about once a month and store them on external drives. I keep the images for 2 years prior to deleting them. Despite several computer failures I have not lost anything.

Yes and this is my lesson - like you up until a few months ago I backed up religiously monthly with a system image - however time - health - stupidity with a touch of laziness thrown in for good measure - but I can assure you should I manage to get out of this mess I will return to the most sensible habit of backup backup backup

 

[Steltek]

shouldn't all your emails be backed up on the server? Mine are.

The docs and things can be copied directly from the hdd and stored until needed by an application that can either access them directly or import them. Depending on the size a USB drive should work fine for this.

There are many email clients out there. There are some conversion programs that can convert incredimail to other email platforms.

I haven't used incredimail since 2007.

Email backed up on servers is not an option, as the Incredimail servers were all shut down just over a year ago when the service went out of business. OP was most likely still using the software as a local client only.

Yes and this is my lesson - like you up until a few months ago I backed up religiously monthly with a system image - however time - health - stupidity with a touch of laziness thrown in for good measure - but I can assure you should I manage to get out of this mess I will return to the most sensible habit of backup backup backup

Since you have a backup a couple of months old, here is what I would try to at least gain access back to the email data:

Locate all the Incredimail folders on the crashed installation (including any in the APPDATA folder under your user profile), make a note of the exact file paths, then copy all the folders to a flash drive. Install a clean hard drive into the machine, disconnect the Internet, and restore the most recent system backup you have. Then, after making sure the Incredimail client is totally shut down, copy the folders from the flash drive back to their proper locations on the hard drive containing the restored image (making sure to elect to overwrite all files with the same file names when prompted).

If this works properly, it should overwrite all the Incredimail databases with the ones containing the most recent email data from the crashed installation. The next time you run the Incredimail client, it should then in theory contain your most recent email. The major issue you have with doing this is that you HAVE to make sure that you get ALL the Incredimail folders - miss one, and it probably won't work. You also don't want the machine updating, so this why it is important to keep it disconnected from the Internet.

By doing all this on a clean drive, you don't endanger your original files if it doesn't work - the only thing you have to loose is the time to try it (and cost of a replacement drive).

Keep in mind that the goal of this exercise is to get the email client back to the point where you can access and export your email so it can be imported into a new client. It is not intended to get Incredimail running again for regular use - you'd be crazy to go back to using it again as it is dead software and the same thing will happen again at some point in the future.

Another alternative is that there are software conversion programs I've seen advertised (just do a google search) that claim to be able to convert Incredimail over to Thunderbird, Outlook, or other mail clients. That might also be a possibility for you to consider, provided you can verify with the seller that it will work from the raw Incredimail data files without requiring the Incredimail client to be running.

 

[Iron Woode]

Email backed up on servers is not an option, as the Incredimail servers were all shut down just over a year ago when the service went out of business. OP was most likely still using the software as a local client only.



Since you have a backup a couple of months old, here is what I would try.

Locate all the Incredimail folders on the crashed installation (including any in the APPDATA folder under your user profile), make a note of the file paths, and copy all the folders to a flash drive. Install a clean hard drive into the machine, disconnect the Internet, and restore the most recent system backup you have. Then, after making sure the Incredimail client is totally shut down, copy the folders from the flash drive back to their proper locations on the hard drive (making sure to elect to overwrite all files with the same file names when prompted).

If this works properly, it should overwrite all the Incredimail databases with the ones containing the most recent email data. The next time you run the Incredimail client, it should then in theory contain your most recent email. The major issue you have with doing this is that you HAVE to make sure that you get ALL the Incredimail folders - miss one, and it probably won't work. However, by doing all this on a clean drive, you don't endanger your original files so it would be worth a try.

This might get it back to the point where you can access and export your email. By doing it on a clean disk, you wouldn't be taking a chance with loosing anything.

The main goal at this point is to be able to export your email such that it can be imported into a new mail client and not just to get Incredimail working again.

There are also software programs I've seen advertised (just do a google search) that claim to be able to convert Incredimail over to Thunderbird, Outlook, or other mail clients. That might also be a possibility for you to consider, provided you can verify with the seller that it will work from the raw Incredimail data files without requiring the Incredimail client to be running.

I was under the impression she was using an email addy like gmail for incredimail. I used to use @home.com back in the day when I used incredimail.

 

[Steltek]

I was under the impression she was using an email addy like gmail for incredimail. I used to use @home.com back in the day when I used incredimail.

Huh, didn't think about that, as I'm completely unfamiliar with the Incredimail client. If that is the case, OP should check on that avenue, provided it wasn't set up to delete the email from the external server when the email was downloaded.

 

[Iron Woode]

Huh, didn't think about that, as I'm completely unfamiliar with the Incredimail client. If that is the case, OP should check on that avenue, provided it wasn't set up to delete the email from the external server when the email was downloaded.

It was a full email client. I wouldn't be surprised if they had there own email domain.

I left incredimail for Thunderbird when it was not even version 1. From Thunderbird, I moved onto Postbox express back in 2010. I used it until this year when it wouldn't retrieve mail any more. Gmail had changed some functionality and postbox express couldn't comply so I am back on Thunderbird.

 

[deustroop]

One thing I like about Thunderbird is how easily one can package up the client data for an account ( a profile) and move it to another location say a back up drive which has Thunderbird installed. Conversely one can move the saved client back to the original drive should the original corrupt.

 

[Ladyseahawk]

So sorry people for being absent but have been in hospital - hope to get my laptop back from the jerk who calls himself a computer techie tomorrow - due to my health problems I thought to take it to a professional but in doing so I forwarded him all your suggestions but he wasnt interested in trying any - just told me that nothing he was doing was working - I have asked him to cease and desist and I intend to try out your advice myself and see how I go. Cant be any worse than what he is. I am so grateful for all the advice.