I've lost all of my images :(

Okay... well not exactly. I am stupid enough to have done so however. Here's the deal:

I was wanting to backup a lot of images/data that I hadn't. I've been putting it off because I need to install another video card, and didn't want to make any major changes before backing everything up.

I decided to download and install the latest XP drivers for my ATI card (piece of doo-doo by the way ) before replacing the card. After I did, my computer got stuck in an endless reboot. It would boot up, and after about 60 seconds, I'd get a blue screen with the error (was only visible for fractions of a second), then it would restart..... over, and over, and over.

I attempted to uninstall the drivers in safe mode, but that's not possible (no windows installer in safe mode). So, like a dumbass, I attempted a "repair" on XP with my Windows disc. Bad... very bad. I was in a hurry, and forgot to do three things:
1) To delete the undo_guimode.txt file.
2) To backup the WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK files to a floppy.
3) Change startup back to normal, instead of safe mode.

So, the XP setup hung because I was in safe mode. I got the "Windows is unable to finish setup in safe mode. Your computer will restart now" error. Okay... well.... there's NO way to change it back to normal, now that I've started the repair... so it restarts, tries to resume setup, says it can't in safe mode, and will restart. It restarts, and does the same thing over and over.

I screwed myself because I was in a hurry, and extremely drunk . Now I have to do a clean install, and lose everything on the C: drive. I do have hope though, I have a copy of Knoppix STD, and am currently running that to access my C: drive, and burn everything I can to CD's.

Man... what a pain in my derrier.

I just realized that I have my image/video/music files on a separate HDD anyway, so I guess I'm golden There's still about 10GB's or so of "important" stuff I have to backup from the C: drive though.

For the record, ATI sucks donkey balls... I mean, in case you didn't know.

I should've just gotten a Matrox card

Oh well, I've got a spare nVidia GeForce 2 that I can throw back in there.

Long time no see, huh guys? I promise, next time I post, it will be more lighthearted.

Back to work for me

Oh, if anyone knows any pointers, that would help me out, feel free to point them at me. I'm sure most of you know VOLUMES more about computers than me, so if I'm going in the wrong direction here, feel free to tell me so.

Later ladies and gents. Those in the states, enjoy your holiday weekend!

Chris/Laz

I can't help you with the computer issue but it nice to see you back on here.

Laz,

Wait a moment!

Did you destroy your hard drive formatting or just your Windows operating system?

If it is the second, then you might try to hang your harddisk as second disk in a different PC (good if you have friends) and recover the images before formatting the disk.

Best regards,
Andy

Thanks a lot Sheldon! It's nice to be here. It's a good feeling to know I'm missed... as egotistical as that is :P

I really should get out and shoot something. I do miss photography. I've been busy skateboarding, kayaking, trying to start up my old band, and cruisin' the bar scene (which is lame by the way), and just can't get my butt motivated enough to go shoot. I want to though.

Wait a minute.... did you hear that?

That's right, it was a cold beer you heard whisper my name.

I must go to her.

Maybe I'll be back... with a buzz... commenting haphazardly here and there.

Maybe I'll make a fool of myself elsewhere.

Maybe I'll stop typing now.

Nope.

Okay, now I'm done.

Laziferous,

ATI's driver install TID's instruct to remove existing drivers before installing new versions. They also post a utility which removes ATI drivers and .dll's so that your next Graphics driver install be it ATI or other can go smoothly.

In "Safe Mode' were you able to browse the Device Manager and view the "Driver Rollback" option in the Display Adapter menu?

When you're initiating your repair are you booting from CD or running while already in the Windows shell? If performing the repair while in the shell (through the XP GUI normal/safe mode) it is common to be forced out of setup due to minor configuration issues. If you haven't already, try booting from CD avia the steps listed in Method #2 of the following MS TID: http://support.microso​ft.com …aspx?scid=kb;en​-us;315341
I've performed this on multiple workstations (most recently with XP SP2 botching my Photoshop workstation) and data is retained.

As Andy mentioned, you can also mount the volume as an additional drive on a working system in order to get at your data. In fact, if you run into monumental issues with repairing your install;

1. Get a new drive and install a clean OS
2. Install your old drive as a secondary and import all your critical data & preferences from that botched OS. Even if you can't boot from the old one properly, you can still access the data from it.
3. Once you have things set up the way you want, swap the secondary drives so your archived data is accessible.

Please post if you have any other information and we'll see what we can come up with.

Good luck!

Andy, Jeff, thank you for your replies.

Andy-
I realized halfway through typing out my initial post, that I have most of my multimedia files on a separate drive. So, the images are pretty much safe. I have a LOT of stuff on the C: drive that's irreplaceable though, and it isn't backed up anywhere.... yet. Knoppix is working well for me however (transferring data to CD). Having a laptop that I can use to for internet access is also a plus... like now.

Jeff-
The first bulleted comment is "You cannot start Windows XP in Safe Mode."
That's my problem. I initially started poking around in safe mode, so I could poke aroung the OS without it trying to restart on me. The issue, is that I used the configuration utility (msconfig) to change startup from normal, to selective, with basic services. Without thinking (happens frequently... shhh), I attempted to to do the repair before changing startup back to normal boot... so it tries to start in safe mode every time. The only way to change it back to normal, that I see, is to be able to exit the setup, so I can run the startup configuration utility to change it back. Problem is, I can't exit the setup. When I hit F12 during boot, I get a text prompt to either:
1) Setup WinXP
2) Repair using the recovery console
3) Quit setup without installing, press F3
So when I hit F3... it still attempts to run setup! I can't get away from it.

I may switch to Linux, or get a Mac when this is over. Windows eats big fat hairy a$$... without a bib... and doesn't wash it's hands, or brush it's teeth when it's done. Dirty software.

I don't even feel like messing with it anymore tonight. I will reread your post tomorrow to see if I missed something though, and have another go tomorrow. I'm currently becoming too intoxicated to do any good. I don't want to mess it up any more, so I'll wait until I'm a bit more sober

Coherency is a good thing in times such as this.

*insert smirk*

EDIT: Oh, yes, I was booting from the CD.

I actually didn't try. I didn't even think of that. After I couldn't use system restore, or uninstall any programs/drivers in safe mode, I changed the boot order to first look at the IDE drives, then stuck the XP disc in, and restarted. Now it seems too late to go back. Again though, I'm becoming drunk right now, and I don't want to get near it until tomorrow.

I'll be back. Thank you SO much for your help thus far!

That's odd....

Enabling CD 1st Boot order in BIOS should allow a straight boot from CD-ROM, bypassing HDD msconfig settings. You have to watch for the brief prompt that allows you to select the CD-ROM boot but it should at least blip before it gives over to a HDD boot.

I feel your pain. Well, mabye not if you're already numbing the insanity with your beverage of choice

Cheers!

Laz,
Feel for your system problems but cannot offer any real advise. ( that is why I encourged daughter #2 to get together with a computer wiz ) But it is good to see you back dude!

I knew you would come back...............I hope you stay.

Sorry to hear you have a problem, I cant really help........
Maybe as a little tip for the future, buy a second HD and keep all your documents and non program file there. Then you can format and throw junk around all you want. I made the mistake of not doing this and losing many files. I guess we all need to learn the hard way when its too late.

Cheers.

I's been said.. but if you DO have data on the C: drive you don';t want to losse and you haven't formatted yet.. you can simply plug that drive into another PC running NTFS and c\then copy the data off of it..

In fact.. if you can boot into a command prompt.. you could "Xcopy32" the directories containg the data you want to save to a second hard drive...


Anyway.. nice to hear from you.. and let me know if you need help getting your pics back.

Fingers crossed that it's all on the other hard drive!

And get yourself a CD-RW for $39.00 for gods sake!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the feedback guys!

CDS-
It's all good. I mentioned in my reply to Andy, that I'm running Knoppix-STD to back up the data to CD. I assumed everyone was familiar with it. It's a version of Linux that you can run directly from a ROM drive. You boot from the CD, and run the OS straight from the drive. I can access the data on any IDE drive, and use the CD burning utility to back it up.

It's working out well, I'm running the OS from my DVD-ROM, and using my CD-RW to back it up using the K3B utility in Knoppix.

If anyone out there doesn't have a copy of Knoppix already, I highly recommend it. It's a lifesaver, as you can see from my dilemma. It's free too. Just download the ISO, burn it to CD, and voila.

I've mainly used it in the past for wardriving. I won't get into that, but if you're familiar with that term, I'm sure you already know how handy Knoppix can be in that area

You can download it for free here:
Knoppix-STD

If you aren't able to get it working and get your images off it, I'll be back home in Columbia (Howard County) in Novemeber and would be happy to help.

Let me know if you get stuck, but it sounds like you're okay now!