Need a Computer Expert

okay i see what's happened, your mom has reinstalled a fresh copy of
XP without deleting and reformatting the old partition.
So I'm thinking when you boot up, it should come up with a screen that
asks which copy of Xp you want to use, in that case you should be able
to highlight the first copy and theoretically it should boot into it.
If that doesn't work I would still try to use the repair function on the
XP CD.

Boot with what ever windows that works then open windows Explorer you should see both windows go to the one that has your pictures copy them to the windows that works

[edit on 22/11/2004 by Sauron]

Originally posted by deeprivergal

The first one takes me to a copy that actually works,

Then start that one and find the pictures you want and burn them to a CD

When you have recovered what you want do a factory restore to get rid of the double copy which I have never seen happen in all my years of system installs.

A couple of questions. Sometimes, if there are 2 OS versions on the system, it will ask you at boot which OS to run.(an OS is the operating system in this case XP) Is this the case? If it asks you, pick the first one and boot. Do you see your files? If not and --again IF it asks you reboot and boot to the second OS --try again. But from what you are writing here, you have an XP installed OVER an XP . Are you getting any kind of error messages? What kind of machine do you have? IE Dell Compaq, HP or others. Have you done a step by step boot? you can achieve this by pressing the F8 key , you should have an option that says step by step, choose it and see if you get any error messages.
Also you might consider this website

What to do when you install two copies of Windows XP by accident on your computer
www.cyberwalker.net...

YOu SHOULD be getting a boot menu, if 2 copies of XP have been installed.

Hope this helps

Originally posted by deeprivergal
YES! LOL She has two Windows XP copies on her system. I have no idea how she did it, but she did. The second install did not copy over the first one, there are just two now.

What are these programs you are talking about.... names I need names!!!

Ok, then you should be good shape. If you're correct and there are in fact 2 installs and the 2nd didn't write over the 1st then that means the 1st install will still have your original data in tact same as before.

Can you get to the Boot Menu during XP starting up and choose Safe Mode Command Prompt??

Assuming that your files were in 'Documents & Settings' from install #1. Are they still there now or have they been replaced by install #2, or do you not know because you can't get anything to boot up now???

Originally posted by deeprivergal
Ok when I boot the computer it takes me to a screen with 2 options

Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional

The first one takes me to a copy that actually works,

The second one starts to load but then it stops and gives me "winlogon.exe has generated errors and will close, a error log has been recorded"

Ok, perfect. Choose the first one. (The Working Install)
Once you're in just use explorer to find your files. (Most Likely: C:\Documents & Settings\"Your Name, Administrator, Mom, etc."\My Documents\...)
Copy them or burn them or whatever and you're done.

This is a strange situation. I dont see how you can have two OSs on the same partition, so you must have two partitions I am assuming. May not have had it before, but you do now lol. One way to test this is.. This.

How big is your hard drive? Campare that with the number it gives you in My Computer. This should give some clue as to whether there is more than on partition.

For instance, if you have a 40GB hard drive but My Computer says you only have a 10 GB harddrive, then that means you have 30GBs that your second install of XP is not seeing. The data is still there however, but there is no way to acess it, without leaping some hurdles, which I hand that one over to someone else lol

deeprivergal,

I so sympathize with you. I have had to learn way more than I thought I would ever need to know about computers.

When my computer was oh-so-slow, I went to
www.amazingtechs.com...
Not to disparage the guys here, but another set of brains may have more info for you.
Good luck

Also, you might want to go to BTS. There's a computer section there that has helped me in the past.

[edit on 22-11-2004 by DontTreadOnMe]

I found this site

www.cyberwalker.net...

Seems to describe your exact problem. You are going to have to reformat your harddrive which means you will lose all data. But you are going to need to backup the files you want to keep. If you are unable to acccess those files such as a "Access Denied" prompt, then you need to visit this site

support.microsoft.com...

Which will explain how.

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\

then see if you can find your files in there. If you get the access denied prompt then so to the above link.

Originally posted by mOjOm

Originally posted by deeprivergal
Ok when I boot the computer it takes me to a screen with 2 options

Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional

The first one takes me to a copy that actually works,

The second one starts to load but then it stops and gives me "winlogon.exe has generated errors and will close, a error log has been recorded"

So many good answers and questions I don't know where to begin. Ok, I have tried searching in the other windows folder from the windows that works, for the pictures, but I have no idea which folder is which. I have actually looked in both of them and I can't find them anyway. I have run a search of the pictures and got no results. I'm still looking, thanks to everyone for helping out with this

I am on a mission and I will not give up till I find them



[edit on 22-11-2004 by deeprivergal]

I'm old school. I started programming over 25 years ago, before there was such thing as the GUI. If you can get hold of a boot disk, that's a disk with only .sys and .com files on it, boot to your A drive and then manually change to the C drive, or whatever drive your computer normally boots up too, probably C. Using the DOS commands you can search through the directories until you find the files you are looking for. If you haven't done a physical reformat or repartition of the hard drive the files are still there. There are still things you can do with DOS that you can't with the system GUI. Of course it's all manual, no mouse, and the commands must be typed, but you should be able to find and recover the files.

Good Luck.

P.S. Even if you reformat the drive, the files are still there, the computer just frees up the space in the file allocation table, but recovery of these are another story...a bit more involved.

Ok, well if you are in XP and looking through the folders but still can't find the pictures then they may have been erased. If that is the case then try this.

GetDataBack - Do-it-yourself Data Recovery Software

No matter what the disaster scenario is-
GetDataBack will recover your data if the hard drive's partition table, boot record, FAT/MTF or root directory are lost or damaged, data was lost due to a virus attack, the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted...
Recover even when Windows doesn't recognize the drive-
GetDataBack can even recover your data when the drive is no longer recognized by Windows.
It can likewise be used even if all directory information - not just the root directory- is missing.
www.runtime.org...

They have a demo download (FAT or NTFS) you can use that will allow you to see which files it can recover. You should then find your pictures listed within those files. However, being that this is a demo, you won't be able to recover them, only see if they're able to be found.

There are other programs like this one that should allow you to do everything. The reason I am saying to try this one, even though you won't be able to copy your files is because I know for sure that this one works.

I have a better program, BartPE. Get it and use it to save your pictures, i've saved many a clients documents using this emergency disk.

EDIT: www.nu2.nu...

Provided a link, be sure to read the FAQ first.

[edit on 22-11-2004 by Linux]

Terms that would otherwise triple the size of this post if explained midpost.
HardDrive -> A very powerful disc, like a floppy but way bigger!
Normally holds all applications, games, and of course
either windows or Linux on a PC, or Mac OS if a Macintosh
Drive -> Shortened form of above. Can also refer to the Giant folderholder known as C drive. D drive, E drive, etc are possible.
A drive is almost always a Floppy disk drive.
note:
D,E,F,etc any one of these letters can also be a CD-Rom drive(or simular)


Driver -> Something completely different. (software that talks to hardware)



Here we go:


I am going to assume the worst scenario in that you cannot get into Windows at all. From either menu option.

Try using the EBD again(or *any* Dos Boot disk).
Once you are at the A prompt. (Looks like this: A:\> )
This means you are in floppy mode.
To switch to the harddrive, type this into the A prompt.
C:
hit enter.
if you get an error message, there is still one more thing to try, I will cover that in a second.
Let's go with the idea that you have a C: prompt in front of ya.
Which should look like this: C:\>
Type Dir/w
hit enter
if you get an error message, same deal as before, that will be covered in a sec. Please scroll down to the line of ************** if you did.
If you didn't get an error message but instead a screeen with lots of
file names, then the job just got easier. Tremendiously!
The files that don't have a .xxx attached to them are likely folders
those that do, well, it's there to tell ya what the file's nature is.
With a blank C:\>
type

dir/w doc*.*
hit enter.

in that new list look for either "Documents and Settings"
or something that *may* look like "Docume~1"

when you find it enter the following into a blank C prompt.

cd Docume~1 (if it looks like this but one number or letter off, please enter that instead)

or

cd Documents and Settings
hit enter

(or even cd xxxxxxx
if your picture folder is there, then substitute the xxxx's with the pic folder name)

To go back exactly 1 folder
type
cd..
hit enter

To go all the way back to the beginning of the drive(Drive's Root)
type
cd\.
hit enter.

type
dir/w
hit enter key
Hopefully, two familar folders will come up in that new list of files
My Documents (or My Doc~1)
Desktop

cd into one of those, then Dir/w to get the file list from that folder.
hopefully the pics were in one of those two.

*********************************
Unless the computer's Hard drive was programmed with a partition to make it think it has more than one drive, or that you physically have two hard drives hooked up. The Data is either fried or *last possiblity*. I hope this is *not* the outcome.

Now if you do have more than one drive, whether virtual (partition) or physical, then there more that can be done. simply use the commands
from above to navigate around the drive(s).
oh yeah, if you do have a 'D', 'E', 'F', etc drive(s), then like with C and A
you need to get to it's prompt.
This should help: (Do not type the C:\> it's only for decorum, just what's after it...)

C:\>d:
enter
you should get a prompt like this
D:\>

If you get an error message, then it either doesn't exist or
isn't prepared. Go back to the C drive, try to remember the
folder name where the pictures are stored at, then look for that folder.
Desktop and My Documents were listed as these are typical temporary
stash spots for lots of folks..


*last possiblity*
Earlier there was discussion about partitions, and that I kinda hinted that a partitions is like a virtual harddrive (or harddrives) in a physical one?
This is where file systems come into play
MS-Dos 4 or 5 all the way to Windows ME used a system
FAT (File Allocation Table). WinXP supports FAT32, however, if you are reading this, then you have already found out that the file system is not FAT32. It's NTFS.

Read this paragraph if only you want to know why it would use NTFS.
Skip this paragraph to get a possible fix.
WindowsNT, Win2k, and WinXP can use this system. It's actually the newer file system. Better than FAT32 at least in the respect that
it can support bigger harddrives. FAT16 coughs and dies at 512 Megs
FAT32 coughs and dies around 4 Gigs, NTFS supports sizes not even created yet. Something around 2 Terabytes, could be wrong..

Anyways back to it
If this is the case, this is quite a pickle. As there is no way to know
how much space is free or if it's even formated (commanded to be useable),
let alone partitioned (sectioned off into virtual drives)

Yet we are not screwed!
Obviously you have access to the Net. That is your saving grace.
There is a program called NTFSfor9x or something very much like that in name.
What it can do is force Win98 or WinMe to read (not write) NTFS systems.
This means you can copy the files, just not delete or 'move' them. Only copy or view.. that's it.
You *must* have a FAT32 drive partition to install Win98 or WinMe.
It and other tools can be found on a rather useful CD image.
here is where the image is:
Ultimate Boot CD

What to do if you don't have a Win98/Me cd. Just the Xp disc.
There is one baston of hope left. Again this is assuming you can burn cd's
from another computer. Additionally you will need either Win2k or WinXP.
It will let you make a Boot cd that loads a very striped down Win2k/XP
system.
It's called PEBuilder.
If anything I've posted here seems like greek and only gets worse, do not
torture yourself by continuing on, find someone whom you know nearby
that can help you read through this and try wants typed here. I am really
sorry about the learning curve on some of the later stuff, but at that point
options are getting thin, assuming you are following this based on the conditions described. If anything the advanced stuff listed near the end is in the hopes that you manage to find someone who can help you with this over in your neck of the woods when nothing else works.(Oversights on my part are the exception.. Remember as I stated waaay at the top, this is what needs to be done, when there seems to be no other options at all.


Best of luck to you, Deeprivergal





[edit on 22-11-2004 by Crysstaafur]

Son of a gun.

The fact that the system can dual boot (i know this was by accident, but it can be done on purpose, just so ya know this isn't a bug, )

Anyways, the system can dual boot and you can get into windows
hooray! Things just got a lot simplier. plz read

Do you remember:
a filename
part of a filename

if yes, then try this:

Get into your good copy of WinXP, go to Search in the Start menu.
in the right hand menu that just rolled over, select Find Files or Folders

left click Find Files or Folders.

One of the Green Buttons (with a white arrow) on the Left-middle side
is marked All Files and Folders

left click All Files and Folders

You should get another Window, on the left side, their are 3 horizontal
rectangles where you can type text and select stuff.

Click the Right hand button next to the Bottom Rectangle on the Left hand side. Select *Local Hard Drives*

Left click inside the Top Rectangle once your have gotten back to the
window again. Try to remember any of the file names that would be
one of the pictures.

Let's say the pic was sort called happybiXX.Y where xx was a number.
and Y is some set of letters I can't remember for the life of me.
No worries as long as you've got at least 4 consecutive letters this can be done

example for the search:

*happ*.*

The * means like a wildcard like UNO or poker. It can mean anything and can mean anylength comprised many letters.

*happyb*.* and *hap*bi*.* are also legal searches that would
pull up a file of a partial name of happybiXX.Y

However this won't work: app*bi.*

instead *app*bi.* which will work since the front * works as a place holder for both the unknowns and the h in the example.

Try using the * in place of forgotten letter/numbers on the picture file names in that search box (if it's set to search all local hard drives)

Before you hit the search button, if you right click on the search results window on the right, mouse over the view menu arrow to find different views, if you use thumbnail, the picture files will show up as little pictures of the the picture instead of a filename.

help this helps...


[edit on 22-11-2004 by Crysstaafur]

I've had this happen to me several times when working on computers with Win 2000 and XP. I liked the idea of booting from the cd and trying a repair on the corrupted partition. Something like this can be very frustrating but I seem to get most of my answers from anandtech just go to the forums, pick operating systems, and post your question.

[edit on 23-11-2004 by skychief]

For those interested

I FIXED IT