How to save pictures from XP that will not boot? - RESOLVED

[cthisbear]

Scoticus :

Feel free to read some of my posts.

Plenty of mean viruses around.

Use my recover...delete..move XP method.
External USB is definitely a goer.

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" Also malwarebytes...Dr Web Cureit...
Combo Fix...last resort....but I have used it.
SuperAntiSpyware...top rating at this time.

Download all to your computer....
copy to a CD or USB....
copy all to a new folder in Windows...
call it Apps....so that you know where everything is.
Unplug network cable until you setup Windows, a new antivirus
and a firewall. Turn off all updates after Service Pack2. "

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 5&start=15


http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... m?t=998716


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Trojans and viruses.
Whirlpool top tips.
Some tools to keep for nasty viruses.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php


SUPERAntiSpyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

Dr.Web CureIt!

http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit


ComboFix:
" ComboFix is a program, created by sUBs, that scans your computer for known malware, and when found, attempts to clean these infections automatically "

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofi ... e-combofix

Dr Web does have some false positives.
All antivirus programs can do this.

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" Someone here likes Dr Web Cureit and Combofix. "


http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1022800

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"

IF its what i think it is. (AntiVirus XP 2009) or variant. Run SuperAntispyware "
SUPERAntiSpyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

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" Malwarebytes antimalware is supposed to knock over
XP antivirus pretty well. "

Don't waste your time doing full machine scans with all
the suggestion that take hours, the live infections will be
found in the first few minutes and these are what you want
to deal with first priority.

Run Dr.Web CureIt too it can find rootkits the others might miss "

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1044058

ColPeters posts are usually sensible


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You can have XP and puppy this way.
My cheat Frugal install.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29881

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You can re-install XP.....No format.
but do not have the network cable in.
When you have put every program on...
download Returnil and try it.
You will have to turn it on after any install.

It runs like a virtual copy of Windows.
So you can have a safe copy of Windows to run
and still have a puppy of your choice.

You can uninstall things...install new programs..
but at the next boot you are back to when you enabled Returnil.

If you typed any docs...
you might have to save them to a different partition.
I didn't try that.

Returnil Virtual System 2008 Personal Edition v2.0

http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/in ... rsonal.htm

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Returnil_Virt ... d5702.html

" Returnil virtualization technology clones a computer’s System Partition and boots the PC into this system rather than native Windows, allowing users to run your applications in a completely isolated environment.
Hence the session and all activity, malicious or otherwise, will happen in the virtual environment, not in the real PC environment. If the PC is attacked or gets infected, all you need to do is to simply reboot the PC
to erase all changes. After reboot, the system will be restored to its original state, as if nothing ever happened. "

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Chris.

[Scoticus]

cthisbear

Many thanks for the information. By the look of things I will have a lot of reading to do over the weekend.

Firstly I am going to get XP up and running again to keep the peace and then I will see how things develop from there.

[davesurrey]

Hello Scoticus,
Just seen this thread and glad you were able to recover those pics. Another example of Puppy coming to XP's rescue.
I know this is a Puppy forum but I hope the mods here will allow me to quickly just add something for you.

When you are about to fix the NTLDR error you might like to read http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm
I have done this recovery several times without losing any data or settings. (If you don't have an admin password then just press Enter.)

You didn't say if you have a dual booting PC with both XP and Puppy installed to the Hard disk or whether you only have XP installed and run Puppy from a USB stick or CD. I suspect the latter but if the former then be aware that the above recovery will probably mess up your dual boot to Puppy in which case you'll need to restore it. Depends on how it was set-up. But a lot quicker than re-installing XP.

FWIW I use XP and Puppy in a multi-boot sysrem and it just works fine. About to install Puppy on an Asus eee as a triple boot just now.

HTH
Dave

[Scoticus]

davesurrey

Many thanks for your post. Strangely enough I had looked at this via a Google search and initially it scared the life out of me.

Having resolved the picture problem I have re-read it and from what you say it now looks a bit clearer.

FYI you were right on your assumption of XP on the HD and Puppy either on CD or USB stick.

I did not change anything and only discovered the problem on the first boot of the day.

If I am right I should use the XP users section in this instance but I wonder how I copy the info over too C. Does this offer up a DOS prompt to copy the info over?

I will give this a try when I get home later tonight and see what happens.

Thanks again

EDIT Followed XP section and everything worked a treat.. Again my sincere thanks to all

[rcrsn51]

Scoticus: Could you provide some details of what repair procedure you used? This would be useful information to other people in your situation.

[cthisbear]

Possible causes:
Windows completed a Service Pack 3 update....remove it.
Loose cable.
faulty cable.
Hard Drive dying
Virus issue = MBR corrupted.

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As stated earlier there are some lousy viruses out there.
I don't know much on the subject of MBR...
but I do know that some of the tools and fixes will go nowhere.

But don't give up hope .
Even booting with the XP CD install disk may not fix
your problems....with MBR.
You may be forced to download the Microsoft supplied
Vista Boot ISO....
and use it to repair the MBR if that is the problem

http://neosmart.net/

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download
Sorry..It is now only a torrent as they got hit
by spammers?
And of course trying to find any Microsoft link
for their own Vista ISO image download....was a joke.


" Microsoft seems to have realized this problem, and have thankfully made a recovery disc for this purpose. It contains the contents of the Windows Vista DVD's "recovery center," as we've come to refer to it. It cannot be used to install or reinstall Windows Vista, and just serves as a Windows PE interface to recovering your PC. Technically, one could re-create this installation media with freely-downloadable media from Microsoft (namely the Microsoft WAIK kit, a multi-gigabyte download); but it's damn-decent of Microsoft to make this available to Windows' users who might not be capable of creating such a thing on their own.

NeoSmart Technologies is hosting a copy of the Windows Vista Recovery Disc for your convenience. It is a 120 MiB download, and in the standard ISO format. "


http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-v ... -download/

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" It displays NTLDR is missing "

Bizarre Fix:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1041847

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" ahh you were very right, one of the cables had come loose slightly
all working fine now, thanks! :) "

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... m?t=815307

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http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... m?t=663583

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http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/?a ... ssing&f=10

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Chris

[Scoticus]

rcrsn51

I followed the link http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm provided by davesurrey and it was one of the numerous pages provided by Google (1 of 230,000). That was why I took one look at the search and ran. It is obvious that this a recurring problem as it took a lot of reading through the page to find the solution as it covered all Doz from 95.

I opted to use the Windows XP details and it was simplicity it's self.

By inserting the Windows CD into the drive and selecting the "R" for repair other than typing into a DOS prompt two lines of text everything else was automatic. Rebooting the system having removed the CD brought everything back to where it was.

cthisbear

I am happy to say that the Repair worked and that it was easy to repair. In this instance it looks like AVG kept me save from any virus issue.

Once again my sincere thanks to all who assisted in resolving both problems.

[davesurrey]

Glad it worked.
Dave

[rcrsn51]

Scoticus: Out of curiosity, what was the total file size of all your photos?

[Scoticus]

rcrsn51

After everything it came to about the 11 GB mark. What I had not been told was that there was a mix of the old and new camera to although there were in excess of 7000 pictures space was not as bad as forecast by some in the forum.