Me thinks me broke me computer.

[gn85]

Hey all,

I was just doing a virus check and sure enough it found something on there and asked if I want it cleaned off. Naturally I said yes and that's when the problems erupted. To make a long story short, right now the computer can not even start up Win98. When it does, it goes into Safe Mode and doesn't even start up fully. Keeps saying a program is performing an illegal operations. Boy do I love Windows.

At any rate, I have several problems right now. The computer is very old and slow and not worth the trouble of repairs. I'm fairly certain that all the data on the hard drive is still intact. I don't think it's wiped it out. But I need advice on how to do the following. (unique problems)

1. How can I transfer the actual data (files, music, applications) from this hard drive to another?? I was thinking of building a computer and seeing if I could use this hard drive as a slave and transfer that way. Mind you, I'm a NOVICE at computers and building a computer will be a first for me.

2. I'm looking to build a computer or buy a computer if I come across a decent deal. One strange problem. Chances are, I will get a computer with WinXP. Is it possible to change the language in which XP operates entirely?? Chances are it will be in German if bought here. Also, which version is the best first (home, office, etc)?

Once again, I'm a novice so super complicated terminology will fly right over my head. But I certainly do appreciate the responses.

BTW, I'm on my laptop now which only has Win95 and is even SLOWER. I use this for t-link and basic computing needs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[John Larkin]

I'm a computer idiot and I was taught how to transfer files from one HDD to another. It's easier than you think. On your new computer, power it down, remove side case cover and see if it has 2 gray ribbon cables coming from the motherboard. One should be going to its HDD and the other should be going to the floppy and CD (this is how mine is anyhow). If you're on carpet, touch the computer case on the metal frame work for 5 seconds to ground yourself. Unplug the one going to both floppy/CD and plug the end of that cable into your old HDD. Your old HDD should be in contact with the computer case to avoid static spark. Don't worry about the master/slave thing. Remember: one HDD per cable, nothing else on either cable but a HDD. Find an extra power connector on the computer's wiring harness inside to power the old HDD you just connected. Then power up your computer. When you go to my computer, you should see both HDDs listed. Then it's only a matter of copy/paste the files from one drive to the other. Open a window for each drive and it's easy to just go back and forth.

Zeig heil!

 

[turbojimmy]

You can change the default langauge in Windows XP. You go to My Computer => Control Panel => Date, Time, Language, and Regional options.

Since your machine is even trying to boot up that means the drive is readable. I'd try to restore the OS before buying a new machine. If you can get into Safe Mode you're close. If you can get it to do anything in Safe Mode, choose start => run and type in "SFC". That's the system file checker. It will scan for damaged or changed system files. You'll need your Win98 CD to restore any bad files it finds.

If you do get a new machine, it would be easy to set the "bad" drive up as a slave. It's pretty much plug and play except for jumpers that need changed to tell the machine that the second drive is a slave rather than a boot drive. I'd worry, though, that whatever the problem with the drive is, that it would infect your new machine.

Good luck,
Jim

 

[irockwithdirt]

Just a thought.......... although old, if you've had windows 98 installed for a long time on your old puter, a fresh copy of windows will be like night and day.

You could either pick up a cheap hard drive on ebay for a couple bucks (or a new good one for your future new computer), put it in your old computer, install a fresh copy of 98 on it, set you old hard drive as a slave, then transfer your data to that.

This would buy you time to research exactly what you want to build.

Just a thought

P.S. You might want to consider Windows 2000 Professional, all the advantages of XP without all the crap

 

[gn85]

Thank you very much for the replies. This is very re-assuring news. I know that with it being able to make it to safe-mode is a good sign, but I do not actually get it to fully start up in safe mode. I just get the screen that says safe-mode and the background picture. Beyond that. Screwed.

Right now, I'm going out to the computer stores and taking a look at newer systems and/or possibly building my first.

Thanks again for the quick replies.

 

[Buick From Hell]

As for the old computer, what probably has happened is that the virus affected some system files, which the virus repair tool removed--and now Window's won't load...

so just re-install windows 98! (it won't affect any of your existing files)


For copying from drive to drive, someone on the board awhile back e-mailed me a copy of Norton's "ghost" (I think it's called), which is a program made to duplicate your drive's contents to another drive! I used it when I changed a 4-gig to a 40-gig, and then used the 4-gig to replace a 1.2 gig...anyway, it worked like a charm!

(PS, if you buy a new drive, it should have it's own "ghost" program)

 

[gn85]

UPDATE!

Once again, thanks for the help!

I forgot to mention that I don't have the CD for Win98. So I caved in and bought a few items to build a computer.

I had been reading how to do this for a long time and decided what the heck. I've gone diving into projects with the Buick, why not build a computer. As I said before, this computer was old, 333mhz, if I remember right. So I figured by doing this I could have something fresh, retrieve my data from the old hard drive as a slave drive, have a clean system with a good virus protection on it and a nice size hard drive (80gig vs 8gig).

Well, after several hours of tearing up my living room with parts everywhere I brought my new creation to my desk and hooked it up. And I'll be darn.. IT WORKS!! Plugged Windows XP in and everything. LIKE A CHARM! Unfortunately, my IDE cables that I had weren't long enough to hook up the slave drive the way I wanted to, so I'll wait until Monday to buy the correct cable. But so far I'm pleased!

Only one problem. I've tried all I can think of... gone into the preferences section and tried to change the language but it's STILL SPEAKING GERMAN!!! If anybody knows of any other fix short of buying another WINXP from the USA, please let me know.

I can't say it enough, but I'll say it one more time... thanks to all those on this thread who helped me in my time of computer misery.