xp crash

[bubbazan68]

i was instaling a game xp froze and i had to restart
but now i cant run windows meida player says not isnstaled properly and it wont down load it and install
also i cant do a system restore to an older date ?? any ideas??? thanks

[ECA]

What was the program(name, game, Utility), where did you get it(store, friend, Net), and in what format...A download, CD/DVD what??

[bubbazan68]

call of duty CD/ROM store

[ECA]

1. How long sence last insall of XP, What updates?(everything??)
2. ODD's are there was a bot on the system, and it corrupted when you installed.
3. There is ALWAYS a warning about running programs, it IS IMPORTANT. How many Icons you got on the bottom Right?

I TRY to keep things from running UNTIL after Win, has loaded...Yahoo IM, NEVER runs until I have win up...OPEN each of them and in options, TELL them, NOT TO LOAD at startup... AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, should NOT be more then 3-4 progs there INCLUDING Anti virus and ANTI bot, Internet LAN and sound controller. IF you have OTHERS, TURN THEM OFF. It will startup so fast, you will be amazed.

I will consider THAT you have a decent AV and Anti bot programs... OTHERWISE I will send you THERE/that section to get a cure.

[bubbazan68]

ok it crashed after i did a HP system restore it went to the
" bad hal.dll"
no load and i finly got it to go to the restore again i did a restore that was suposed to
leave my files in place doc's ect and now half are gone any way to get them back or am i SOL??

[ECA]

OK, I want you to listen CLOSELY.
WHEn I get a LARGE drive, I will setup MORE then 1 partition.
WHY?? because I Download, and SET programs on the OTHER partitions. If I have a 100 GIG + hard drive I will have AT LEAST 3 Partitions...
WHY??
1 for the programs to be loaded on, and the NEXT one, for Music, pics and so forth...
When I have a BIG BIG drive, I can have 40GIGS PER partition, so that could be 6+ partitions..WHY!!??

BECAUSE, IF the C:\ goes BY- BY, IT IS MUCH easier to KILL C:\ and reload. AND ALL those extra PARTITIONS are still THERE. INCLUDING Download, in 1, Pic on another MOVIES on another, AND loaded PROGS on another..MAy have to reload ALOT of progs, but it isnt BAD.

BEST BET...KILL it and start over.
Second BET, try to recover in DOS basic, and GET THE STUFF OFF THE MACHINE.
3rd... you can try a recover program, IF you wish to pay money to do it, and a VIRUS STILL killed it. WONT bring back WIN OS, but DISK OS, might find it and get you a chance to recover DATA...DATA ONLY. NOT progs unless they are in ZIP or other ways SOMEPLACE on the machine, NOT INSTALLED.

[Ioman]

hmm something is not right here. Everything is failing for you. Time to backup your data and reinstall your system. Make sure to open your case and blow all of the dust out of there too, see if that helps.

[bubbazan68]

ok i recoverd the data and files BUT
the files are still there
i do a dischk
and it shows the files in
DOCUME~1/owner
but i cant find that file and it wont let me reformat drive C

[ECA]

If this is win2000 or XP, you must Boot from the CD. They will not let you format the drive otherwise..

excuse us, as we dont know what you got, or your knowledge base.

If you need to, you MAY need to set a recovery disk, or find a NTFSDOS boot disk to format the system. It will ATLEAST screw up things enough to boot to the CD, and let you format.

If booting to the CD seems not to work, its like something wrote to the boot sector to stop this. NTFSDOs may be your best bet.

1. suggestion after you recover, is to goto system and internet properties, and set the START page to google.com...NO PLACE ELSE. This is a safe location. any other place and you will probably get TONS of virus and bots, including MSN(BAD PLACE).

2. use IE and goto Winupdates...Do express, and load up FAST, then hit Majorgeeks.com, and get AV and anti bot software.
AVG, Spywareblaster, Spybot, Adaware arer the ones I suggest.
Update, reset, and RUN ALL of them...You WILL find CRAP on the system.

3. install what you need. STAY AWAY from..
tool bars.
P2p programs...ALL of them.