Windows xp pro, I went the disk defragment tool and I
noticed that I had 2 very large red areas on the disk and
in one day I have used 30gb. I ran chkdisk and no problem.
I called dell tech support to see if my hard drive is dying
and now I can't get back to my desk top. Been at the
recovery console and still no way back. Tech says it is
not my hard drive but a virus. I checked for viruses last
night and there were none and my defintions are up to date.
Is there any way for me to get back to my desktop? If I
try to go to my desktop the machine will just reboot and
reboot. Virus or bad hard drive?
...


..

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 13:06:46 -0800, Debra wrote:

> Windows xp pro, I went the disk defragment tool and I
> noticed that I had 2 very large red areas on the disk and
> in one day I have used 30gb. I ran chkdisk and no problem.
> I called dell tech support to see if my hard drive is dying
> and now I can't get back to my desk top. Been at the
> recovery console and still no way back. Tech says it is
> not my hard drive but a virus. I checked for viruses last
> night and there were none and my defintions are up to date.
> Is there any way for me to get back to my desktop? If I
> try to go to my desktop the machine will just reboot and
> reboot. Virus or bad hard drive?
> ..
>
> .

Red means files are fragmented, not infected. Depending on your usage, this
could be perfectly normal. Run the disk defragmenter to reduce the red.

Unless you were doing something unusual that would create many files
amounting to 30GB, the disappearance of drive space is a little
disconcerting. May want to try using advanced options in search to find out
what recent files have been added to the system (base search on date that
the 30GB disappeared).

--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows XP Shell/User

"Debra" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:037e01c3d0ab$2a924580$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Windows xp pro, I went the disk defragment tool and I
> noticed that I had 2 very large red areas on the disk and
> in one day I have used 30gb. I ran chkdisk and no problem.
> I called dell tech support to see if my hard drive is dying
> and now I can't get back to my desk top. Been at the
> recovery console and still no way back. Tech says it is
> not my hard drive but a virus. I checked for viruses last
> night and there were none and my defintions are up to date.
> Is there any way for me to get back to my desktop? If I
> try to go to my desktop the machine will just reboot and
> reboot. Virus or bad hard drive?

Virus. I would guess MSBlaster worm. Is there any message just before the
reboot? You can d/l removal tools at
http://securityresponse.symantec.com...ools.list.html There are so
many one can not keep track.

I can't get to my desk top the machine reboots and reboots.
What I want to do is get 3 files that I was working on.
Also I want to run a full test on the drive.
>-----Original Message-----
>On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 13:06:46 -0800, Debra wrote:
>
>> Windows xp pro, I went the disk defragment tool and I
>> noticed that I had 2 very large red areas on the disk
and
>> in one day I have used 30gb. I ran chkdisk and no
problem.
>> I called dell tech support to see if my hard drive is
dying
>> and now I can't get back to my desk top. Been at the
>> recovery console and still no way back. Tech says it is
>> not my hard drive but a virus. I checked for viruses
last
>> night and there were none and my defintions are up to
date.
>> Is there any way for me to get back to my desktop? If I
>> try to go to my desktop the machine will just reboot
and
>> reboot. Virus or bad hard drive?
>> ..
>>
>> .
>
>Red means files are fragmented, not infected. Depending
on your usage, this
>could be perfectly normal. Run the disk defragmenter to
reduce the red.
>
>Unless you were doing something unusual that would create
many files
>amounting to 30GB, the disappearance of drive space is a
little
>disconcerting. May want to try using advanced options in
search to find out
>what recent files have been added to the system (base
search on date that
>the 30GB disappeared).
>
>--
>Sharon F
>MS MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
>.
>

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004 17:18:29 -0800, <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> I can't get to my desk top the machine reboots and reboots.
> What I want to do is get 3 files that I was working on.
> Also I want to run a full test on the drive.

I saw your thread in the basics newsgroup where you included this extra
info about being stuck. Suggest that you stick with that thread over there
so that the history of the problem, suggestions and so on are all in one
place.

Suggestions I will add here:

**Unfortunately, there is no good way to get those 3 files through the
recovery console. Unless you take steps ahead of time, access to files and
folders is very limited from this interface. If your troubleshooting
efforts go nowhere, you might might want to try a repair install.
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;315341

NOTE: The above article applies to retail CD or a generic OEM CD. If your
Windows came preinstalled and your recovery media has been customized by
the manufacturer, check your system manual for restore/repair options and
for directions.

**One of the default settings in XP is to reboot if there is an error. If
you have this setting enabled and have a startup problem, you can get stuck
in restart loop. Try booting to safe mode and turning that off. This won't
get rid of the error but should present a blue screen message that you can
research to start troubleshooting.

**If you are at all handy at the recovery console, you may want to review
what services are currently scheduled to run at startup. If you find an
unfamiliar one, disable it via the recovery console. (I had to do this when
I tried the free AVG program. My system hated it and would not start
normally). After disabling, you may be able to boot normally or at least to
Safe Mode.

--
Sharon F
MS MVP - Windows XP Shell/User