We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start succ

H

hedge15

I am running XP media center - I had no viruses and everything is scanned
daily. Yesterday I left my laptop only to return to the below...No new
software or hardware changes were made and no viruses or malware showed on my
daily scan this week...

When Windows XP tries to load, I get the following message: "We apologize
for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent
hardware or software change might have caused this." My options are:
Start in safe mode.
Safe mode with networking.
Safe mode with command prompt.
Last known good configuration setting (most recent setting that worked).
Start Windows normally.

The only discs I have are the system recovery disc, the application and
driver recovery dvd and a full copy of an OLD version of XP - I NEED TO SAVE
THE DATA ON THIS HARD DRIVE - I cant lose it and reformat. I used the system
recovery disc, then when it asked I canceled out of the disc and it self
started chkdsk - 8 of 8 segments unreadable - index $130 file 31 being fixed.

I CANT boot in any of the safe modes or to a previous config. No matter
what option I pick, it just loops back to the page with the "We apologize for
the inconvenience, but.." options.

A few questions..
1- If I got a full copy of the XP Media center could I boot off it and
repair the hd without losing my data?

2- OR could I use the old version of regular XP (not the XP Media Center I
am using) to do this?

3 -Or finally. if I pull the hard drive and put it in an external USB case,
is it possible to view and copy my files to another pc booted off another HD?

Thank you for all your help.
 
M

Malke

hedge15 said:
I am running XP media center - I had no viruses and everything is scanned
daily. Yesterday I left my laptop only to return to the below...No new
software or hardware changes were made and no viruses or malware showed on
my daily scan this week...

When Windows XP tries to load, I get the following message: "We apologize
for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent
hardware or software change might have caused this." My options are:
Start in safe mode.
Safe mode with networking.
Safe mode with command prompt.
Last known good configuration setting (most recent setting that worked).
Start Windows normally.

The only discs I have are the system recovery disc, the application and
driver recovery dvd and a full copy of an OLD version of XP - I NEED TO
SAVE
THE DATA ON THIS HARD DRIVE - I cant lose it and reformat. I used the
system
recovery disc, then when it asked I canceled out of the disc and it self
started chkdsk - 8 of 8 segments unreadable - index $130 file 31 being
fixed.

I CANT boot in any of the safe modes or to a previous config. No matter
what option I pick, it just loops back to the page with the "We apologize
for the inconvenience, but.." options.

A few questions..
1- If I got a full copy of the XP Media center could I boot off it and
repair the hd without losing my data?

2- OR could I use the old version of regular XP (not the XP Media Center I
am using) to do this?

3 -Or finally. if I pull the hard drive and put it in an external USB
case, is it possible to view and copy my files to another pc booted off
another HD?
Click to expand...

Thank you for the very detailed post. The very first thing you need to do is
your #3 - pull the hard drive and get your data off. Forget your #1 and #2.
If the hard drive is viable (not physically damaged), you will be able to
copy your files easily. When this is over, create and implement a backup
strategy because Stuff Always Happens. An external hard drive and Acronis
True Image is a good solution.

The next thing I would do is to test the hardware, starting with the hard
drive. There is no point in trying software solutions (reinstalling
Windows) onto bad hardware.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If any hardware is bad, replace it and restore to factory condition using
the recovery DVD.

Malke
 
H

hedge15

I will do that tonight. Thanks Malke.



Malke said:
Thank you for the very detailed post. The very first thing you need to do is
your #3 - pull the hard drive and get your data off. Forget your #1 and #2.
If the hard drive is viable (not physically damaged), you will be able to
copy your files easily. When this is over, create and implement a backup
strategy because Stuff Always Happens. An external hard drive and Acronis
True Image is a good solution.

The next thing I would do is to test the hardware, starting with the hard
drive. There is no point in trying software solutions (reinstalling
Windows) onto bad hardware.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If any hardware is bad, replace it and restore to factory condition using
the recovery DVD.

Malke
Click to expand...
 
H

hedge15

I pulled the aforementioned hard drive and tried to view the files using an
external drive case on a windows XP Pro and Windows XP Media Center PC - both
times I got the message saying the HD had not been formatted.

I need the data on this drive. I could either buy an XP Media Center disc
and see if I can boot off of it and rescure the data, pay $700 for a
professional firm to try and rip the data off (only got 1 quote but it seemed
absurdly high) or....well thats all I have.

Anyone with any ideas please, help would be very greatly appreciated.

hedge15
 
H

hedge15

If I made a Recovery Console cd off my other pc running the same O/S, would
that help without risking the data on the damaged system? Thanks everyone.
 
M

Malke

hedge15 said:
I pulled the aforementioned hard drive and tried to view the files using
an external drive case on a windows XP Pro and Windows XP Media Center PC
- both times I got the message saying the HD had not been formatted.

I need the data on this drive. I could either buy an XP Media Center disc
and see if I can boot off of it and rescure the data, pay $700 for a
professional firm to try and rip the data off (only got 1 quote but it
seemed absurdly high) or....well thats all I have.
Click to expand...

Don't have backups? Then you are stuck either using data recovery software -
WHICH WILL ONLY WORK IF THE DRIVE IS PHYSICALLY VIABLE - or sending it to a
professional data recovery company. The $700 quote is low, so make sure you
are speaking to a well-known company. My preference is to use DriveSavers
(www.drivesavers.com) and their prices range from $500 on up. The last job
they did for a client of mine cost $3,200.

After this is over, create and implement a backup strategy because hard
drives fail. This is a fact of life.

Here is general information about data recovery:

*IMPORTANT* - If there is any question that the drive is at fault - it's
making noises for instance - and the data is crucial DO NOTHING FURTHER ON
THE DRIVE. Every time you spin that drive up you may be destroying data. If
this is the case, send the drive to a professional data recovery company
like Drive Savers (my preference). General prices run from $500USD on up. I
understand that some insurance companies are now covering data recovery
charges so check with yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com

*IMPORTANT* - If you think the drive is physically healthy, it may be
possible to retrieve the data by software methods. DO NOTHING FURTHER ON
THE DRIVE. The data is still on the hard drive but if you overwrite it, it
will be extremely difficult or impossible to recover it. If you use data
recovery software, install it on another machine and either use it from
that operating system or create a bootable cd/floppy and work with that. If
you don't have the skill and/or equipment to do these procedures and the
data is crucial, take the machine to a professional computer repair shop
that has experience in doing data recovery. This will not be your local
version of BigStoreUSA. In-shop data recovery is usually not exactly cheap
(for ex., my charges are generally $150-350USD), but it normally costs less
than sending the drive to a company like Drive Savers. You need to make the
determination of the value of your data and decide what to do.

If you have an imaging program like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost, it
is wise to image the drive first before working on it. That way if things
get messed up, you can at least get back to where you were.

Since you have already pulled the drive and do not see data on it, either
the drive has failed or the partition table is messed up. This means you
can try running data recovery software on it IF THE DRIVE IS PHYSICALLY
VIABLE. Here are some links to various programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro,
but it is expensive. People whom I respect have recommended R-Studio and
Restoration. YMMV.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software ?Undelete? -
http://www.undelete.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/

Malke
 
J

John John (MVP)

Getting a message stating that the drive is not formatted usually
indicates that the boot sector has been lost or damaged and that the
partition has reverted to a RAW state. There are recovery utilities
that can repair the boot sector or recover files on RAW drives, but if
your data is truly valuable it may be best to seek help form a
professional data recovery firm. If you want to try to recover the
files yourself it would be prudent to clone the drive and work on the
clone, that way if your recovery efforts fail you will still have the
original drive to entrust to data recovery professionals.

If you want to try the recovery you can try this:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

John
 
R

Randem

Ok, do this Google for the Linux System Rescue CD. Run testdisk (there is
also a version for windows out there) Let testdisk scan your disk to rebuild
the partition. You can also view and copy the file from the NTFS partition
with one of the utilities from the CD.

If this CD can see and recover the partition then you should be fine for
getting your data from it. If not then you have a second option. There are
data recovery tools out there that can recover most of your data. You would
need to do a soft format on the drive then run the recovery tool to find and
rebuild the data. I use a utility named Recover My Files with success for my
customers with problems such as yours.

--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org
 
R

Rockingham500

I am running XP media center - I had no viruses and everything is scanned
daily.  Yesterday I left my laptop only to return to the below...No new
software or hardware changes were made and no viruses or malware showed on my
daily scan this week...

When Windows XP tries to load, I get the following message: "We apologize
for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent
hardware or software change might have caused this." My options are:
Start in safe mode.
Safe mode with networking.
Safe mode with command prompt.
Last known good configuration setting (most recent setting that worked).
Start Windows normally.

The only discs I have are the system recovery disc, the application and
driver recovery dvd and a full copy of an OLD version of XP - I NEED TO SAVE
THE DATA ON THIS HARD DRIVE - I cant lose it and reformat.  I used the system
recovery disc, then when it asked I  canceled out of the disc and it self
started chkdsk - 8 of 8 segments unreadable - index $130 file 31 being fixed.

I CANT boot in any of the safe modes or to a previous config.  No matter
what option I pick, it just loops back to the page with the "We apologizefor
the inconvenience, but.." options.  

A few questions..
1- If I got a full copy of the XP Media center could I boot off it and
repair the hd without losing my data?  

2- OR could I use the old version of regular XP (not the XP Media Center I
am using) to do this?  

3 -Or finally. if I pull the hard drive and put it in an external USB case,
is it possible to view and copy my files to another pc booted off anotherHD?

Thank you for all your help.
Click to expand...

If you need a file and folder recovery program... that will also clone
your drive (as has been suggested) then File Restore Professional does
both. I hope it helps. You can download it here: www.pcrecovery.com
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. 2
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not startsuccessfully. 4
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start..." 6
"We apologize for the incoveniece, but" 6
Windows XP did not start successfully 10
We apologize for the inconvience, but Windows did not start sucessfully 6
'Windows did not start successfully'... why? 4
Computer keeps looping the start up screen HELP!! 7

Top