XP Login Problem

[Guest]

I own a SONY VAIO desktop. Pentium 4 about 5 yrs old. It is a great
computer. When it was new the XP software crashed. I used the restore CD
and it only restored XP, not any of the software it comes with.

five days ago, when I turned on my computer it asked for an administrator's
password, I never set one. It would not let me log in. So about 1 hr. ago
I tried the restore CD again and this time it erased all my filed on the C
partition, it did not touch or change the D partition. I need to recover the
files from that C partition. Is there any way to undo the restoration? Is
there anyway to recover the old settings. I do not think it was hacked or
hit by a virus (I am the only user of the system, I had Norton Corporate
running, I am invisible on the net, and my system in not on a network). My
brother in law is an IT tech at a local company, I can ask him for help if I
cannot perform your instructions.

Please help.

Thanks for your reply and assistance.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I own a SONY VAIO desktop. Pentium 4 about 5 yrs old. It is a great
computer. When it was new the XP software crashed. I used the restore CD
and it only restored XP, not any of the software it comes with.

five days ago, when I turned on my computer it asked for an
administrator's
password, I never set one. It would not let me log in. So about 1 hr.
ago
I tried the restore CD again and this time it erased all my filed on the C
partition, it did not touch or change the D partition. I need to recover
the
files from that C partition. Is there any way to undo the restoration?
Is
there anyway to recover the old settings. I do not think it was hacked or
hit by a virus (I am the only user of the system, I had Norton Corporate
running, I am invisible on the net, and my system in not on a network).
My
brother in law is an IT tech at a local company, I can ask him for help if
I
cannot perform your instructions.

Please help.

Thanks for your reply and assistance.

Have a look at the folder "C:\Documents and Settings". What folders
can you see in there?

If you cannot see a folder that corresponds to your previous login
name then the restore CD you used was of a type that is totally
destructive. Your chances of recovering any files are very slim -
ask a service that specialises on data recovery to assist you.

To put your computing activities on a more robust foundation
you should adopt the following principles in future:

a) Accounts. How many sets of keys do you have for your car?
More than one? Why? How many admin accounts do you have
for Windows? Just the one? Why?

b) Passwords. Every account has a password, even if it is a blank.
Make a note of them on a sheet of paper that you keep in a safe
place.

c) Backups. Important files must reside on at least two independent
media. They must be backed up regularly, e.g. weekly, and most
certainly before a major change such as a repair effort. A 2.5" disk
in an external USB case is a low-cost but excellent backup medium.
You must keep it well away from your laptop most of the time.

d) Backup Check. Check your backups immediately after setting
up the backup scheme, then twice each year. We hear lots of sob
stories about backups that failed to deliver when the crunch comes.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I own a SONY VAIO desktop. Pentium 4 about 5 yrs old. It is a great
computer. When it was new the XP software crashed. I used the restore CD
and it only restored XP, not any of the software it comes with.

Doesn't sound right to me. Using such a disk almost always returns
the system to the same configuration it was in when you bought it...
maybe you had very little new items on the drive at the time so you
didn't notice they were overwritten?

five days ago, when I turned on my computer it asked for an administrator's
password, I never set one. It would not let me log in. So about 1 hr. ago
I tried the restore CD again and this time it erased all my filed on the C
partition, it did not touch or change the D partition. I need to recover the
files from that C partition.

Can't be done. If you had merely formatted the partition, then there
would have been a way to recover it, but lacking any backup, you're
stuck.

 

[Ron Badour]

Regarding the files on C: drive. Do not use the PC until such time that the
files are recovered or else you take the chance of overwriting them. You
will need recovery software that can recover files from a formatted
partition. There are several available models--this one works great:
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/

I would hook the problem drive into another PC that has the recovery program
installed on it and then recover the files to that PC. Once the recovery is
complete, you can go ahead and restore XP to the problem PC.

 

[mark.d.mars]

To recover your data and partition you can take the help of Stellar
Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software a file and partition recovery
utility it helps to recover data from formatted hard drive or data
lost occur due to software malfunction, viruses or even sabotage.
What you can do, just download the demo version of this partition
recovery utility from http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm
, scan your hard drive by attaching as a slave and running the
recovery software on different machine. Scan result will show you the
preview of your lost data. If you can see your data through demo then
can save them by getting the full version.

 

[Malke]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

spammer


Malke