oh god, please help!

[Guest]

I usually don't do this, because I've always been able to fix my own
problems. But this one I can't, someone please help. (Please read the whole
thing, and *don't* jump to conclusions.)

Yesterday my computer was running fine. I bought/installed some half-life
games, along with a program called xfire (for gaming). The computer worked
fine, and I shut it off when I went to bed. Today I came home to find a
recurring error when I started up my computer:

svchost.exe - Application Error
The instruction at [address] referenced memory at [address] . The memory
cannot be "read".

Also, when I managed to get into windows, I got the RPC termination window.
Well, bells went off in my head. I thought I had somehow got the blaster
virus. So I got the removal tools and patches downloaded from another
computer, and tried them. But they didn't work. No viruses were found, and I
already had the patches. After trying various things, I decided to do a
repair installation.

Here's the big problem. The first part the repair installation went well,
but after the reboot I'm at the part of the actual installation, and I keep
getting the svchost errors! Now I'm just frustrated and mad. I can't
understand why I'm still getting those?

Can anyone please, PLEASE help me out? I have some important documents and
files on my harddrive that I really, REALLY, do not want to lose. Is there a
way of fixing this, or am I royally screwed?

 

[Jim Macklin]

system restore


|I usually don't do this, because I've always been able to
fix my own
| problems. But this one I can't, someone please help.
(Please read the whole
| thing, and *don't* jump to conclusions.)
|
| Yesterday my computer was running fine. I bought/installed
some half-life
| games, along with a program called xfire (for gaming). The
computer worked
| fine, and I shut it off when I went to bed. Today I came
home to find a
| recurring error when I started up my computer:
|
| svchost.exe - Application Error
| The instruction at [address] referenced memory at
[address] . The memory
| cannot be "read".
|
| Also, when I managed to get into windows, I got the RPC
termination window.
| Well, bells went off in my head. I thought I had somehow
got the blaster
| virus. So I got the removal tools and patches downloaded
from another
| computer, and tried them. But they didn't work. No viruses
were found, and I
| already had the patches. After trying various things, I
decided to do a
| repair installation.
|
| Here's the big problem. The first part the repair
installation went well,
| but after the reboot I'm at the part of the actual
installation, and I keep
| getting the svchost errors! Now I'm just frustrated and
mad. I can't
| understand why I'm still getting those?
|
| Can anyone please, PLEASE help me out? I have some
important documents and
| files on my harddrive that I really, REALLY, do not want
to lose. Is there a
| way of fixing this, or am I royally screwed?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Since Last Known Good and System Restore are not options, perform a
Repair Installation:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/repaxp.htm

 

[Mary]

Worst case just take out your hard disc and connect it as a slave to
another PC. Copy all your files over to the other system.

That's what I did in a similar situation.

 

[Rock]

I usually don't do this, because I've always been able to fix my own
problems. But this one I can't, someone please help. (Please read the whole
thing, and *don't* jump to conclusions.)

Yesterday my computer was running fine. I bought/installed some half-life
games, along with a program called xfire (for gaming). The computer worked
fine, and I shut it off when I went to bed. Today I came home to find a
recurring error when I started up my computer:

svchost.exe - Application Error
The instruction at [address] referenced memory at [address] . The memory
cannot be "read".

Also, when I managed to get into windows, I got the RPC termination window.
Well, bells went off in my head. I thought I had somehow got the blaster
virus. So I got the removal tools and patches downloaded from another
computer, and tried them. But they didn't work. No viruses were found, and I
already had the patches. After trying various things, I decided to do a
repair installation.

Here's the big problem. The first part the repair installation went well,
but after the reboot I'm at the part of the actual installation, and I keep
getting the svchost errors! Now I'm just frustrated and mad. I can't
understand why I'm still getting those?

Can anyone please, PLEASE help me out? I have some important documents and
files on my harddrive that I really, REALLY, do not want to lose. Is there a
way of fixing this, or am I royally screwed?

Always, always have a current and complete backup. Data loss is not a
matter of if but when. Another option in recovering the data from the
drive is to download a linux distro called Knoppix on another machine
and create burn a Knoppix bootable CD from the .iso file. Get it from
here: http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

Then

1. Boot Knoppix CD

2. In the "quick launch" toolbar you will see what is called the
"Konsole" icon. (Tip: If you hover your cursor over this icon, it will
display as Konsole.) Click on this and it will give you Linux's version
of a command line. (Tip: As with Windows NT platforms, you need to be
logged in as a user with administrative privileges to perform certain
tasks. In Linux, this is referred to as ROOT.) Okay, so we have the
Konsole window open. You will notice that you're showing up as a Knoppix
user. You need to type "SU root" without the quotes so that you can gain
administrative privileges. After this, minimize the shell to get it out
of your way for a moment. Now you are in a position to browse into the
hard drive that has an icon already displayed on the desktop.

3. Locate the folder(s) that you wish to back up. Now get back to the
shell that you had minimized and type "k3b" without the quotes. This
activates a a CD burning program called k3b which is included with
Knoppix Linux. With the program open, click file, new project, new data
project. All right, still with me? Okay, drag the folder(s) that you
wish to back up into the current projects area of the program. After
that, goto project, then select burn. A new window opens up and you are
almost ready to start the CD burning process.

In the new window, you need to make sure that the burn speed is set
correctly for the CDR that you are using. (Tip: If you are using a CDRW,
go to the tab marked "Settings" and make sure that "Start multi-session"
is selected.) All right, just click the "write" button and the CD
burning will now commence.

Once the CD has been written, close all of the windows. Click the big
"K" in the lower left corner and log off. After this, just follow the
prompts.

 

[CWatters]

Data loss is not a matter of if but when.

Very true. I've had two hard drives fail completely without warning in the
past 4 years.