XP media center reinstall didn't complete, now what do I do?!

[Guest]

XP media center reinstall didn't complete, now what do I do?! I have a 1 year
old Dell XPS600 that came with Windows Media Center pre-installed. I tried
reinstalling Windows Media from the cd-rom supplied, but it didn’t complete.
There were about 50 files that couldn’t be found and now all I get is a blue
screen with the error message “Stop: c0000221 {bad image checksum} The image
ntvdm.exe is possibly corruptâ€. What do I do now? TIA

 

[Rock]

XP media center reinstall didn't complete, now what do I do?! I have a 1
year
old Dell XPS600 that came with Windows Media Center pre-installed. I tried
reinstalling Windows Media from the cd-rom supplied, but it didn’t
complete.
There were about 50 files that couldn’t be found and now all I get is a
blue
screen with the error message “Stop: c0000221 {bad image checksum} The
image
ntvdm.exe is possibly corruptâ€. What do I do now? TIA

This could be due to a bad/damaged CD, dirty CD reader, problems with memory
or the hard drive. Why were you trying to reinstall in the first place?
Also have you contacted Dell tech support?

 

[Guest]

I recently installed a tv tuner that was not compatible with wmc. I
uninstalled it, purchased the correct WinTV PVR 150, but this wouldn’t work
properly. I was told by Haupaugh to reinstall xp. I’ve run the diagnostics in
setup and everything passed. Now my concern is recovering my files. Is there
a way I can do this? I have a Windows XP Pro disk that I intended to install
in a different partition, but I get a message saying I’m already in the
process of upgrading Windows, do I want to continue? I also have a portable
hard drive with Windows installed connected to this pc.. Can I somehow boot
off of it and save my files, then clean install XP Pro? Dell support has
provided no help at this point. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Rock]

I recently installed a tv tuner that was not compatible with wmc. I
uninstalled it, purchased the correct WinTV PVR 150, but this wouldn’t
work
properly. I was told by Haupaugh to reinstall xp. I’ve run the diagnostics
in
setup and everything passed. Now my concern is recovering my files. Is
there
a way I can do this? I have a Windows XP Pro disk that I intended to
install
in a different partition, but I get a message saying I’m already in the
process of upgrading Windows, do I want to continue? I also have a
portable
hard drive with Windows installed connected to this pc.. Can I somehow
boot
off of it and save my files, then clean install XP Pro? Dell support has
provided no help at this point. Thanks for your reply!

It's a good idea to backup files. Of course you should not be in the
position of needing to do this now. It should have been done before trying
the recovery, and having a full and complete backup at _all_ times is
essential.

There are several options open to you for this. One is to put the drive as
a slave drive in another XP or Windows 2000 computer and copy the important
data.

Another option, if the computer has two CD drives one of which is a burner,
or one CD and you have a thumb drive with enough capacity to hold all the
backed up data, is to download a Linux distro called Knoppix. This will
create a bootable CD. Boot from it and copy the data to the thumb drive or
burn it to CD. If you want more info on how to do this in Linux post back
and maybe Malke will see it and respond.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Rock… I deserve the reprimand! I have been under the false impression
that I have been backing up my data to this portable hard drive on a regular
basis, but when I hooked it up to this other computer I’m using now (its
Iomega software installed), nothing could be read. Arrrrgh… Of the two
choices you gave me, the second one sounds like the easier/better one to me.
Agreed? I will search for instructions on how to do this. I have one other
question before attempting this method… since the pc is telling me that I am
already in the process of updating Windows, would purchasing a new xp wmc (I
only have the reinstall version that came with my Dell) allow me to complete
the update? Thanks again!

 

[Malke]

Thanks Rock… I deserve the reprimand! I have been under the false
impression that I have been backing up my data to this portable hard
drive on a regular basis, but when I hooked it up to this other
computer I’m using now (its Iomega software installed), nothing could
be read. Arrrrgh… Of the two choices you gave me, the second one
sounds like the easier/better one to me. Agreed? I will search for
instructions on how to do this. I have one other question before
attempting this method… since the pc is telling me that I am already
in the process of updating Windows, would purchasing a new xp wmc (I
only have the reinstall version that came with my Dell) allow me to
complete the update? Thanks again!

Here are various ways to get your data. After you've got the data off,
just do a clean install of Windows. Delete the System partition during
the clean install.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand

*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.

So, here are some things to try to recover your data:

1. Pull the drive and slave it in a computer running a working install
of XP. You may need a drive adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE/SATA. A usb
drive enclosure works well. Depending on the target drive's
characteristics, you may need a drive adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE or a
SATA controller card, etc. Use the working Windows Explorer to copy the
data to the rescue system's hard drive. Often XP will not boot with a
slaved drive that has a damaged file system. In that case, boot your
rescue system with a Bart's PE or Knoppix cd.

2. Boot the target computer with either a Bart's PE or a Linux live cd
such as Knoppix and retrieve the data that way. Here is general
information on using Knoppix for this:

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw
OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an
external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get
Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your
bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows
files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or the external hard drive,
right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties and
uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it.
Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by
Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS
Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning program to burn
the files to cd/dvd-r's.

http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder

3. If a Bart's PE or Knoppix won't work, you can try using data recovery
software. 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.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
BadCopy Pro (CD recovery) -
http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/cdrecover.asp?rid=google&kid=gccr0205
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/

Malke

 

[Guest]

You found me! I feel like I just broke the surface and gulped air! I believe
I have a healthy drive... ran the utility in setup and everything passed.
What are the software methods I can try? And if this doesn’t work, is there a
way I can use the Knoppix disk without pulling the drive? Your paragraph “You
will need a computer with two cd drives…†sounds like I don’t have to. Am I
not understanding it? Thanks… I have hope!

 

[Malke]

You found me! I feel like I just broke the surface and gulped air! I
believe I have a healthy drive... ran the utility in setup and
everything passed. What are the software methods I can try? And if
this doesn’t work, is there a way I can use the Knoppix disk without
pulling the drive? Your paragraph “You will need a computer with two
cd drives…†sounds like I don’t have to. Am I not understanding it?
Thanks… I have hope!

Take a deep cleansing breath and read my post again. I already answered
the questions you are asking.

Malke

 

[Rock]

Thanks Rock… I deserve the reprimand! I have been under the false
impression
that I have been backing up my data to this portable hard drive on a
regular
basis, but when I hooked it up to this other computer I’m using now (its
Iomega software installed), nothing could be read. Arrrrgh… Of the two
choices you gave me, the second one sounds like the easier/better one to
me.
Agreed? I will search for instructions on how to do this. I have one other
question before attempting this method… since the pc is telling me that I
am
already in the process of updating Windows, would purchasing a new xp wmc
(I
only have the reinstall version that came with my Dell) allow me to
complete
the update? Thanks again!

Great, I see Malke replied with the info about using Knoppix. Good luck.