It's not looking ood guys.

1. I can't remember how to get one of my programmes to work, I can't
remember a file name and where it sits!.

2. Same with ftp, something I've missed, but I just don't seem tobe able to
get 'list' and 'upload', seems to login.

So I am a bit stumped atm :-(

Tried the reboot from XP CD ROM, but didn't fix the problem, I was
desperate just to get in to find out what files and names I'm looking for.

SO let it be a warning to you all, check that you realy are backed up
properly, as I thought I was! Any bits of software that have serial
numbers, keys and codes, make sure you have them safe.

I'll fight again tomorrow, but I'm begining to loose heart atm.

Regards

Keith (Southend)

"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message
...
It's not looking ood guys.


I'll fight again tomorrow, but I'm begining to loose heart atm.

Regards


.... don't lose heart! I'm not computer-literate enough to help you out
of this I'm afraid, but there are an awful lot of people in this
newsgroup who are - they'll be waking up later and no doubt more good
suggestions will flow. (I have to depend upon my adult son - who is not
living with us atm, so if I got a similar problem, I'd be screaming too!
As you say, I'll be backing-up my files later today to a CD just in
case.

Keep going mate!

Martin.

"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message ...
Thanks Andrew for the offer. I'm always worried about these situation as I
am a user of computers, but when one goes tits-up! and haven't a clue where
to start. I should be able to get something running on this old pc tomorrow
evening/Saturday, but as for the main one I don't know.

Basically, I switch power on, it starts WindowsXP, then as it starts the
loading scroll a blue flash and starts to reboot again. Initially it
started with the power going off every few minutes.
One message it did come up with was:

Windows could not start because the fo;;owing file is missing or corrupt:
System22\Drivers\Ntfs.sys

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the
original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

I don't know how to get to that file off the CD, tried safe mode but didn't
mean much to me.

Any suggestions or ideas of what maybe the problem I would be interested to
know.

Unfortunately my best hope for help is away atm, so it maybe later next
week before I can get this fixed.

Many thanks

Keith (Southend)

One of the biggest computer forums in the UK is called teh.forum (I
think. They kept changing addies when they all moved from
Delphiforums.) There is no end of useful stuff and useless chat on
there. C/Net or Ziff Davis's sites will get you loads of other similar
stuff largely geared to US users but still chocker with good advice.

Good lick.

Dave Ludlow wrote in message . ..

Keith, reading down the thread, I think it's quite possible your data
files are safe on the hard drive but of course, at present you can't
do anything with them. Don't despair!

If push comes to shove, you could always (eventually) install the hard
drive as a second drive on some working computer, re-install whatever
software you use and access the data files from your old disk.

Don't forget to make one a slave by moving the bridge on the pins (in
between the power and data connectors on the drive. Modern drives
usually come with the setting positions required. Older ones will have
the positions carefully hidden in the circuitry. (Mind you I need two
pairs of glasses for reading fine stuff.))

If you buy a second disc get the shop to set it.

Out of interest, are there any virus's that would do this to your computer?
It's strange that it happened within a day of setting up APG Virus Scanner.
Maybe just a coincidence?
Secondly, assuming the software fix works, what caused the computer to keep
power downing in the first place? Could this be a hardware fault, power
supply, switch etc?

Finally, my old PC with a Pentium 233 is not man enough to perform the
various copy/paste tasks I use when creating the txt and html files from an
excel spreadsheet for my web site. Forunately, and surprisingly the
spreadsheets work, so I am able to create the data for when the problem(s)
are fixed. Not sure why ftp don't work from this PC, it logs in fine but
won't list files. I've probably got the path wrong somewhere, I just don't
know at this stage.

It makes me think I need a new second PC as well. (where's that lottery
ticket)!

Although I've made some fundemental mistakes as regards backing up, I would
be interested to know of the best solution to this problem for the future.
You almost need an automatic daily backup to another hard disk or
something. Any thoughts?

Keith (Southend)

1. Insert the XP installation CD-ROM and reboot your machine.

2. When the installation menu appears, press the R key to start an
RC session.

3. When prompted, select the installation and enter the Administrator
password.

It doesn't seem to prompt me for this after pressing 'R', churns through
the CD, then says type EXIT to start windows, which gets me back to where
we started and won't load. So how do you get to the next bit?

4. At the console, navigate to the system32\drivers folder, assuming your
Windows folder is called "windows," by typing

cd \windows\system32\drivers

5. Rename the current ntfs.sys file by typing

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.bad

6. Copy the ntfs.sys file from your installation CD-ROM to your
current location by tying

copy drive:\i386\ntfs.sys .

What would be the Administrator password? May nieve, but I've never had to
enter one before as the PC came loaded with XP?

As you say I have nothing to lose as it doesn't work atm :-(

Thanks

Keith (Southend)

cd \windows\system32\drivers

I've tried variations around this and get the message:
C:\cd Windows\System32\Drivers
'The path or file specified is not valid'

I notice that this path is what I can see on my old Windows95 PC, hasn't it
changed with XP?

Keith (Southend)

On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 14:45:37 +0100, Keith (Southend)
wrote:
Out of interest, are there any virus's that would do this to your computer?
It's strange that it happened within a day of setting up APG Virus Scanner.
Maybe just a coincidence?

Blaster worm (i think) does this. (I don't know what the precise error is,
but it does force a reboot)

Secondly, assuming the software fix works, what caused the computer to keep
power downing in the first place? Could this be a hardware fault, power
supply, switch etc?

see above.

Finally, my old PC with a Pentium 233 is not man enough to perform the
various copy/paste tasks I use when creating the txt and html files from an
excel spreadsheet for my web site. Forunately, and surprisingly the
spreadsheets work, so I am able to create the data for when the problem(s)
are fixed. Not sure why ftp don't work from this PC, it logs in fine but
won't list files. I've probably got the path wrong somewhere, I just don't
know at this stage.

play with passive and active ftp transfers, see which one works.

It makes me think I need a new second PC as well. (where's that lottery
ticket)!

Although I've made some fundemental mistakes as regards backing up, I would
be interested to know of the best solution to this problem for the future.
You almost need an automatic daily backup to another hard disk or
something. Any thoughts?

microsoft backup will do this and you can automate it. you can also to
get it to back up to another hard drive on another computer on your
network. Industry-style backup can be made by backing up to tape and thi
can also be automated. If your data is precious I'd go for tape backup
all the time. IDE tape drives don't cost a fortune (i think they can be
had for around 100 quid or thereabouts) and restores are pretty
painless.


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