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From: JayB on 12 Oct 2009 18:22
i would not buy a seagate right now.
wd black is the way to go.
if newegg doesnt carry it, buy.com is also fine.
also zipzoomfly is good.

since you are able to get into safe mode, why not try a system restore?
i never do restores like that myself, like to get to the root of the
problem.

sounds like you got hit with a malware that is messing up your startup.
i see it at customers all the time.
the only way i know to properly fix it if you know how is to pull the
hard drive, and fix it from another working system.

other than that, you should buy a new hd, build a fresh windows on
there, reload your progs, and then just copy your data back.



DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
> It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
> I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting down to protect the
> computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.
>
> I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware problems.
>
> The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore points though it's set up to
> use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling the OS.
>
> Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)
>
> I was going to burn data to DVDs but Nero cannot find any DVD burners, probably because it only runs
> in safe mode. I have backups but they are so disorganized that it would be much easer to copy what
> data is on the computer now.
>
> I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy the data from the old hard
> drive to the new one, then reformat and reinstall Windows on the old hard disk if necessary.
>
> I haven't yet found a good place to buy the specific hard drive I want. Please see my other post if
> you have any recommendations about that.
>
> Thank you.
From: Christopher Muto on 12 Oct 2009 19:30
sounds like malware could be preventing your from booting. if you did not
actively disable system restore but find that it is turned off that raises a
flag in my mind that you have malware. when in safe mode you could try
start-run-"msconfig" and select "diagnostic startup" and then see if you can
start normally. if you can then start normally get a copy of the free
www.malwarebytes.org and try running it to clean up the malware. worse case
just buy the new drive you asked about above along with a external usb sata
drive enclosure and install the new drive in your system to load windows and
then put the old drive in the usb enclosure to copy your data.

<DaveJohnson12(a)nomail.> wrote in message
news:8187d5l6r0bhminj1g6v45j71cs9c85gd8(a)4ax.com...
> It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
> I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting
> down to protect the
> computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.
>
> I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware
> problems.
>
> The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore
> points though it's set up to
> use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling the
> OS.
>
> Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)
>
> I was going to burn data to DVDs but Nero cannot find any DVD burners,
> probably because it only runs
> in safe mode. I have backups but they are so disorganized that it would be
> much easer to copy what
> data is on the computer now.
>
> I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy the
> data from the old hard
> drive to the new one, then reformat and reinstall Windows on the old hard
> disk if necessary.
>
> I haven't yet found a good place to buy the specific hard drive I want.
> Please see my other post if
> you have any recommendations about that.
>
> Thank you.


From: Nick on 12 Oct 2009 21:27

On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:46:20 -0400, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell,
DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:

>It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
>I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting down to protect the
>computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.
>
>I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware problems.
>
>The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore points though it's set up to
>use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling the OS.
>
>Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)

Have you installed any new programs or drivers recently? If so, try
uninstalling/rolling back to see if that helps.

I had a blue screen nightmare just a couple of days ago, and fixed it by
uninstalling a newly installed program, after spending most of a day tearing
my hair out. (Apparently the new program was conflicting with a similar but
much older program that was already installed.)


I'll also add my vote for doing a thorough scan for malware.

--
Nick <mailto:tanstaafl(a)pobox.com>

For those who have trouble remembering the words for the song '99 Bottles of
Beer on the Wall', somewhere on the Internet there's a page with the
complete lyrics: all 100 verses!

How on earth did humanity ever survive before we invented the Internet?
From: Christopher Muto on 12 Oct 2009 22:03
<DaveJohnson12(a)nomail.> wrote in message
news:i8m7d5p6fmm4fvlh2f4smd5jnccuvmrt6b(a)4ax.com...
> On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:30:35 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
> <muto(a)worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>>sounds like malware could be preventing your from booting. if you did not
>>actively disable system restore but find that it is turned off that raises
>>a
>>flag in my mind that you have malware.
>
> It's not turned off. It's still on and there are no restore points. It's
> set to allow around 18 GB
> to be used for restore points.
>
>> when in safe mode you could try
>>start-run-"msconfig" and select "diagnostic startup" and then see if you
>>can
>>start normally. if you can then start normally get a copy of the free
>>www.malwarebytes.org and try running it to clean up the malware.
>
> I use malwarebtyes. Is there some reason why it may not work if I run it
> while in safe mode?
>
>> worse case
>>just buy the new drive you asked about above along with a external usb
>>sata
>>drive enclosure and install the new drive in your system to load windows
>>and
>>then put the old drive in the usb enclosure to copy your data.
>
> I think I will get an enclosure at some point though I was planning to
> put the old drive in the
> second drive bay and copy the data from there. Thank you.
>
>>
>><DaveJohnson12(a)nomail.> wrote in message
>>news:8187d5l6r0bhminj1g6v45j71cs9c85gd8(a)4ax.com...
>>> It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
>>> I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting
>>> down to protect the
>>> computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.
>>>
>>> I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware
>>> problems.
>>>
>>> The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore
>>> points though it's set up to
>>> use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling
>>> the
>>> OS.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)
>>>
>>> I was going to burn data to DVDs but Nero cannot find any DVD burners,
>>> probably because it only runs
>>> in safe mode. I have backups but they are so disorganized that it would
>>> be
>>> much easer to copy what
>>> data is on the computer now.
>>>
>>> I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy
>>> the
>>> data from the old hard
>>> drive to the new one, then reformat and reinstall Windows on the old
>>> hard
>>> disk if necessary.
>>>
>>> I haven't yet found a good place to buy the specific hard drive I want.
>>> Please see my other post if
>>> you have any recommendations about that.
>>>
>>> Thank you.
>>
>

you can certainly run mwb in safe mode if it had been previously installed.
i was assuming that you didn't have it and would have to install it and that
is the reason that i suggested trying to start in diagnostic mode since you
can't install a program when in safe mode. but you could still try putting
the machien in diagnostic mode and see if you are then able to boot normally
(not safe mode). you may then be able to add back the services you need to
record to the optical drive.


From: Christopher Muto on 12 Oct 2009 22:07
is it up to date? i can go long periods without scanning and that means the
virus libaray is old. perhaps you can start in safe mode with networking
and collect the updates.

<DaveJohnson12(a)nomail.> wrote in message
news:qum7d5dlp357ai03fjcicnqmm64bh77o08(a)4ax.com...
>I just tried the quick scan option with Malwarebytes. I think this scans
>the Windows folder. It
> didn't find anything. I also scanned the Program Files folder. Again it
> did not find anything.


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