|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 19:22:14 GMT
... but you all seem fairly clued up on these things so I thought I'd post it here. I'll apologise in advance as this has nothing to do with LU, apart from the fact that I can't get to any of my Train Sim software!!
I've I'm breaking the rules with a naughty word up. I don't mind admitting it either. I was "under the influence" last night, and attempting (unsucessfully) to clear up some space on my C drive - can you guess what comes next? Yep, Jim's very sensibly gone and deleted a system startup file (namely ntoskrnl.exe in case anyone cares). Anyway, to cut to the chase, I've located this file on my laptop and burned it onto a disk to I can copy it across back into it's rightful place on my home PC. Problem is: I can't suss out how to startup my PC just running MS-DOS and not Windows. If I could do that, then I reckon I could pop the file back in the right folder and - hey presto - Jim's back online again. The PC in question is an old work computer they were dishing out and runs on 2000NT so I haven't got the Windows start-up software CD-ROM's to re-install the "mislaid" file.
So, answers on a postcard to... etc. etc.
Any help would be muchly appreciated, all my internet banking's on that PC so without it I can't get my dirty mitts on my money! (That's my excuse for being in on a Saturday night and I'm sticking to it...)
Cheers everyone...
~Jim~
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 19:35:50 GMT
Pressing F8 as soon as the Windows logo appears will take you to the startup menu.
If you select "Safe Mode Command Prompt", you will get something resembling DOS. You can definitely access floppy and hard disk drives, not sure about CD drives.
Make sure that the version of windows on the two machines is identical.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 19:41:47 GMT
Thanks chap; my laptop runs on XP prof, the PC in question runs on 2000NT, will that cause problems if I move the missing file across?
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 19:44:41 GMT
Almost certainly, since the kernel is the core of the OS, and MS would have changed it substantially between 2000 and XP.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 19:49:34 GMT
Thanks - so I need to get my hands on a full version of 2000NT and re-install the whole package then?
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 19:50:42 GMT
Yeh, but you'd probobly be better getting XP, are you familiar with installing operating systems?
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 19:52:57 GMT
To be honest no, I've only done it once before (about 2 years ago from ME to XP), is it a particularly complicated process?
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 19:53:37 GMT
I can probably get the file in question on Monday
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 19:54:14 GMT
Not really. What would you say your experience level with computers is?
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 19:55:09 GMT
compsci, do you think it will just be a case of replacing the missing file in question. Further damage to the system could have ben caused.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 19:57:48 GMT
compsci - that'd be great if you could, even as a temporary fix until I upgrade to a more modern version of Windows. As I said in my original post, that PC has a static IP address that my banking software recognises, so Monday would be great!! I've got a fairly broad computer knowledge so would be ok installing a new version of Windows - but I still can't get into MS-DOS though even in safe mode (just tried it), it keeps falling over when it asks for the missing file...
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 19:59:38 GMT
Do you think that many other important system files could have been deleted during this cleaning spree?
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:01:20 GMT
lol... not sure. I was aiming for the chunkier files on the C: drive that had a "date modified" from 2003 and earlier, I assumed (wrongly it would seem!) that these weren't required any longer...
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:05:09 GMT
This file might not be the only important file that was deleted because windows has a habit of locking you out until 1 file is replaced then it will tell you about another file that needs replaced as well and so on!!.
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 20:07:07 GMT
Sounds like you may have deleted half of Windows, in which case a reinstall/upgrade will be the only option.
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:08:23 GMT
Sounds like that to me to !
Jim - I think your best option will be to upgrade to Windows XP.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:09:39 GMT
I don't think I went crazy with it, but may aswell upgrade whilst I'm at it - do I need to re-install 2000 first and then upgrade, or can I go straight in with an XP software package?
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:10:46 GMT
I think you can go straight to Windows XP
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 20:10:55 GMT
You can go straight to XP if you start it from CD.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:12:35 GMT
Will doing this have any knock-on impact to any of the other stuff on the PC (existing files, software packages etc)?
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:13:34 GMT
If you do this you will loose everything (files etc.) on the computer, unfortunatly.
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 20:15:14 GMT
No, you only lose everything if you format the hard drive. Files you've created/downloaded etc should be fine, although expect to reinstall some applications.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:15:49 GMT
So it would basically format both hard drives on it then? Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions but this side of things 'aint my forte!!
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:15:59 GMT
Are you suggesting that he uses the upgrade version of windows XP?
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:16:27 GMT
Do you have 1 or 2 hard drives?
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:17:26 GMT
Ah, that sounds better! I can grin and bear it if I have to reinstall a few bits and bobs, it's the other irreplaceable stuff on it I was concerned about!
|
|
|
|
Post by jimini on Jul 23, 2005 20:18:28 GMT
Two hard drives, both 2Gb...
|
|
|
|
Post by compsci on Jul 23, 2005 20:19:32 GMT
The only differences between an Upgrade and Full version of Windows are:
1. The price.
2. The insistence that a copy of a previous version of Windows exists on the machine in question.
You'd have had to go really mad to have destroyed everything, although I'm not sure what it looks for.
Whichever version you use, they will be capable of doing their thing to c:\WINDOWS without touching everything else.
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:19:39 GMT
2GB, are you sure? That could be a problem for windows XP because it takes up 1.5 GB of disk space.
|
|
|
|
Post by tom2506 on Jul 23, 2005 20:21:02 GMT
Ok, so the upgrade version would be best, but in light of this 2GB hard disk, XP would be a squeeze
|
|
