Once again I have a computer problem I need help with......

paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#1
#1
UG has come through for me in the past when I've needed tech advice for a computer problem and now within the last few days another problem has been driving me nuts.

OK here it goes:

Computer type: Emachines T2824
OS: Windows XP Home

Last week I got a computer virus and stupidly tried to delete some files I thought were the culprit. I wound up screwing up the registry and what happened was that everytime I tried to logon I would see the windows screen then my user acct login. I'd click and it would logon for a second then immeditely log off. this happened all the time and even when I tried it in safe mode.

So after trying to research the matter for a few days I found the Recovery disk that came with the computer, called emachines tech support (they said the recovery disk also contains the Windows OS that came with the computer) and tried to do what they call a "non-destructive system recovery" which creates a backup file on the desktop and creates (or fixes) the OS on the machine (something like that).

It seems that I correctly finished the Recovery but now the problem is that when I try to restart the computer it goes to the BIOS utility screen and I'm not sure what to do. I've called Emachines tech support again but wasn't happy with the answer I got, it didn't fix this prob and I don't feel like calling back).
The screen now says "NTLDR is compressed" then on next line it says "Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" but when I do that it takes me to the BIOS screen which I have no idea what to do.

Sorry for this longwinded explanation of the problem but please UG techs I really need your help so I don't have to spend $200 or more to fix this prob. I can think of better ways to spend it LOL! Thanks in advance!
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#2
#2
By the way thats my home computer, the one I use the most and has many important business files on it I'm obviously not able to use that computer. I'm using another computer to surf the web at an undisclosed location.
 
F

fortydog

#4
#4
If you have important files on the machine, I would move them off first before re-formatting. Try booting the PC up with a Live-CD (like Slax) and a portable hard drive to move your important files to the portable HD (and not the virus).

Then reformat and reinstall the OS and everything else fresh.
 
J

JeffGoldblum

#8
#8
you have an extra hard drive or computer? If so you can back up your files before formatting. There is no point to do a non destructive format as the virus will still be on your hard drive.
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#10
#10
JeffGoldblum said:
you have an extra hard drive or computer? If so you can back up your files before formatting. There is no point to do a non destructive format as the virus will still be on your hard drive.
Click to expand...
Yes to both questions. I have some of my important files backed up previously (on a portable hard drive) but not everything. Since I've already done the "non-destructive" recovery there should be a complete back-up on my computer's desktop--as soon as I can get the fuck in there again lol! I thought about the virus still being on there but I figure I'll deal with that when I get in there. But one thing I won't do is mess with the registry again!
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#12
#12
fortydog said:
If you have important files on the machine, I would move them off first before re-formatting. Try booting the PC up with a Live-CD (like Slax) and a portable hard drive to move your important files to the portable HD (and not the virus).

Then reformat and reinstall the OS and everything else fresh.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot Forty! Yeah, based on your post and from googling the problem and finding some techie sites, I think what I have to do now is make a boot disk and start from that.
 
N

NYC55

#13
#13
here is my general advice for what it's worth. In the future if you are having a problem with your computer you should always first try to restore the computer an a prior date checkpoint. this is a an option menu option in windows. it will try to un-install anything that was installead post that date.
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#14
#14
NYC55 said:
here is my general advice for what it's worth. In the future if you are having a problem with your computer you should always first try to restore the computer an a prior date checkpoint. this is a an option menu option in windows. it will try to un-install anything that was installead post that date.
Click to expand...
Good point but the virus I had, which caused me to try and go into the registry, wouldn't allow me to do a system restore. Its a very difficult virus.
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#15
#15
Thanks everybody!.... (But one more small thing)

Finally fixed the problem by using the emachines CD that came with the computer (it had the XP operating system on it that the computer came with). I did a "non-dstructive" system recovery and it created a backup file and re-installed windows XP. It works fine except for.........

Only problem now is that the Microsoft Office file is "stuck" (for lack of a better term) in with the backup (in the old program files) and it doesn't show up in with the new program files. So Word doesn't show up on the menu only WordPad which I'm not used to using. Anybody know how to bring back Word so I can open my files with it.
 
J

justme

homo economicus
#16
#16
This is an excellent opportunity to buy a new machines. Computers, especially those of e-machine's ilk, are practically free these days. The time you're going to spend getting back to a semblance of normalcy is worth far more than the machine, especially now that you have a way of getting at the data which is the only truly valuable part of a computer.
 
Gavvy Cravath

Gavvy Cravath

Moderator Emeritus
#17
#17
Thank the good maker for memory sticks. Imagine if you hadn't backed up your stuff? I lost about 150 files last winter and had to recreate the wheel all over again (reports that become "cut n paste" after a while). It's a bitch. But you've got brobably 100 times that amount!! God thing you backed a lot of that up...
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#18
#18
Trustme justme as soon as I can I will but for the time being I really need to figure out how to get Word to work again. I've moved the Office file to the desktop but don't know what to do next.
 
paulbunyon

paulbunyon

#19
#19
Gavvy Cravath said:
Thank the good maker for memory sticks. Imagine if you hadn't backed up your stuff? I lost about 150 files last winter and had to recreate the wheel all over again (reports that become "cut n paste" after a while). It's a bitch. But you've got brobably 100 times that amount!! God thing you backed a lot of that up...
Click to expand...
Yep it really came in handy. Thanks again buddy!
 
J

JeffGoldblum

#20
#20
paulbunyon said:
Trustme justme as soon as I can I will but for the time being I really need to figure out how to get Word to work again. I've moved the Office file to the desktop but don't know what to do next.
Click to expand...
You will need to install microsoft office which has word/excel/powerpoint/etc. Did the computer come with word or did you install it? You might have another cd which is the microsoft office suite.
 
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