Gah! My computer won't boot! D:

[Virus]

Alright, here's the problem. Last night, I got some kind of Trojan, so I System Restored my computer to a few days before I got it. This morning, I turn on my computer, and the message "Windows has been interrupted while booting, click Start Windows Normally if you aren't sure what happened... " You know, the message where you can choose from Safe Mode, SM w/ Networking, and so on. So I think, OK, I must have restarted it or something. So, I click Start Windows Normally. The screen turns black and I wait for the Windows loading screen to show up. But... No loading screen. All I get is the exact same message, with the Safe Modes etc. Do you techie gurus know how to help me out?

[Virus]

Umm, is anyone online/active?

[Whyzman]

Can you get into SAFEMODE?

[Virus]

Can you get into SAFEMODE?
Nope, I tried all 3 SM's, but they all have the same result. =\

[Whyzman]

That's not good at all! :(

Would you post your system specs and OS?

Other than System Restore, have you made backups in the event Windows is toast?

[Virus]

Well, I'm not sure about all my specs. I've upgraded my computer SO many times that I'm kind of lost. I do know I'm using Windows XP Home Edition though. :3

I don't have any backups, hopefully I won't need to re-install Windows or wipe my drives!

[Paul Komski]

An inability to boot into safe mode bodes ill. Probably the only thing that might work is a repair installation - and even that might fail.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[Virus]

Paul: Do you know any way I could save files, like games and music, before repair-installing?

[Paul Komski]

A repair (assuming it works) shouldn't touch files like that. You could copy the partition (bad as it is) onto CDs/DVDs or other storage media using an imaging utility such as BootIt NG or Drive Image and restore individual files from it later on.

To save individual files you are going to first need to get access to them. One way (assuming you have enough disk space) would be to install a second (or parallel) installation into a windowsnew folder and then just access your other files as need be from this second installation on the same partition. You would boot to the CD, choose new installation, ensure you don't delete or reformat any existing partitions but install into the same partition that is in use now. Just dont touch the existing windows folder but choose a new name for this second installation. This should set you up with a dual boot menu for the old and the new installations. You should be able to access your files this way but would need to formallly reinstall most if not all of them.

The final way would be to access the drive from another operating system that can read the WinXP partitions. Unless all the partitions are formatted as FAT this means adding/slaving the drive to a computer running Win2K/XP/Linux etc or else booting to a utility bootable CD such as EBCD or UBCD. Either method should enable you to access your files.

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/
http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

[Virus]

Thanks Paul. :3