major/minor challenge for the digitally gifted...

[gtrhrcane]

Ok, I had a lap top that crashed on me by way of unplugging the USB driven external CD burner without going through the proper procedure. I don't remember off hand where I left off in trying to fix it, but it was getting worse and worse.

Can I Fdisk it and just reinstall my OS and start over? I'm not worried about the loss of any data, I just want to get it up and running again. Any help would be really really cool.... :cool:

[gtrhrcane]

Oh, it should also be known that I couldn't get in to windows at all, not even safe mode. What to do, what to do..... :hmmm:

[reeced]

Do you have an emergency boot disk ?

[Sage]

if you're running xp, just go into the bios, and set it to boot from CD before floppy... then put your installation disk in and reinstall xp -- you should retain all data, and simply swap in good files for what was corrupted.

[gtrhrcane]

Do you have an emergency boot disk ?

Ah, now I have to divulge the embarassing parts.... :o I used to, before it became corrupted and got lodged in the hard disk drive and I lost my cool and forcefully removed it. That's another aspect I forgot about, though extremely important.

Sage: I was running 2k Pro. Would my A+ books have that in there, how to access and change the BIOS? ( I've had them in storage for quite awhile)

I'll have to confirm later tonight what state it's currently in, becuase I walked away after I 'removed' the floppy after it locked up on me. So I think it's still stuck on a disk read error or something. There might even be a part of the floppy stuck in the drive. IDK. :o

The thing is, I don't have an OS anymore so I'd need to get a new one to do this. Can I use XP pro or do I need to use 2k pro? Can I just do an fdisk, or is that going to create more problems?

[Slipstream]

The OS install CD will work for a startup disc, but it won't do you any good to fdisk the hard drive if you have nothing to install. I have some old hard drives layin' around and when I use one to make a new computer for someone I'll put Windows 98 II on it. Cheap and easy. Not the best OS goin', but it's better than ME (anything's better than ME), and lot's cheaper than XP.

[Sage]

Well -- I don't know, if it's a USB CD -- would depend at what state your computer acknowledges it's USB drives.

1 -- To get into your BIOS you should see a "Hit X to setup" while it boots up. It's less software driven and more computer driven -- if you know the make and model of your laptop, just google it and I'm sure you'll find the right key combo

2 -- if your floopy boot disk is corrupt, just do another google for a new one -- you'll find a file that you can download on a good computer, and then copy it to a floppy and then insert it in your damaged laptop.

You're biggest problem is that you have no OS. I would get a boot disk from a website and see if that will get you into your old OS to repair it -- barring that (haha, barre) suck it up, by a new OS and start over. (This is where you use Fdisk.)

In the future, if you have enough hard drive space, make a partition for the OS and a partition for your personal storage and documents. That way, when this happens again, you fdisk the offender, reinstall the OS and your documents and whatnot remain untouched.

[gtrhrcane]

Well, the CD rom is an internal one. The USB driven external one was a burner. The internal ROM drive should still be good. I'm fine with purchasing an OS, in fact my other computer would probably be close to top form with a re format as well.

So, with the internal ROM drive in place and in tact, it sounds like I could just get the OS, Fdisk, and be back to pretty good shape.

98II is what I have on the computer I have now. It's not bad, matter of fact I don't mind it. If I just dropped the cash on an OS and got it over with you think that would 'solve' my problem? I have the discs for that, but no code and I can't get in to the file on the disk that has it.

I hate that it sounds like I'm buying my way out of a fix.... but time is $ and when I have one I'm usually in the red for the other.

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm almost there......

[Sage]

Oh, I see.


ok

So.....yes you have to get an OS one way or the other. But before you fdisk, just try to see if you can reinstall the OS over the corrupt one -- that SHOULD just swap out the corrupt files with new ones.

The beauty of trying that first is that if it fails, you were going to reformat you're drive anyway, right?


-->I have the discs for that, but no code and I can't get in to the file on the disk that has it. <--

I'm not sure what you mean by that?

[gtrhrcane]

But before you fdisk, just try to see if you can reinstall the OS over the corrupt one -- that SHOULD just swap out the corrupt files with new ones.

The beauty of trying that first is that if it fails, you were going to reformat you're drive anyway, right?


-->I have the discs for that, but no code and I can't get in to the file on the disk that has it. <--

I'm not sure what you mean by that?

Oh, I meant I have the disks for 98II. It came with the computer. ( bought it from a buddy who doesn't have the paperwork or code) On the disk it self, I explored and found a file that contains the key code, but I can't acess it.

I'll try that though, you've all been a major help. A sincere thanks for you all.

[guitaraholic680]

All u have to do... is boot up the computer and open the disk drive. If you have a reformat cd, u can put it in the drive and it should do it by itself. TO access the bios, just turn it on, and press, F2 or F8. That should open a menu that allows u to choose boot options. You can choose to put the Cd Drive First before the regular hard disk. Then it should boot off the disk. Good luck.