Big Uh Oh - Please Help - E1505

Ok here's the specs of my laptop to the best I can recall:
Dell E1505
Core Duo 2.0GHz 677MHz
2GB (1GBx2) RAM 677MHz
80GB HDD 7200rpm
ATI Radeon X1400 256mb
15.4" WSXGA screen

The laptop is ~2 1/2 years old. It's given me trouble from time to time but never this serious. So to give you the run down of what happened here it is:
I was surfing the internet looking up car and part prices and checking facebook and my email when I get a message saying that the site I was on was know to be harmful and I was advised to leave immeadiatly. Apparently I wasn't fast enough. my system started locking up. I temporarily lost control of my mouse. Then out of nowhere My documents opens up. Thats when I turned off the wireless for fear of being hacked. After that I decided to get a new firewall and run a full AV scan. In the middled of installing the Firewall and scanning for viruses, the system locks up and goes to a blue screen I'd never seen before. I didn't pay much attention the first time since I on occasion get a BSOD saying system hault mem parity check error. Well, when it did the same thing after rebooting I decided to read what the screen said. It said that a serious error had occured within windows and the system was halted in order to prevent further damage. I figured that something had gotten in the system so I decided to start diagnosing the problem. Here's what I've done so far:
rebooted in attempts to go run msconfig and check the startup and service tabs for problematic software.
- that was not an option since shortly after booting, before I coult get to msconfig the system locked up, that is to say I could move the mouse cursor but nothing was clickable. seconds later I lost funtion of the mouse and then BSOD
rebooted in safemode, went to msconfig, found some questionable software running so I unchecked them and rebooted.
- same thing, seconds after completeing reboot screen locked up and I tried to move the mouse and press ctrl+alt+del. A beep was sounded and then BSOD.
rebooted normal and attempted to click on My Computer
- didn't work system locked up and made everything unclickable.
decided to attempt to startup in safe mode and transfer the improtant stuff to my external hdd.
-I forgot that the usb ports are disabled in safemode
I used my Live CD of Linux Mint to do the same thing
-Linux didn't want to let me access the partitions that Windows controls.

So basically I can't do anything with my system because I either get a lock up on the system or I get the nasty BSOD.

I've decided to bite the bullet and reformat my HDD.
Trouble is I need to get my important data of of it before I do so and I can't even opporate in windows for a full minute without running into a roadblock.

If anyone here has an idea of what I can do to solve this issue please post it ASAP.


Thanks in advance,
Fry

 

If you can back your stuff up to external media in safe mode, I'd do that first. Alternatively, you could get a 2.5" enclosure for your HDD and back documents up to another (virus-protected) computer, but you do run the risk of infecting a second machine.
Can you get into the windows partitions via DOS?

 

I haven't tried dos yet, though I suppose that might be an option.
I can't do t the enclosure route because I have no extra money to spend.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.

fry

 

Yeah see what damage you can do with DOS and perhaps Diskpart. I'm not sure if diskpart is part of windows, but the documentation is here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465.aspx

 

Try doing a repair install; it probably won't make your system usable, but it may get it to the point such that you can copy your files off the drive. Then you can do a clean install afterward. The enclosure is the best idea, though. They're only like $20 these days, and you can find these cheap ones just about anywhere.

You can also try some of the other boot-from-removable media solutions like BartPE or whatnot.

 

Do you have a system restore point from before this happened?

 

Thanks for the link I'll check it out and see what I can do.

I would get an enclosure and do it that way, but I litterally have no money to spend so that option is not available. I'll look into BartPE and whatnot though.

I should, Im not sure, I'll check. perhaps I'll be able to restore to a previous point and work from there.

thanks to all that have replied so far.

fry

 

While playing around with my laptop, trying to get it to funtion for more than a minute. I though of something. Im not sure if it will work. Would simply reinstalling windows allow me to put a temporary fix on my laptop?
If so, what will reinstalling Windsows do exactly? That is to say, will it erase access to erase completely, everything on the partition?
If reinstalling windows will leave my documents and other data safe, I will go ahead and reinstall windows.
From there I will transfer what I want to keep to an external hdd and then reformat the hdd on my laptop and reinstall windows.
So what I want to know is, will this work?, do I have another option?
I don't have time to order an enclosure and I don't want to drive 30 miles to get one at the store.

Please respond asap

Thanks in advance

Fry

 

If you do a repair install, it won't erase your files, etc. Like I said earlier, that might just be able to get it to a point such that you can move your files, and you can do a clean install afterward.

 

You should give your LIVE Linux a try again. Plug in a USB HDD or thumb drive for backing up your stuff. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to access your files from a LIVE Linux CD. Give her another shot I say.

 

If that will gurantee that my files will be utouched and accessable, then thats what I'll do.

I'll try that once more before I do a repair install of Windows.

Thanks again for all the help, I'll report back soon,

Fry

 

I must be doing something wrong, or I can't remeber how to do it.
I put in the winXP cd and chose repair install. in DOS(I think) it asked me to logon to the partition in question. So I did. now the line C:\WINDOWS> appears.
I have no idea what to do now. please help.

Fry

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

 

Thanks, I knew I did something wrong.
I hit R instead of Enter, now it working. Hopefully.

I'll reportback soon

Fry

 

Ok I did the repair install.
I can use my laptop again. However I lost the hibernate and the sleep option for shutdown.
Is there a way to get them back?
Now I want to reformat my hdd.
Dell sent me a CD labled Operating Sytstem Reinstallation CD WinXP Pro.
Is this the complete version of WinXP? will I still be able to use this CD if I reformat the partition?

 

You can probably get sleep and hibernate back by reinstalling your graphics driver. Nonetheless, I wouldn't recommend using that repair install for too long.

The disk that Dell gives you is indeed the complete version of XP. You will be able to use it to format your drive and then install XP on said drive.

 

Yeah, you'd be best advised to make sure you've got stuff backed up, and then reformat and use that install CD. You may want to go to http://support.dell.com and grab the network drivers you need.

 

I went to the dell site and I did a live chat with one of the tech reps.
He reminded me that I have a built in system restore that blanks the hdd and reinstalls windows to the state it was in upon purchase of the laptop.
So I did that. now it looks like it did when I first got this laptop almost 3 years ago.

I backed up what I could, I wish you could back up programs, oh well.
Now I get to enjoy hours of downloading and reinstalling what I used to have installed on my system.

the hibernate option is back btw.

Thanks for all your help so far, I'll report back soon.

Fry

 

Yeah, it always takes me about a week to really get my computer back to where I started.