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kininigin
31-03-2011, 10:56
right long story short,tried to install itunes on pc as my mate gave me a ipod touch.
Itunes couldn't unistall old componants like quicktime and bonjour ect so would not install.
Tried to restore pc to an earlier time (november) same problem.
Undid the last restore to bring back to current settings and my antivirus program (kaspersky) will not start up.
On top of that my mouse and keyboard stopped working.
As soon as the windows logo on boot up comes on the mouse and keyboard stop working.
I can go into bios but still no change.
Try booting in safe mode same out come.
Got my system recovery discs and the option to recover factory settings without losing my files (music ect) is denied because it says i recently installed a service pack.
Any ideas as to what i can do?
I have 3 harddrives my main 2 internal drives 500gb (with the os) and a secondary 250gb and also an external 360gb hdd.Could i take the 500gb out install a fresh os on the 250gb and hope that works so i can transfer my music files ect onto an external hdd while i sort it out?
Any help will be greatly appreciated :)
What Operating System are you running and when did you install it?
If you are running Windows 7, have you recently updated it with Service Pack 1?
kininigin
31-03-2011, 11:04
What Operating System are you running and when did you install it?
If you are running Windows 7, have you recently updated it with Service Pack 1?
hi tim,
Im running windows xp media edition service pack 3,it was installed years ago.
kininigin
31-03-2011, 14:13
well i've just spent a few hours getting nowhere and am completly stumped on this one.
What would be the best way to get my music of the hdd?
well i've just spent a few hours getting nowhere and am completly stumped on this one.
What would be the best way to get my music of the hdd?
Are your music files on the system disk or the data/other disks? Hopefully the latter...
kininigin
31-03-2011, 15:03
Are your music files on the system disk or the data/other disks? Hopefully the latter...
hi will,im not sure i follow you,my music is in a folder on my main hdd which i cannot access as my mouse and keyboard will not work for love nor money.
i only have basic knowledge of pc's btw :)
Hi Darren
Do you have the original XP CD? If so, you can do a repair install, but note that it will reset all the Windows updates and you will have to apply them all again. However, if this is the last resort as you have tried everything else, then boot up the CD (you may have to set the CD-ROM as the first boot device in the BIOS), then go past the first offer to go to the repair console and act as if you are installing XP. Once you point to the hard disk you want to install to, you can select to repair an existing installation. Go ahead and it will chunter for the best part of an hour. This will let you set an account and get in to rescue your music or set the installation right by applying all the updates.
I hate to say it, but iTunes is noxious-ware of the first order and yours is not the first machine it has royally screwed up.
What Martin said but do be careful not to pick “format” when you pick a repair option, or you will definitely lose your music files.
If you’re going to keep music files on your computer now might be a good time to think about making a partition and just using the partition for music files. This way hopefully if you crash again your music files wont be effected.
Oh arr, do yourself a favor and dump itunes.
kininigin
31-03-2011, 15:41
Hi Darren
Do you have the original XP CD? If so, you can do a repair install, but note that it will reset all the Windows updates and you will have to apply them all again. However, if this is the last resort as you have tried everything else, then boot up the CD (you may have to set the CD-ROM as the first boot device in the BIOS), then go past the first offer to go to the repair console and act as if you are installing XP. Once you point to the hard disk you want to install to, you can select to repair an existing installation. Go ahead and it will chunter for the best part of an hour. This will let you set an account and get in to rescue your music or set the installation right by applying all the updates.
I hate to say it, but iTunes is noxious-ware of the first order and yours is not the first machine it has royally screwed up.
hi martin,
I don't have the original windows media edition installation disk as the pc was bought second hand and he no longer had the disk only 5 recovery discs which won't work as it says it won't recover due to a service pack recently installed :scratch:
I do have a windows xp pro disc,which i don't think is genuin but have used before for my laptop(which has now died) would this disk perform what you said?
The sad thing about all of this is i have got a old mac g4 which i had sat in a cupboard (and now using) which would of prevented all this hassel :doh:
kininigin
31-03-2011, 15:48
What Martin said but do be careful not to pick “format” when you pick a repair option, or you will definitely lose your music files.
If you’re going to keep music files on your computer now might be a good time to think about making a partition and just using the partition for music files. This way hopefully if you crash again your music files wont be effected.
Oh arr, do yourself a favor and dump itunes.
yep all good ideas,incidently i haven't used itunes for about 2yrs but my mate lent me an ipod touch and indirectly buggered up my pc :steam: :lol:
Another kick in the teeth is that i was actually going through my collection to put on a different harddrive but then went on holiday and thought i'd just do the rest when i get back,some lessons learnt today i think.
hi will,im not sure i follow you,my music is in a folder on my main hdd which i cannot access as my mouse and keyboard will not work for love nor money.
i only have basic knowledge of pc's btw :)
How proficient are you with hardware, and do you have access to another computer?
The safest option with regard to your music and other wanted data files is to get the system HD out of the PC, pop it into a USB docking station...eg
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=SKI-DOCK
connect it to another PC, the drive will appear as a USB data drive, and you can then copy your music to another HD for safety.
Once done you can pop the drive back into the original PC & try Martin's recovery suggestion, although I've never had a great deal of success with the recovery option myself...this would be a good time for a fresh install of XP IMHO, remember you only need to format the system disk, the other data disks will be fine.
Top tip is if you're using a PC there's no need for partitioning (and if you get a disk failure the partition will be trashed too), just don't keep vital data on the system disk, as this is the most vulnerable drive, as you no doubt appreciate right now.
I'd also advise winamp or similar instead of itunes, at least you can control where the data's being held...itunes is el diablo IMHO ;)
Have to disagree with Will here. I've partitioned a windows PC on a few occasions and been able to rescue the contents.
Anyway, you've got a PM.
kininigin
31-03-2011, 16:22
cheers for the help guys im going to try your suggestions and i'll let you know how i get on later....if i haven't smashed up everything that looks like a computer :lolsign:
Good luck ;)
I got plenty of hammers if the rage takes you and you’re short of tools :eyebrows:
Hi Darren
That version of XP won't repair your Media Centre version without screwing things up even more. As you don't have the ability to repair the installation, Will's suggestion to take the drive out and put it in a caddy is the best advice. Then do yourself a favour, put a new drive in the PC, buy a copy of Windows 7 and put an up-to-date OS on your machine. Its handling of music files will be better, for a start.
I don't understand your comment about the Mac, unless you meant you could have connected the iTouch to that instead? Yes, probably a good idea to keep Apple software on an Apple machine.
Have to disagree with Will here. I've partitioned a windows PC on a few occasions and been able to rescue the contents.
Anyway, you've got a PM.
I suppose it depends on the level of failure John, there are obviously situations where a partition can help...perhaps I'm being overly fatalistic ;)
“I suppose it depends on the level of failure John, there are obviously situations where a partition can help...perhaps I'm being overly fatalistic ”
Maybe mate. We ain’t going to fall out over it anyway ;)
As you say, it depends on the nature of the crash.
I have my test laptop set up with multiple partitions which I crash lots and so far I’ve only had to re format the partition with the windows stuff on.
I’ll prolly live to eat my words but as a line of defense against data loss its got to be worth a shot.
Best obviously is not to have music files stored on the laptop at all and everything backed up anyway, including a boot disc :eyebrows:
“I suppose it depends on the level of failure John, there are obviously situations where a partition can help...perhaps I'm being overly fatalistic ”
Maybe mate. We ain’t going to fall out over it anyway ;)
As you say, it depends on the nature of the crash.
I have my test laptop set up with multiple partitions which I crash lots and so far I’ve only had to re format the partition with the windows stuff on.
I’ll prolly live to eat my words but as a line of defense against data loss its got to be worth a shot.
Best obviously is not to have music files stored on the laptop at all and everything backed up anyway, including a boot disc :eyebrows:
It's probably the result of being an old DBA...I always fear the worst i.e. a head crash, but these things rarely happen nowadays
:cool:
I have my test laptop set up with multiple partitions which I crash lots and so far I’ve only had to re format the partition with the windows stuff on.
I’ll prolly live to eat my words but as a line of defense against data loss its got to be worth a shot.
Best obviously is not to have music files stored on the laptop at all and everything backed up anyway, including a boot disc :eyebrows:
Always a good practice to set partitions on a drive IMO. A boot/system partition and data partition as a minimum, but obviously you need a backup for total drive failure. But a system partition is easily recovered using something like Acronis, without wiping the whole drive and starting again. A/V scans and defragging are quicker as is the performance of the partition, if a small one is used for the O/S. I use this practice all the time, with Acronis images on the data partitions, so a recovery takes minutes if your O/S fails. I keep three recovery images, a baseline (bare install), essential programs and a full working copy image. A full reinstall and program setup can take hours on a Windows PC, but restoring an Acronis image can be completed in minutes :)
If you are starting again Darren, it may be worth investing in Acronis, very easy to use and would have you up and running in minutes...... and iTunes :steam: the Devil incarnate, I never let that mare of a software program anywhere near a PC of mine!
Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.co.uk/promo/ATIH2011/ATISpecific/index.html?source=uk_googleATI_b&ad=ati&c=7179712014&k=acronis%20true%20image&gclid=CN_msNvU-acCFYob4QodPVpirA)
This article is old, but still holds good today..... Best practices for partitioning a hard disk (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx)
Partitioning and having a recovery image to hand is one of the easiest ways to quickly recover from a corrupt O/S IMHO.
At this point however, I concur with Martin, buy Windows 7 and start afresh. If you qualify, try software4students where Win 7 is under £40.00 for an upgrade package.
http://www.software4students.co.uk/
a head crash, but these things rarely happen nowadays
I had one just yesterday. Put a new drive in the machine and imaged from our Windows Deployment server in about 45 mins flat.
I may be wrong but I got the impression that Darrens laptop was getting on a bit in which case it may not be able to run Win7.
I also have my doubts about whether Win7 is as good for audio purposes as XP :eyebrows:
I thought it was a desktop, because of the number of drives? If it's no more than 5 years old it will probably take W7 fine with a bit more RAM and perform a lot better than XP. I don't use mine for serious music (i.e. through my system) but I do listen a lot while doing work and I find it handles music pretty well.
I thought it was a desktop, because of the number of drives? If it's no more than 5 years old it will probably take W7 fine with a bit more RAM and perform a lot better than XP. I don't use mine for serious music (i.e. through my system) but I do listen a lot while doing work and I find it handles music pretty well.
My assumption too, and he did say PC I think...
I think we've had a similar conversation before Martin, but I can't see any advantages in moving to Win 7, unless it's a 64bit CPU, particularly as he already has a copy of XP SP2 laying around, and as you say it uses more RAM.
As for playing music a PC/Tower can be quite a nice option if you fit a reasonable PCI soundcard (I got an M-Audio 2496 for £30 on ebay) and feed the SPDIF out to a DAC, no USB synchronicity problems to worry about, and all outputs cab be directed straight to the device's SPDIF output, so no Kmixer issues either.
The only downside is you need to keep your fans nicely oiled and clean, but that can be an issue on large laptops too.
NAS FLAC library/PC XPsp2/FFSoX resampler in/Winamp/Directsound 2.6 out/M-Audio 2496 SPDIF out/Beresford TC-7510/Audiolab 8000S/Mission 780SEs
Very nice for an inexpensive study system...I had the Audiolab spare after an upgrade to my main system, the rest was off Ebay, and the Beresford was from one of Stan's clear outs)
I built the PC about 5 years ago and it's still going strong, I've also put a 1Ghz 500mb ASUS graphics card on there so the winamp visualisations are very nice accross multiple monitors too. And you've taken the graphics processing overhead away from the mother board.
Now for the hypocrisy I built it with a 64bit CPU (AMD 3200 64bit athlon, good at the time), so I would like to try it with Win 7 64 bit (assuming I can get appropriate drivers for all my devices), got any spare copies knocking around Martin? ;)
Yes, agreed to all that and the basic rule applies: if it works, then leave it well alone. I have a lot of respect for XP, it has been a long lasting and essentially reliable OS and retires with its head held high. Forgetting Vista (please), Windows 7 looks to have the same reliability and a little more performance from the same hardware, provided you put 2GB RAM in it.
Now for the hypocrisy I built it with a 64bit CPU (AMD 3200 64bit athlon, good at the time), so I would like to try it with Win 7 64 bit (assuming I can get appropriate drivers for all my devices), got any spare copies knocking around Martin? ;)
Sorry, we are a volume licence house so I can't give copies out or my arse would be kicked and my P45 made ready :)
Ah well, I’ve only got the one stereo and its in the same room as my PC, fridge freezer, washing machine cooker etc……….modern flats eh :rolleyes:
As for playing music through my PC…….well, I spose I could if I didn’t mind sitting on the case as it tries to take off when the fans start up; built for gaming and its very noisy. The overclocking doesn’t help :scratch:
I’m rather fond of XP for audio. It’s a well sorted OS and I almost know what I’m doing with it now. Win7 would initially seem to have some audio advantages, being able to dispense with asio is a plus possibly given asio4all limits to 24/48 at a push if not using proprietary drivers.
Anyway, let’s hope Darren got himself sorted and hasn’t lost his music.
I’m rather fond of XP for audio. It’s a well sorted OS and I almost know what I’m doing with it now. Win7 would initially seem to have some audio advantages, being able to dispense with asio is a plus possibly given asio4all limits to 24/48 at a push if not using proprietary drivers.
I have to say having tried both, that I prefer Win7 for audio. I am running XP at the moment, but as soon as my music server is built, it will be Win7 from then on in. Much easier to set-up too. I also think Win7 is the way to go forward for Darren too, but that depends on the cost of buying the O/S if you have an XP disc available.
“buying the O/S” :eek:
:sofa:
(think I'll just not bother coming out from behind here anymore)
“buying the O/S” :eek:
:sofa:
(think I'll just not bother coming out from behind here anymore)
...move over John :lol:
I've recently rebuilt my PC (all the result of a dodgy SATA cable :doh:), and whilst doing so gave the fans a good clean and service, Ok it's not silent but it's a pleasant woosh rather than the clanking and whirring I used to experience
P.S. Sorry for the flagrant begging Martin, you don't ask you don't get, and the registration security is much tighter with Win 7. I do have 64bit pro on my laptop but doubt I'd get away with a second installation, unlike XP which is fine as long as you don't subscribe to the auto updates ;)
http://62nds.com/ ;)
Cheers John...interesting :)
P.S. Sorry for the flagrant begging Martin, you don't ask you don't get, and the registration security is much tighter with Win 7. I do have 64bit pro on my laptop but doubt I'd get away with a second installation, unlike XP which is fine as long as you don't subscribe to the auto updates ;)
No problem, Will. Somewhere in another thread I posted a photo of a girl's laptop we had in for repair, it appeared to be a Chinese knock-off Apple Mac running Chinese knock-off Windows XP :eek:
It must be the same source as your software :lol:
No problem, Will. Somewhere in another thread I posted a photo of a girl's laptop we had in for repair, it appeared to be a Chinese knock-off Apple Mac running Chinese knock-off Windows XP :eek:
It must be the same source as your software :lol:
I'd like to thank a large American automotive company for mine...one more little installation won't hurt too much :lol:
I was working in HK during the mid to late 90's, just before the handover, I remember the day Windows '95 was released, by noon counterfeit copies were available for 10HKD (about 80p) in a place called the 'golden arcade', a real den of software iniquity...oh and that was bundled in with a copy of photoshop :eyebrows:
Occasionally there'd be a police raid, which strangely coincided with all the stores being closed...probably just coincidence ;)
These Chinese boys take some beating for resourcefulness :)
I would like to thank some of my gaming clan mates. You name it and they seem to have hacked it.
:lol:
Approve or not some of these guys are so far ahead of the normal computer advice experts it’s embarrassing.
IRC and Skype…..wonderful for problem sorting and great for chatting to people from all over the world.
I would like to thank some of my gaming clan mates. You name it and they seem to have hacked it.
:lol:
Approve or not some of these guys are so far ahead of the normal computer advice experts it’s embarrassing.
IRC and Skype…..wonderful for problem sorting and great for chatting to people from all over the world.
Skype is absolutely superb, it's our organisation's standard means of communication, and given that our software development partners are in Belarus & India it doesn't half save on bills :)
We block Skype ferociously on the basis that it's a terrible bandwidth hog and the pupils would use every last byte available for chit-chat.
We block Skype ferociously on the basis that it's a terrible bandwidth hog and the pupils would use every last byte available for chit-chat.
Ah yes you look after IT in an educational environment (if I remember correctly from another thread), it must be challenging keeping the little 'darlings' under control, they're always ahead of the game...;)
I play one of those little darlings regularly on ESL (Electronic Sports League) ladder :lol:
He plays from school despite the IT guys doing their utmost to stop him. He’s bloody murder. Nice kid, really friendly but not remotely interested in what the school wants to teach him. He’s doing computer studies when he’s online and I think he should probably be taking the class :eyebrows:
Our little tykes try it all but we block it and log it successfully. I've tested using Skype in anger but our firewall block rules work rather well :)
The problem of new video download sites is more pressing, though, especially Russian ones. I study the highest domain stats every morning and adopt a block-one-a-day rule. It's just enough to keep ahead of them.
kininigin
01-04-2011, 19:18
well ladies and gentlemen...erm let me rephrase that,well gentlemen somehow
by the grace of god i've have managed to get everything back just how it was before itunes decided to show it's ugly mug.
It's only taken me 2 days of swearing,crying and casual violence.I have no idea how it happened but after about 5hrs of tinkering the mouse was working which meant i could fix what i needed to fix and transfer my music.
About 25 drivers were in a right mess and i have only just sorted my keyboard,hence this post :).
I should get some kind of medal for perserverance :lol: how i didn't end up with a pc in the river is beyond me.
Cool, glad you’re sorted Darren :)
I have a laptop specially for fruit raincoat crash tests and suchlike but I’ve trashed a partition full of music before and I was sweating for a while coz it weren’t mine :doh:
Great news, well done Darren!
anthonyTD
02-04-2011, 10:26
Great news Darren,
i thought i was bad cos i couldnt [still cant] get my CD/DVD drive to work!
:lolsign:
Any help guys would be much appreciated!
Anthony,TD...
Good lad Darren...
At the risk of being a bore...get the music backed up onto an external HD! :)
Good lad Darren...
At the risk of being a bore...get the music backed up onto an external HD! :)
+1 ;)
Anthony - is it dead (i.e. drawer won't open)? Internal drive? Does it try and read a disc?
anthonyTD
02-04-2011, 13:07
Anthony - is it dead (i.e. drawer won't open)? Internal drive? Does it try and read a disc?
Hi Martin,
cheers,
no, the draw opens and closes as normal, i can hear the drive making the usual noises, but it dosent actualy do anything apart from the odd noise.
i have cleaned the laser and obviously tried multiple disks etc.
this is a laptop.
Anthony,TD...
Hi Martin,
cheers,
no, the draw opens and closes as normal, i can hear the drive making the usual noises, but it dosent actualy do anything apart from the odd noise.
i have cleaned the laser and obviously tried multiple disks etc.
this is a laptop.
Anthony,TD...
It may just be knackered...or there may be a problem with the driver
Right mouse click on 'My Computer', go into 'manage', 'device manager', then 'DVD/CD-ROM drives'...
Are there any warnings, or exclamation marks beside the entry?
Right mouse click and go through the update driver process, this might help, you never know :)
anthonyTD
02-04-2011, 14:09
It may just be knackered...or there may be a problem with the driver
Right mouse click on 'My Computer', go into 'manage', 'device manager', then 'DVD/CD-ROM drives'...
Are there any warnings, or exclamation marks beside the entry?
Right mouse click and go through the update driver process, this might help, you never know :)
hi Will,
cheers for that, i have just checked and there are no Warnings etc against the drive in question, as you say, it just might be knackered!
Ohh well.:(
thanks again.:)
Anthony,TD...
If it is broken, this may help? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151459
Normally a fairly easy task to replace as well.
Tim beat me to it, but make sure it's a SATA drive and not PATA, which would need a differernt (but physically similar) drive.
anthonyTD
02-04-2011, 19:17
Cheers both,
i will check out the link and let you know how i get on.:)
Anthony,TD...
kininigin
03-04-2011, 10:12
Good lad Darren...
At the risk of being a bore...get the music backed up onto an external HD! :)
will do,moneys tight atm though as i had to pay an extra £200 to fly from turin due to a missed flight :(.
I do have a 320gb external drive,which i dropped a couple of years ago and it stopped working but plugged in the other day and it seems to be fine now(had a load of kung fu films on there which im glad to get back :))
Not sure i want to risk putting my music on though.
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