Back online..

[Ferry_vO]

Still don't quite understand what went wrong, but I finally managed to get my computer working again.. :isadizzy:

The problems started last Tuesday when my Win7-64bit install crashed directly after boot up; it left me with just the desktop background and a mouse pointer. I could get into safe mode and run an anti-virus program but it didn't find anything. Then I rolled back Win7 to the previous day, before the last updates and that worked fine... Until I rebooted my computer several hours later!
From that point no system restore point worked anymore, all showing the same initial problem.

So nothing left but to pull out the system restore disks (Form the computer manufacturer, not the Windows disk)... Start from scratch after backing up the necessary files to the external HDD. Kinda hoped it would only erase my C: disk but it wiped my other two partitions as well..... :banghead:
Two complete Fs installs and three race sims down the toilet.. :toilet: At least I managed to save 8,000 or so photos I had on my disk.

Guess I know what I'll be doing the next few days... :mad:

[Snuffy]

Welcome back Kotter ... :mixedsmi:

[rpjkw]

I had the same problems a couple of years ago and it turned out to be a dying HDD. Fortunately, I was able to move everything I wanted to save over to my D drive.

Bob

[Chacha]

Welcome back Ferry....


Good you fixed it...

:ernae:

[Ferry_vO]

Well I don't think it was a dying HDD, because it worked fine in safe mode and still works without problems now. I still blame the last Windows update(s) going wrong.

Back to reinstalling FsX now.

[gigabyte]

Ferry, based on my experience with imaging and updating windows systems for work I would suspect one of two things (if in fact the HD is not the problem) 1 - failed update which is very likely, depending on which files are being updated, if your update does not complete and complete in the proper order you are often in for a world of hurt. 2 - a root kit, a particularly nasty type of malware that gets in before your AV software starts so it will be able to hide itself from the best AV andSpyware software.

For #1 you can do a non destrivtive reinstall with the Win 7 disks and save pretty much everything, this is often overlooked and has been a lifesaver for me since XP became the major OS at my workplace. For #2 lettle else to do but what you did blow everythign away and start fresh.

If by chance you ever encounter this again or anyone else is interested I have a good set od instructions for a non destrictive reinstall of XP, Vista, and I am sure I can put the Win 7 set together pretty quick. I am surprised MS has never published the method, but trust me it works I do it several times per month, and it is a life saver, saving me hours of reinstall of applications and reconfiguring network settings after some "Stupid User Trick".

[cheezyflier]

Welcome back Kotter ... :mixedsmi:

http://espn.go.com/i/magazine/new/gabe_kaplan.jpg

[Ken Stallings]

Welcome back, man!

Ken

[GT182]

Welcome back Ferry. :wavey:

Mike, I'd love a copy of your instructions for a non destructive reinstall of XP... if I could. Email em to me if you want. Thanks in advance.

[jmig]

Welcome back! I hate computer problems.

:mad:

[Ferry_vO]

Mike, I'd love a copy of your instructions for a non destructive reinstall of XP...

I second that!

Most thing seem work so far; Windows live mail stopped working though so I got Mozilla Thunderbird in stead (Sick of trying to fix MS' problems..). Starting up the explorer seems awfully slow though. FsX, Fs2004 and Rise of Flight are installed (But far from complete, plenty of add-ons to put back!). Nhancer refuses to install at the moment, and the standard IE8 64-bit version has issues with Flash which is why I reverted back to the 32-bit version.