Hi,

I have a serious problem. I have installed a software and tried to run the software. The system

suddenly hung. I tried to restart the system. It adviced me to start the system in safe mode. I did

so. But it never started. It said " WINDOWS PROTECTION ERROR. RESTART YOU COMPUTER" I tried

again  but the same issue arised. So I tried starting in the normal mode. But it restarted and gave me

the same screen where I needed to select safe or normal mode. I have tried many times but I am

unable to start the system. The software I downloaded is a reliable one. I downloaded it from

www.download.com. Please help me. I have very important files on my system. Please tell me what to

do. Also, I reformatted the system just a couple of days back and I checked for viruses and spyware

today morning.

Thanks,
Nalini Reddy

These are my system specifications:

System make : Hewlett packard pavilion
Operating system: Windows Me
RAM  : 256 MB
Hard drive : 40 GB
Processor: Pentium III, 866 Mhz

Please help.This does not SOUND good at all. You do not have these important files backed up? I would suggest GETTING them off first (with a Linux Live CD if nothing else to a pen drive or across a network. How many megabytes of fiules are involved?

You could try deleting Windows and reinstalling or just reinstall over the top if neccessary.

I won't go into the need for backing up files on something other that your primary hard drive right now. But this is a great example of why dividing your drive into TWO partitions can be very helpful, storing your data files on the other partition from your operating system.  Believe it or not, I currently have the exact same problem.

Anyone have any additional advice?Azuma,

your issues may not be identical although the problem seems to be. It's not nice to hijack someone else's thread, but did you take the above advice?Sorry, I didn't think of it as stealing a thread but possibly trying to find a common solution to a seemingly similar problem (as opposed to starting a new thread).

As far as the problem itself, I'm exploring possible ways to SALVAGE my un-backed up memory (the school year just got out and the LAST time I backed up was at Christmas), for those files are my primary concern.  Then, I know I can easily just use the Restore CD to reset windows.  As above:

I would suggest getting them off first (with a Linux Live CD if nothing else) to a pen drive or across a network. You could also slave that hard drive into a working computer with a CDRW to back them up. How many megabytes of files are involved?
 
Well.... since we're talking semi-essential files, probably about 500mb - 1gb.  I feel like about my last half year's worth of work is on the verge of being lost.

Right about now, I'm feeling very foolish in only backing up my computer every six months.

I'm thinking about slaving the hard drive into a working computer, but that could get ugly.

Thanks for your advice.A Linux Live CD is free and a pen drive is cheap. You could easily send across a wirless network to another machine as well...... Not ugly and very safe.  good idea... Any advice as to where to find that?  I'll look into that first thing on Tuesday; until then, I'm just going to try not to think about it too much.

Again, thanks for the help and sorry about the thread taking-over thing (to both GX1_Man and nalinix)What are the specifics on the machine - CPU and RAM?Well... I'll try my best (you say more is better)(the computer is about 5 years old now)


eMachines T1905
Windows ME
128mb SyncRam
30gb harddrive (only about 10gb are being used)
MSN 56K Modem
8x CD-RW

(I'm planning on getting a laptop later this summer)
Have someone download Knoppix and then burn it as an ISO with Nero, etc. to a CD. (Any one with a CDRW should know what an ISO is.) Boot with the CD in the drive of your machine.

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/version.php?version=208