Hello Hugh!
Thanks for the reply. Yes, the customer did mention an onslaught of popups
just before the meltdown. For the XP cd repairs. I tried both available from
the CD. I saw no useful commands from the command line repair. And the
reinstall repair didn't change a thing. But, hmmm, I wonder if I had created
a new profile name rather than just use the same one that was broken.
Because the customer "needed" the laptop yesterday, I decided to go with a
reformat and reinstall. Everything works like a charm now, so the problem is
solved. But if anyone has any further ideas or suggestions, I would love to
hear them (if it happened once, it'll happen again).
Thanks again Hugh!
And to Peter E.
Thanks for that great list of boot disk makers - that's a keeper! I had made
a Bart's PE and tried that: again, no way to play with (or make new)
profiles that I saw. I did get the client's data off the computer using a
Ubuntu 8.10 CD. Thanks again!
Best, Will
Will Stephenson
Acadia Technologies Inc
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Subject: Corrupt profile maybe
Hello Listers!
I have a problem with an Inspiron 1520 laptop (XP Home, SP3) that I'm trying
to fix without succumbing to the ultimate solution (reformat and install:
always an option but not desirable).
The computer boots fine, I choose the profile on the welcome screen, it goes
to the desktop...and just sits there. No icons, no task bar or start button,
no nothing but the desktop background picture. ALT+CTRL+DEL does nothing.
The hard drive seems to be working, but again nothing.
Here's what I have tried:
1. Boot into safe mode. Gets to the welcome screen, but clicking on the user
account name or the administrator account gives the impression that it's
going somewhere, then very quickly informs me that the account settings are
being saved, and we are back at the welcome screen.
2. I have done the complete Dell hardware diagnostic tests (memory, hard
drive, video, etc.). All have passed.
3. I have done a repair reinstall from the CD (keeping the profile). Same
result.
I am guessing that the profile is corrupted, but am hardly confident with
that assessment. I have searched around for ways to fix that, but have come
up with "get into Windows, create a new administrator-type account, then
transfer everything over to it. But since I can't get into Windows to do
that, I am unable to do that.
Would anyone have any idea how to proceed with this? Thanks in advance for
your time and thoughts!
Best, Will
Will Stephenson
Acadia Technologies Inc
mailto:[log in to unmask]
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 15:08:30 -0700
From: Hugh Vandervoort <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Corrupt profile maybe
That's a very unusual situation, in my experience.
It doesn't seem likely that two profiles (Admin and User) would be corrupt
at the same time.
Was there any problem prior to this, such as a virus or spyware?
I'd try chkdsk /r, from recovery console, since not much else seems
available.
What kind of repair install did you do?
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Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>
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