Urgent Help Please I've killed my computer!

[kippax]

I have managed to totally kill my computer! It has been crashing for a while so I followed this link in a previous thread
schueymcfee Wednesday 19th October


Although you may be better off following this link www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/How_to_remove_a_Trojan_Virus_Worms_or_other_Malware-tut101.html

& I deleted lots of start up files that were showing not verified & now my computer will not start up! It just keeps retrying to start. I must have deleted an important start up file (now stuck on my dial up work lap top!)
Is there anything I can do (tried starting in safe mode it does same thing) short of throwing in bin what can I do?? I have lots of files etc. on the computer that I can't afford to lose!
Please help if you can

Thanks
Howard.

[ATG]

Sounds like you've munged your operating system. Fear not. All is not lost. You probably need to get hold of a boot disc so you can start the machine from a CD or floppy. Once started you may be able to repair or reinstall the OS (assuming you've kept the CDs that will have come with your PC when you bought it). If you have to re-instal the OS, be aware that your old "personal folders" directories may be deleted. If that is going to be a problem, you can always put a second hard disc in to your PC, install the operating system on it and boot from that. Your original disc will still be useable, so you won't have lost any files.

[slapmatt]

I'm assuming that you don't keep your data on a separate partition/physical drive to your operating system/program files?

If not...

Take the hard drive out, connect it to a working PC and then back up all your personal files. You can now nuke your hard drive and reinstall from scratch.

I think that's your best bet.

[kippax]

Where can I get hold of a boot disc ??
I have the XP disc but as my computer won't even start up just keeps re-booting itself i can't run anything from the drive how could I do this?
The only thing I can access is the set up facility by pressing delete as it is trying to re-boot.

Thanks
Howard.

[slapmatt]

If you go into your BIOS, by pressing Delete on start-up, then you can change the boot order. I imagine it'll be set to IDE0 or HD0 or something similar. Try changing it to CDROM (or similar) which should allow you to boot from your XP CD. But remember, if you install XP again, you'll lose everything that is in your My Documents folders and all of your settings - which could add up to alot of useful data.

[ultimasimon]

ATG said:

...you've munged your operating system

In all ther years I have been in IT I have never heard that expression before

Must be a Microsoft expression