Window xp chkdsk? desktop/icons/files gone!Please help me..
I have windows xp media edition. I re-started my comp, this screen came up while I was away stating chkdsk had checked my computer. It came back on, and everything looks as default! My icons are gone except an empty recyle bin, it won't restore back to before the checkpoint. IE7? I can't use it because it's asking me if I'm sure I want to or pick another provider. It looks like it's at factory settings,save a few programs that were games that I had downloaded. Where the heck are my files? I know they are there if the games are. All of my icons, my documents.music,wallpaper, photos everything..gone.Someone PLEASE help me. My husbands chemo diary was all in here,ontop of many many other things. Why did it do a checkpoint thing on re-start? How do I find my files and original desk top? This is a 5-6 yr. old comp. I never had this happen before..Thank you so much in advance. I just did a search for a shortcut,found it in mydocs/adm...cannot find/access it. Guest access is disabled.I'm the adm...I don't know what to do..1 person needs an answerI do too
March 19th, 2010 11:33pm

Enable viewing hidden and protected operating system files from Control Panel>Folder Options>View tab. Now navigate to C:\Documents and Settings and see if there are any other user accounts shown there. If you see your regular account, drill down to My Documents. Is your data still there? If yes, immediately copy those files to an external hard drive. If you do not see any other accounts and cannot find your files, stop using the computer immediately. Are you saying that you don't have any backups? If you don't have backups then you will probably need to run data recovery software. The hard drive is probably starting to fail. This is no surprise on a computer that is that old and why having current backups is so important. I'll give you the data recovery information below but for future disaster strategy planning please see http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Backing_Up IMPORTANT - If there is any question that the drive is at fault - it's making noises for instance - and the data is crucial DO NOTHING FURTHER ON THE DRIVE . Every time you spin that drive up you may be destroying data. If this is the case, send the drive to a professional data recovery company. I use Drive Savers for my clients, but there are others. General prices run from $500-$3,700 with an average of around $2,700. I understand that some insurance companies are now covering data recovery costs so check with your insurer. Drive Savers - http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/ IMPORTANT - If you think the drive is physically healthy, it may be possible to retrieve the data by software methods. DO NOTHING FURTHER ON THE DRIVE . The data is still on the hard drive but if you overwrite it, it will be extremely difficult or impossible to recover it. If you use data recovery software, install it on another machine and either use it from that operating system or create a bootable cd/floppy and work with that. If you don't have the skill and/or equipment to do these procedures and the data is crucial, take the machine to a professional computer repair shop that has experience in doing data recovery. This will not be a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. In-shop data recovery is usually not exactly cheap (for example, my charges are generally $150-350USD), but it normally costs less than sending the drive to a company like Drive Savers . You need to make the determination of the value of your data and decide what to do. R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/ Recuva - http://www.piriform.com/recuva Restoration - http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html PCInspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm Executive Software “Undelete” - http://www.undelete.com/undelete/undelete.aspMS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
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March 20th, 2010 3:29pm

ok, I did what you said in the first paragraph, and they were alll there in the c drive. Thank you SO much! my desktop is there aso,but I have nooo idea how to get that back up, so I just manually went thru everything,made shortcuts (left the file there & intact) and re-set up my wallpaper and stuff. I had forgotten that someone in here, went to the run command,and went to service manager or something. Thats when the thing started bogging down and acting up. And this chkdsk happened. I hope whoever messed with it, didn't set it to start every time I shut it down.. I just sent shortcuts of all the stuff to a folder on my desktop, it's all I could think of. I also, never backed this up...I didn't know how. I still don't but will go to your link to try. I don't know what services are specifically needed for this comp, so I don't know what to do now. My husband says his friend went into the run command, something about the service manager was put in,and things were chenged to auto,manual,or off, but of course, we can't find the "friend" now. I don't even know what to type into the box to pull up the services, let alone what to keep running as auto,manual or not at all. No, my computer makes no noise, nothing. It runs and worked until this incident, nice & smooth. Thank you so very much for helping me, and I do mean that. Like I said,my husbands chemo diary was there,that is a much needed file. Thank you again, I'll do my best to try to figure this out:) Debbie
March 20th, 2010 11:24pm

It sounds as though you were logged into a temporary user account because your original account is corrupted. Create a new user account for yourself and copy all your files to it. Read the information at the backup link I gave you. It might be a good idea to take the machine to a local professional and have them sort things out, show you how to back up, etc. If you do this, don't use a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. And don't let your husband's "friend" touch the machine again. ;-)MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 21st, 2010 12:23am

Thank you. OOOh, I'll never go out again,lol. He says it was acting up, he called his "friend", who came over. The next day was when it started bogging down and everything, & when I re-started it, the chkdsk happened. I really can't afford right now to take this anywhere. I don't know if it'll do it again. As a matter of fact, I'm scared to shut it down to see if it'll do it again. I don't know how to creat a new user acct., I'm surfing the web all over the place trying to figure out why this happened, what this run service manager thing is, and what does & doesn't need to be running. I have to try to teach myself..ugh. This, is not a good thing to be trying to do.. If I knew how, I'd passcode this baby off so no one could use it at all but me... This is horrible lol. With my old old comp, I knew how to do all this stuff. Believe me...the "friend"? Will not touch this again...or my husband for that fact,as soon as I figure out if I can lock him out. Then, I'll try to teach myself what to do, and more than likely end up throwing this thing in the trash when I mess it up lol.
March 22nd, 2010 9:38pm

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783 MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 23rd, 2010 1:05am

I love you ;) Thank you so much!
March 23rd, 2010 2:51am

YW. Let me know if you need further help.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 23rd, 2010 2:33pm

I just wish,, I could pay you or something.My explorerer...everything..this is so messed up I can't see straight. I found the file with the original desktop/explorer eveything (had to be taken to a shop 2 yrs. ago..they named the comp Debra,something something on me).Everything is there, but theres not one file, there are 3 named Debra, just followed by different numbers. I found the one that went missing, but can't figure out how to put everything back, including settings. So, then I went on a manhunt for this "service manager run command" thing that my husbands friend<cough> used..and I have no idea what is supposed to be running or not. I left it alone. Today,while I was still in bed, my husband used this, and now? I have ask.com for searching?? omg, I just want to throw the d**n thing out, along with him. I don't know what to do...
March 24th, 2010 10:57pm

If you feel you could pay me then you should take the machine to a local professional instead. I don't do remote work so can't help you but finding a good tech who will straighten out the mess and explain things to you is a very useful thing to do. I have no idea what the "service manager run command" is supposed to be nor why you would be messing with services.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 24th, 2010 11:31pm

I said, I wish I could pay you,lol, but I can't afford to pay anyone right now as my husband has been out of work with cancer. I didn't mess with those service settings, my husbands friend did. He told me his friend went into there. I had to find the run service command online to see what he was talking about. It's service.msc. I just looked, I have no idea what those settings are supposed to be, or were. I didn't touch anything. This all happened when I went out, the next day, the computer was bogging down, and when I re-started it, I went to make coffee. While I waited for it to re-start. I came back in, and it had went to chkdsk and just messed up all over the place. Lost my desktop,docs(including chemo diary),music, videos, everything. Even my explorer is a wreck.My guest log on is disabled, I can't restore to previous point before this happend..you name it, it's wrong. As you told me to look, I did find these settings/files/desktop in the c:drive. But, I don't know how to re-set eveything back to where it was. My safe mode F8 is not working, my explorer is working but not the way it was as far as settings,my virus ware is not working,guest access is dis-abled...like I said, this is now because of his friend, a mess. What I DID do, was go to msconfig to see if my virus ware was dis-abled, and it's not. I am so sorry to have kept bothering you, I really am. I am in full blown panic mode because I don't know what else to do. I am sorry if I may have wasted your time. I hope you'll forgive it,and hope you see, I was & am, a wreck over this. Thank you so very much for eveything you've done for me though. I truly truly appreciate it,and cannot stress it enough. I just don't know what to do anymore.. Debbie
March 25th, 2010 1:06am

You have not wasted my time and there is no need to be sorry. Back up your data to an external hard drive and reinstall Windows/restore to factory. How you do this depends on what type of computer you have. Then you will have everything set up the way it should be. http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What you will need on-hand MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 25th, 2010 2:17am

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