Please help with problems

[IrishUK]

Hi, from the UK, I just joined this forum a couple of hours ago hoping to find a solution to my desktop PC problem.
I'm using a HP Compaq Microtower DX2300 X86-based PC (32 bit). Purchased 10 month ago. Operating system = Vista Business Premium.

Lost Administration rights so unable to install any programs nor could I uninstall unwanted programs, - Unable to do a System Restore or Discscan. Last Windows update was in July this year and Windows Defender failed to defend although I do have AVG running continuously. Now System Restore provides only the manufacture date which is July 2007, months before I got the system.

Last Friday after speaking to HP technical it was deemed that I have probably a corrupt C:// harddrive and would need to reinstall the system again and loose all my folders, files etc and start again.:sa: Naturally I'm quaking in fear of loosing all items not backed up on discs.

I tried System restore from Safe Mode which did present 2 dates prior to last update in July so I chose the earlier date and the system blanked out on me.

On restarting the PC I can log into the Standard user account but it doesn't recognise the password for other one which is me as the Administrator. In the Standard user account it says C:// is not accessible so I can't install any recovery discs to the PC. It won't permit me to burn Recovery discs to CD.

Every few minutes a tab appears saying "Microsoft Feeds Synchronization has stopped working"

I don't have a 8Gb USB removable stick but I do have an external hard drive linked to my PC, would I be able to use Recovery disc from there or am I too late for recovery? Send me an ambulance, quick.

I hope I given enough information here and I appreciate your assistance.
Give me good news please.

 

[mansrm81]

When your computer starts the compaq screen shows you should be able to use the recovery to reinstall the os by pressing F11 since you can't get access to the admin account to burn the recovery discs.

 

[Chappy]

Why not burn all your wanted data to DVD's or CD's, or transfer them to another drive and then reinstall again? Does this account limitation not allow you to transfer any data from out of the OS partition?

You may well be able to save almost all of your personal data during this reinstallation too if the above is the case here. Formatting doesn't actually remove Anything from your drive, but overwriting it does, so basically only the areas overwritten by the OS files will be lost, the rest should be recoverable.

There are many Data Recovery programs available that can do the job for you, some Free, some not. It depends on how much your personal data is worth to you I guess, but I prefer to use Runtime GetData or R-Studio because I have used both extensively and always have great results. Just Google Data Recovery and you'll have plenty to go thru.
One thing to ALWAYS remember...NEVER try to recover data from the same partition as the Data recovery program is installed on, you can make the OS corrupt or lose data. The simplest way to use them is from a small partition you create for it or from a CD as the better ones will allow you to do.

Good Luck

 

[IrishUK]

Chappy & mansrm81, thanks for your replies, sorry not to get back to you before now but something happened back at the telephone exchange and I lost Internet connection for 5 days. I know they are refurbishing the exchange building so maybe somebody pulled the plug. As for my PC, it is in the same crytical state. I may need step by step guidance on this, in easy to comprehend steps.

mansrm81, I know of the F11 recovery key but was afraid of losing all my work and files if I took that action. I suspect I may lose everything but I need to try the actions that will not wipe out my work.

Chappy, I can't copy or burn anything to the CD/DVD player but I can open and run a disc in the player. I can't create a folder, a tab appears stating "C:\ is not accessible Access is denied"

In this standard account I am very limited as to what I can do. In C properties it states that C is full with no empty space, so I assume my work still exists.

I would appreciate your help with this.

IrishUK

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

you could try this , if you have access to another pc to download and burn as bootable to a cd using isorecorder

PCLoginNow, Reset or Recover Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista Administrator Password.

PCLoginNow, How to Reset or Recover Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista Administrator Password with PCLoginNow.

See also this tutorial and the posts on page 4

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/102005-reset-user-account-password.html

Hope it helps

SIW2

 

[IrishUK]

SIW2, I'm back at long last to say a BIG thank you for the "PCLoginNow" link. :D

I waited for over a week to have that software burned onto a disc for me, my IT buddy who lives out of town forgot to bring it with him last weekend, then he posted it on Monday and I still haven't received it so I arranged to meet him again today, forced his arm up his back and he surrendered another copy to me which has magically got me access to my PC login account again.

But I still have some problems, Even though I am the Administrator I still don't have Admin rights. I can't un-install unwanted programs or install previously downloaded ones. Also I still can't update Windows, there are 28 updates waiting to be installed. An error code 80070043 is displayed on update failure. I'm sure other problems may show up in the next day or two. :huh:

I'm hoping you might be able to shine some light.

Thanks again
IrishUK

 

[caretaker]

Make a new admin account then boot in to safe mode with networking and do an online virus and spyware scan. Seen that problem lots of times. Should fix all your problems.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

Definitely worth creating another Admin account - if you can't do it in Vista , try it in Safe Mode. See if the Admin privileges apply to that new account - if so , use that instead.

Also worth doing malware check as suggested by caretaker.

If all else fails, you could try resetting the security settings

How to reset security settings back to the defaults

Note what it says about making a backup , even if you have to copy stuff manually to an external hd or cd/dvd - you might want to use Windows easy transfer program . A backup is always useful for the future - it's a good idea keep to update it periodically.

Hope it helps

SIW2

 

[IrishUK]

Hi Caretaker and SIW2, thanks guys for the quick response, I will follow your lead and respond soon, hopefully with more good news.
Thanks again SIW2 for helping me get this close to normality again.

IrishUK