I'm running a Macbook Pro (it looks like the version is 3,1 - it's one of the ones from two years ago). I had a partition with Windows XP. Yesterday somehow the Windows side just broke. When I try to start it up, it halfway starts then gives up and shuts down. I don't have a hard copy of Windows and I didn't have a backup.
Is there anyway to fix it from the Mac side? I can see everything on the Mac side but can't actually touch it.
I had been hearing good things about Windows 7. If there isn't a way to fix it without losing everything maybe this is an opportunity to get a legal copy of Windows and start over.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Does a macbook have a rom or BIOS menu you can access? or does it use an extensible firmware interface?
if the latter, I dunno how to help ya.
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
Well, it's probably the Mac's fault. I've never heard of windows just crashing like that.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote:Well, it's probably the Mac's fault. I've never heard of windows just crashing like that.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Raym, have you tried time machine? I don't know if you can limit it to just your windows directories, but if it worked before, it should work again.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
quote:Does a macbook have a rom or BIOS menu you can access? or does it use an extensible firmware interface?
I don't really know what you mean by that. Someone suggested holding F8 to enter safe mode, which didn't work (I entered safe mode but it shut down anyway). Then I tried debug mode, which seems to have worked (I'm currently on the Windows side) but I don't know what caused the problem in the first place.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
In other news, I suddenly (a few days ago actually) can't watch youtube videos on the windows side. I recently went on a deleting spree, getting rid of files that I was pretty sure weren't important. (This may have been related to the Windows-suddenly-breaking thing, although it was a few days after the deleting spree before that happened). Is there a particular codec or anything you need downloaded to view youtube videos?)
Thirdly, what's the best method for backing up a Windows system? I'm pretty sure Time Machine doesn't do it.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
The first two things I would look at is free disk space and disk errors. When you create a partition, it is easy to not allocate enough free space. Windows needs at least 15% of it's disk drive free in order to run smoothly. If you go past that you will start to get random problems, including files disappearing--a nasty happening if it is a critical OS file.
If you can get into windows, make a boot disk, or get into Recovery Mode, then open up a command prompt and type "chkdsk c: /f /r" (assuming C: is your XP drive).
That will fix any disk errors or it will rope off bad sectors and put the data into good sectors. If part of your hard drive is bad (3%-5% bad is common), then it makes sure no critical files are in the bad sectors.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:I recently went on a deleting spree, getting rid of files that I was pretty sure weren't important.
*blink* What? Out of interest, from which Windows folders did you delete random files you couldn't recognize?
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I didn't think I deleted any files I didn't recognize - I was trying to delete applications that I knew I didn't use. However, it is possible that in my zeal I did something foolish. (For the record, this also means I have plenty of free disk space, so that's not the issue right now).
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Did you delete them, or did you uninstall them? There's actually a huge difference, at least in Windows. (With Macs, not so much; simply deleting the program's folder removes the program. On a Windows machine, doing that can be harmful to the OS.)
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I had been deleting things for a few weeks (mostly games I had downloaded that I didn't know how to uninstall). However, the night in question I finally discovered the install/uninstall control panel. I'm pretty sure that everything I got rid of that night was via the official channel, but at this point it's hard to tell what I actually got rid of and when. I don't expect people to know exactly what I did wrong, I was just hoping someone knew why Youtube might not be working. (As I said, I managed to start up in Debug mode, so Windows works for now at least)
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:I had been deleting things for a few weeks (mostly games I had downloaded that I didn't know how to uninstall). However, the night in question I finally discovered the install/uninstall control panel. I'm pretty sure that everything I got rid of that night was via the official channel, but at this point it's hard to tell what I actually got rid of and when.
i think i found the problem
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold:
quote:Well, it's probably the Mac's fault. I've never heard of windows just crashing like that.
And this is exactly right.
It's much harder to "customize" a Mac that way.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:I recently went on a deleting spree, getting rid of files that I was pretty sure weren't important.
*blink* What? Out of interest, from which Windows folders did you delete random files you couldn't recognize?
I heard a tech support story once about a woman who phoned in to get help when her computer wouldn't work any more. Seems she was a really super-organized kind of person, and the file system looked like a mess to her. So she made EXE, DLL, LOG, INI and CAB folders and sorted all her files into them.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
quote:I heard a tech support story once about a woman who phoned in to get help when her computer wouldn't work any more. Seems she was a really super-organized kind of person, and the file system looked like a mess to her. So she made EXE, DLL, LOG, INI and CAB folders and sorted all her files into them.
I can assure you I did nothing that drastic. While it is possible deleted something wrong, A) the night in question I was uninstalling things like trials for photoshop that had long since expired, B) even if I did delete something important by accident, it doesn't really help me to have someone say "well, you probably deleted something important." Okay, fine. What do I do about it?
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
If you don't have a Windows disk, there's likely nothing you can do about it.
But you can try downloading something along the lines of the "Ultimate book disk for windows" and try running chkdsk from a command prompt on the Windows partition.
a) has anyone hear used Windows 7 and have any good/bad things to say about it. I've been hearing pretty good things about it and if I need to get a physical disk I need to figure out which one to get.
b) is there a way to install Windows 7 without destroying my current files? (conversely, if I were to obtain an XP disk, do I need to worry about which version of XP I'm installing or anything?)
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I'm using Windows 7. It is rather good.
You cannot, however, upgrade from XP to Windows 7 without reformatting your Windows partition.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Really? I upgraded from XP to Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and I didn't have to reformat. It moved the old system directories to a Windows.old directory and installed the new OS in its place.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I would add that while there are probably upgrade/reinstallation options that are not supposed to destroy your old files (see windows.old mention above) I would still recommend making a backup to an external drive before doing anything as extensive as an OS installation. It's too easy for something to go wrong during the process or to choose the installation option that actually does wipe out the drive.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Yes, absolutely. I cloned my entire hard drive to a backup drive before I started the installation.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
Debug mode isn't working anymore, so all I have to work with is the files on the Mac side which I can see but not touch. I copied them all to an external hard drive, but my understanding is that's not the same as having an actual "backup" (not the least of which is because that hard drive isn't formatted for windows and I while I can find a program that formats it to be both windows-and-mac compatible, so far those programs are ONLY available for windows, which makes them temporarily useless.
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