help save my computer!

[SPIDER-BITE]

ooooooooooook. Here it goes. On the 23rd i got a dvd burner. The guy that installed it (my mums friend recommended him) worked out of his garage. Went there, dropped it off and picked it up later in the day. The whoooooole reason why i wanted a dvd burner was to make it easy to back up my junk. And wen i took it in to get installed i had like 100megs hard drive space left. Hense why i needed the burner. Anyway wen i went to pick it up the guy mentioned he had trouble installing the software because of my lack of space. I never wanted his bogus FREEWARE software that he charged my mum for. Any way. Get home and go on my comp. And there are all these config files EVERYWHERE. Like the one in my pictures is called 'thumbs'. And then i couldnt change the name of any of my files because wen it did it turned them into dat files, i think they're called dat, u know when u have to choose wat program to open it with. Anyway all over my comp were these new hidden folders with all these systems crap stuff in it. I figured he did all this to make room. But let me slow down and tell u another thing. I found this folder he made with all these install shields for cd-rom games i have installed. He stole my programs!!! i dont know how he made the install shields but he did. So yesterday i went on my comp and i thought, screw u guy who put this trash on my comp, wen i take thy files onto my reformatted comp i dont want all ur **** configs there. So i deleted anything i found that wasnt there before i took it in to him. Ignoring all the crap about system tools and wont be able to function without them. I figured it worked fine without them. Then today wen i turned on my comp it wouldnt boot and said missing NTRDL or something like that. And it said to insert systems disk. So i inserted my xp cd and u can do commands and wat not. So if any1 nows the commands to get my comp back to normal so i can backup my stuff pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez help me.
I dont want to lose my tens of thousands of pictures that i've saved over the past 3 years. Or my vid files. Or my documents. Or my installs for firefox and all that type of thing. please help.
PS. im using my mums comp to type this incase ur confused.

 

[Nuttzy]

now that youve already deleted those files,its too late to go back and fix it,

seems a full reformat is you only available option, (that includes deleting whatever software he installed to make your dvd burner work) so that means you should getthat guy to give your moms money back, and if he doesnt, well, you just got owned

 

[imported_KelesK]

If I'm not mistaken you can back them up onto another hard drive, just make the ****ed one the secondary and the other primary, back up what you need an presto.

That is, provided, you havent ****ed something good.

 

[Tassadar]

What the techie did was make hidden folders and files visible, that's why you can see your system junk, if your deleted any of that, your most likely screwed. The reason for the .dat file problem is because he changed an option that shows the file extensions on files. When you click to rename a file, it highlights all of it, including the extension. For example, if you have Song.mp3 and you click rename, then hit backspace, the .mp3 part is now gone, and the file type changes to .dat.

About the error, it'd be best to know exactly what it is and what it says. Are you sure it's not NTLDR? That's a valid file Windows needs to boot up.

 

[Enix]

Well...I have been rebuilding a PC in my spare time and ran into the NTLDR thing.
Your just going to have to reformat. Unless someone else here knows a way
to restore your system. And that deleting spree you went on is probally the reason
you cant boot. You might have deleted something important. And I don't think
a computer wiz would want to steal your programs when he can just go download
his own....The installs where probally just the "freeware" programs he put on there.
And "thumbs" isn't nothing special, it usually comes in a downloaded html file or
a zipped picture. So deleting that wouldn't have caused it. I suggest reformatting.
Did you go back to the guy and ask him wtf he did? And have him fix it, he can't
charge you to fix something he messed up, but he can charge to fix something
you messed up.

 

[Tassadar]

Here's a link and some info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320397

Cause:

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.

And the thumbs file is a database file created when you look at pictures in the thumbnail format (by clicking View - Thumbnails).

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

so i should just give up hope.
And by the way nuttzy. He did give me the cd-rom with all the LEGAL dvd software. And the file extension name thing, yeah i figured as much with the JPG and all that.
Meh, really pissed off at that bloody hairy singlet sweat patch bastard. Why the hell make all the folders visible for no reason. Just so it was easier for him to be a software thief. It's alllllllllll very ironic. I got the burner to back up stuff. And it did the complete opposite.
the error in boot up is "NTLDR is missing".

 

[Iyce Da Kidd]

you shouldn't need to reformat... just take out the dvd drive and system restore to an earlier date.

 

[Tassadar]

You could always try to run XP setup. Boot from the XP CD and try to Repair an XP installation, and try copying NTLDR from your XP cd to copy the file.

Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e: \i386\ntldr c: \
copy ntdetect.com c: \
(Make sure there are no spaces in between the C: and \, stupid smilies)

Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

 

[Enix]

Well, you mentioned you deleted alot of stuff that you saw visible. Those things where probally very important. So its not "giving up hope" its more like the only option you have.
Either reformat or try to reinstall windows...which will probally make you reformat anyway.

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

I would not call him a techie. I doubt if he knows anything about computers. He's a stupid wog who runs some bs business on the side in his garage installing computer parts. That's all he knows. Just how to put the parts in. So dont build him up.
The install shields werent freeware. THey were star wars battlefront and all my games. I know what programs he put in. He put in slysoft. It's this program that disbales copyright so u can copy dvds. And yes i am fully aware my deleting spree caused the boot problem. I never doubted that.

So is there anyway that i can get a new harddrive i and reformat. And then out my old harddrive in as a secondary to extract my old stuff. Coz it has pictures from my formal and stuff taht are irreplaceable.

 

[Tassadar]

I suggest you try repairing the XP before reformatting, look at my above post, there's a chance for your files yet.

 

[Enix]

Then why did you go to the guy in the first place? If you think you could do better then you should have done it yourself, its more fun that way. Cause if you screw up the only one to blame is yourself, and you wont have to worry about blaming it on a techie .

But who cares right now, stop complaining about the techie and fix the problem at hand, and then if you have any energy left go ***** the techie out for no reason...

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

copy e: \i386\ntldr c: \
copy ntdetect.com c: \
Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

I did the 1st step and it worked. And i did the second 1 but it wouldnt work. And i dont know what it is. ntdetect.com, does it copy the file off the net or something? Any way. I restated and it boots up normally at 1st, but wen it gets up to verifying pool blah blah it shuts off. Then starts up again and does wat it just did. And if i leave it on it starts booting u then shuts down, starts booting u then shuts down, starts booting u then shuts down and on an on it goes.

 

[Tassadar]

Ack, sorry. What you want to type for the 2nd step is copy e: \i386\ntdetect.com c: \

So, the steps go like this:
copy e: \i386\ntldr c: \
copy e: \i386\ntdetect.com c: \

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

but since it's got it's whole boot up and shut down frenzy how do i get it back to where i can type that in?

 

[Tassadar]

Check your PM box Spider.

Anyway, you should still be able to get into the XP load screen, if not, you'll have to use a floppy disk, get into DOS, and do it that way, in which case you use the exact same commands.

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

i somehow got into DOS and entered the correct thing.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Tassadar IT'S FIXED! I LOVE U. If u ever need help with anything i'll do my best to help u out. Like u know when u save someone's life and then u owe them till u save theirs.

 

[Enix]

Haha, "Once again the day is saved thanks to... Tassadar!"

[powerpuff girl theme]

Du du dudududu du..du du du dududu!!!!! DU!!!

 

[SPIDER-BITE]

u can close this thread now mods.