here's a conundrum

Acrylic-bob · 20-02-2005, 11:52

A couple of weeks ago my Desktop PC got worms and crashed. It is a Hewlet Packard machine running Windows 98 and is so far out of warranty that it does not bear thinking about.

It is an old machine but I love it and would like to get it back up and running again, not least because there is tons of stuff -several gigabytes- on the hard drive that it would be really useful to get hold of again.

The problem is this, when it starts up it gets to the point where it installs the desktop, it puts the background image up and a little message which reads "explorer caused an invalid page fault in module explorer.exe at 017f:00401f31" and then goes on to list a bunch of registers.

Even though it is ten years since I last played with DOS, I have tried successfully renaming the file in DOS thinking that if it couldn't find the damaged file it couldn't load it, with the result that the machine told me to reinstall windows.

I have tried copying explorer.exe from another Win 98 machine and copied it into C:\Windows only to get the same page fault warning as before.

Clicking on the OK button in the message makes it go away but the machine just stops right there.

I have a recovery CD but DOS does not recognise drive D: and there is no other way that I can think of to get the cd reader to work.

Is there anyone out there who has any ideas??

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 12:37

A-B, I have a solution for you. It will either let you burn it off or if there is a network card in there allow you to squirt teh data over the network to another machine.

On your good machine go to www.knoppix.org. Select the UK/USA flag to switch to english. Down the bottom select Downloads. Select the Mirror.ac.uk http link(or ftp if you know how to use ftp). Accept the license agreement. You will then get a page with a directory listing.

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 12:43

Then look for a file Down the bottom called KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso It is 700Meg. Click this to download.

When its downloaded use Nero or whatever you have to burn the disc image(iso) to CD. This will create a bootable disk with a full OS on it. It is Linux, something you probably know I use as an alternative to Windows. This is a special version because you do not install it to hard disk. It runs purely from CD. Stick teh disc in the old HP machine and boot teh machine. If it doesn't boot from teh CD you need to change it in teh BIOS. Let me know if you don't know how to do this

(Step three coming next)

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 12:52

When it first boots it stops at a boot: prompt. type knoppix26 and press return. It will now boot the machine into a fully working system. If you watch the screen you will see it scan your machine to see what hardware is installed etc. You get a nice GUI with LOTS of programs to use. It will run a bit slow as CD is a lot slower than HD and it has to decompress the programs first as there are over 2 gig worth of programs squeezed into 700M.

Let me know if you want to go down the squirting over network or burning to CD and I'll talki you through the next stage.

PS If you want walking through it add my MSN user [email protected] and I'll chat you through via MSN in realtime

Ian

Acrylic-bob · 20-02-2005, 13:05

Thanks Entwisi, Ive got to the download bit, but at at download rate of 56KBps it is going to take the next three hours.

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 13:56

Aye, I know, even BB seems slow sometimes

Its a very useful disc to have around. You can rescue knackered systems with it.

Speak soon

Ian

Acrylic-bob · 20-02-2005, 16:09

There are times you really want to throw the Bl**dy thing through the window. With 25 minutes to run on the download the bl**dy modem decided to drop the line! So much for a service that is supposed to be "Always on". Not for the first time I wonder what I am paying £27 a month for.

Is there anywhere that I can find this on a CD, or a faster download site?

Steven · 20-02-2005, 17:02

i have had a look around but cant find any

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 18:39

A-B If you use an ftp site and a decent FTP client(WS-FTP or CuteFTP or AceFTP) then you can restart the download where it dropped out. I have a copy of teh iso on my PC. Where do you live I'll burna copy and drop it off.

Ian

vorlon24 · 20-02-2005, 20:17

This isn't a solution, more of a thought - if you are paying £27 per month for dial-up, it sounds like someone is ripping you off.

I pay less than that for broadband

Acrylic-bob · 20-02-2005, 20:20

It's Ok chaps, and thanks for the offer Entwisi, I have managed to get it downloaded at the second attempt.

Now I have to go out, so it will be tomorrow before I can use it. Should be fun!

Acrylic-bob · 20-02-2005, 20:21

Vorlon: Isn't that BT all over?

vorlon24 · 20-02-2005, 20:27

As long as you're not in a contract, there are plenty of companies out there who would be happy to take less of your hard-earned cash and deliver a faster, more reliable service!

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 20:31

I don't think its dial up Vorlon, 3 hours for 700Meg is 512K BB.

I think its just that A-B uses a BB modem rather than a modem router that the more technical users know is the right way forward.

Ian

entwisi · 20-02-2005, 20:38

However you are right, £27 is a lot. A-B have a look here http://www.eclipse.net.uk/ if you don't use Peer 2 Peer (2Meg link, 1 Gig Cap for £15/month, £1.75/Gig over the 1 Gig limit) or www.xtreme.pipex.net for unlimited 512K for £24 a month.

Ian