XP boot up problem...need Guru Help only

Hello...I have a Dell Inspiron 600 m Laptop. XP will not load because of a missing or corrupt file; \WINDOWS\system32\c_437.nls I can't run repair from setup because it is asking for an administrative password before proceeding. I need to recover my data so reinstall won't work for me. I suspect a virus because I am the only user and do not ever recall setting a password for OS startup. Any ideas around this would be appreciated. I know that I could back up with another computer but this is dificult for me to arrange. Thanks...Sue

 

Did you just leave the password field blank and hit the enter button to continue?

 

Well...Yes, as a matter of fact I did. My computer laughed at me and told me that I had just tried the "oldest trick in the book" but thanks Just Playin. Keep the suggestions flowing...Sue

 

New "kink" in the problem...I am past the password prompt. I am in the Recovery Console. Tried FIXBOOT. Still get the same file corruption message. Guessed a password and it worked. Who knew? So, now what? Thanks...Sue

 

1. do you have a second computer.

if you answerd yes i would take the problem drive out and place it as a secondeary drive in another computer and get all your data off. then i would put the drive in the original computer and reinstall xp. fixing it at this point espiccaly if there is a virus may be to diffucult and will continue to be buggy.

 

A chkdsk /r will sometimes fix this. However, any sort of chkdsk has a slight chance of data loss, so if the data is truely unreplacable that might be an option.

Renaming c:\windows\system32\c_437.nls and re-extracting it from the O/S CD might work as well, and won't risk data loss.

Basically, just do this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830088/en-us , except instead of "C_1252.nls", use "c_437.nls". (bear in mind, the repair install/"in place upgrade" mentioned also has a low risk to pooch data, so be advised before trying it.)

Like "taz55" suggested, this may not be real stable even after it boots, so I would recommend you back up data ASAP, even if things seem ok.

Best of luck!

 

Hi Gecks and Taz,
Thank you so much for your advice. I contacted Dell support and they are fairly certain it is a hard drive problem and I should receive a new one tomorrow. My concern now is for my data on my old drive. I am supposed to slave the old drive after installing the new one. I have to go and get some sort of case to put my old drive in. I am a little nervous abou this but will give it the the "the newbie geek" try. I have slaved some drives briefly for tests in class but never for serious data exchange. Do either of you have any advice before I dive in? Thanks, Sue

 

there is no real need for a external case. your computer case should have a spot for it. or just sorta let it hang out of the case. the easist way is put the new drive in as master on the primary ide controller. pull your ribbon off your cdrom and put it on the old drive and set the drive to cs (cable select). this is the quickest way in my opinion i do it at work like this. you can always opt to put both on the same controlller. its really up to you. boot up your computer and look into the old drive and just copy over what you can.

if you are installing the os on the new drive i highly recomend not haveing your old drive hooked up at all untill your new drive is up and running. by doing this you pretty much garuntee nothing bad will happen.

 

I haven't opened up the drive yet but I will be hooking up the old drive through a USB port so I will have to purchase one of those slim hard drive cases. This is a laptop so I don't know how else this would work. Sue

 

sorry i forgot about the laptop part. well they do sell the adapter to go from the laptop interface to ide. but what you said should work fine. since it is usb it will just see it as another drive. and you should have no problem.