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Windows XP - From Keyboard Problems To User Accounts

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OK I am absolutely desperate for some help with this - I'm actually
having to type this out on my dinner break at work because of the
seriousness (if that's a word) of this problem.

Here's the story.

Yesterday I got home from work, and I'd locked the computer
(Windows) with WindowsKay + L as normal, however when I returned
the keyboard had been tapping gibberish in as if keys were stuck
down, and I found that if I attempted to type that only the second row
of keys (ASD, etc.) would work. So I restarted in the hope that it would
sort itself out. When my computer started the BIOS it automatically
went to enter setup (where you have to press the DEL key) eventhough
I hadn't pressed anything and it was making the clicking noise that
indicated a key is held down. So I re-restarted it and help down two
other keys to make the DEL pressing irrelevant. This worked, but I
couldn't log-in because keys were still held down.

Obviously, I checked to see if the keys were infact stuck down and I
didn't find any to be stuck, regardless I gave the keyboard a clean.

I re-started again, and this time it got past BIOS, however this time I
got the error that "NTLDETECT" .sys or .dll was missing - eventhough I
didn't have the power to log-in or change anything!

After this, I inserted the Windows XP (home edition - that's what
version I'm using) to see if I could repair my copy. The recovery
console was no help, everything in use and such, so I deleted the
existing copy of windows and placed the essential windows file off the
CD onto my hard-drive.

Success! I managed to start up Windows! However, for some reason
my two HD's (C: WINDOWS and E: GAMES) have swapped letters, I can't
log into my old account, and can't access my old accounts (in
C:\Documents And Settings\username) documents, also I have no
Internet connection, none of the programs in C: Program Files are
registered properly and basically it's like a fresh install on someone
else's computer.

Here's what I _CAN'T_ do to fix this - Format, there are important files
on my Windows drive, and I can't connect to the internet as I'm not in
charge of the connection at home. (Mum's Partner is, and I'm currently
not speaking to him for personal reasons)

If someone can offer advice or a solution or even a temporary fix I'd
be so f******g grateful.

Please help!!!
TIA

-CMG

4 replies

by bens

I would personally recommend backing up those crucial files to an external drive, USB, DVD media or something as a starter. There is the option to Repair XP, and that doesn't mean Recovery Console. Here is a link for an actual repair: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

I think the changes of fixing the registry are slim - and you're actually better off backing up and reformatting.

You mention not being able to access your documents...are you getting any errors like Access Denied?? You can either boot off a recovery CD like BARTPE, which has a file manager to backup the data - or you can take ownership of your documents & settings folder. Check out this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421
In XP Home - you have to boot up in safe mode w/ admin to do this.

by nepenthe0

you might succeed with the Coolmax adapter:

http://tinyurl.com/42vfbl

1) Remove the crippled hard drive
2) Connect it to the Coolmax adapter
3) Connect the USB cable to another computer
4) The ailing hard drive will be assigned a drive letter in [i]Explorer[/i]

Hope this helps.

Rick/Portland, OR

by boxfiddler Hot topic

might be to utilize the Linux LiveCD Knoppix to recover your files, then do a clean install of Windows.

Set your BIOS to boot from CD, insert the Knoppix disk, and copy those files to a safe location.

Some information on Knoppix:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Knoppix usually comes with Introductory Linux books, too, Linux for Dummies, for example.

edit: It would probably be a good idea to have a spare keyboard around, just in case.

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