HELP ME!!! XP installation gone bad!
I ordered my girlfriend a new computer. She didn't want to format so I figured I'd try the old "uninstall all drivers, delete hardware in device manager" routine in safe mode and then upgrade the hardware. I've did it before flawlessly when I upgraded my mobo, ram, and CPU. Well, I did the aforementioned and upgraded my girlfriend's mobo, CPU, ram, and videcard, and Windows XP Pro simply won't boot. It gets to "start normally, safe mode, safe mode with networking, last known good configuration, etc." screen and it resets no matter what you choose after that. So I put in the XP CD and attempted to repair the XP installation.
The repair asked for a bunch of files that are usually in service pack 1, which isn't on my XP Pro CD. I skipped those files, and sure enough, Windows still won't boot (even though it will get to the loading screen and just sit there forever).
After waiting for 20 minutes at the loading screen, I took the HDD out of her PC and put it in another. I booted the other PC up and accessed her hard drive from my computer. She wants her files from the desktop. She was using her own user account that was password protected.
When I try to access her documents and settings folder, it says "access denied." I can't get to the files she had on her desktop from the other PC!!
What can I do? How do I get files off of a hard drive that is NOT corrupted, just with a bad XP installation. Putting the HDD into another computer won't work because it gives an access denied error and using the XP repair feature didn't work either.
Should I try to create a slipstreamed XP CD and repair it again, or is there a program or something I can use to get to her files and burn them before formatting?
She had years of files in a folder or two on her desktop and I can't get to them. Any comments or suggestions are highly appreciated. I may know a good deal about PC hardware, but when it comes to Windows errors, I'm clueless.
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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert
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