Safe Mode Recovery Help

[Monroe]

I have no clue to why my computer won't load Windows 98SE today ... it goes so far and just stops. Then because Windows didn't "fully load" it will go into Safe Mode and actually load there. I have some files that I need to get off the hard drive before I can use my Ghost backup ... so my question, how can I save those files? My flash drive won't load in Safe Mode, Nero won't burn to a CD, keeps shutting down due to an error. Is there any way or method to save files in Safe Mode?

Edited April 20, 2012 by duffy98

[jds]

I have no clue to why my computer won't load Windows 98SE today ... it goes so far and just stops. Then because Windows didn't "fully load" it will go into Safe Mode and actually load there. I have some files that I need to get off the hard drive before I can use my Ghost backup ... so my question, how can I save those files? My flash drive won't load in Safe Mode, Nero won't burn to a CD, keeps shutting down due to an error. Is there any way or method to save files in Safe Mode?

Maybe "Safe Mode with Networking" and uploading to an FTP server app running on another machine?

Or ... save another Ghost image and extract those files later from the Ghost image once you're operational again.

Or ... use DOS and USB drivers (and the 'doslfn' TSR if necessary) to save to your Flash drive.

Joe.

Edited April 20, 2012 by jds

[Monroe]

Thanks Joe for the ideas ... decided to do a Ghost backup and hope that I somehow can get the files off the DVDs with a recovery program. This file is rather large and would not be easy to replace. I was just ready to start burning everything to DVDs and the trouble started. Thanks again.

[submix8c]

Ghost Explorer should be able to access the GHO image(s).

[Monroe]

Thanks for the Ghost Explorer info. Won't matter this time ... too many problems ... went from bad to worse. Something major happened to my computer that I couldn't figure out. None of my Ghost backups would work ... Windows would not fully boot, none of my registry backups would fix anything. I just wiped the hard drive clean and will install everything over.

[dencorso]

When many known-good images fail to work on redeployment, to me, it smells of hardware problems...

[Monroe]

You may be right on dencorso, but for two days I tried to save those files ... and then I was just trying to get the computer up and running again. First I discovered that the hard drive serial number was disabled ... I used WipeDrivePro to enable the serial number to be "seen"again as someone online mentioned using that program for that ... no clue how that occurred. Every time I did a reboot, the start up process would stop, but I was able to get into Safe Mode. After sometime, I gave up on saving the files and decided to install Windows 98SE again ... formatted the drive and did a clean install but the boot up process stopped as before ... then I installed XP ... install went smooth but the boot up process stopped as it did earlier. I don't how many times I installed both Win 98SE and XP but I think after I discovered that the hard drive serial number was disabled and I fixed that, then it seems I was able to boot all the way with a fresh new install of both Windows 98SE and XP .... but when I put my Ghost backup on for Windows 98SE, it was the same as before ... would not complete the boot process. These Ghost backups were OK from before and did work.

I found some information online about the System Configuration Utility and was able to get into Windows 98SE to start unchecking boxes. After reinstalling the vxd files I wasn't any better off ... as I said earlier, none of my registry backup programs fixed the problem ... after the 2nd day and with PROBLEMCHYLD so close to be finished with his project, I just decided to do a fresh install on this one computer using the new unofficial SP 3 update. Will test it out but it will probably be a week or more just getting all the settings fixed and software installed. I still think something got messed up in the msconfig area but I am not knowledgeable enough to have figured it all out. My backups failed me.

I will make a new Ghost backup at several stages and when I am finished I will make a backup of the Windows folder onto a DVD. Hope to never run into that nightmare again. The files are slowly being found again and being replaced from memory. I was just minutes away from burning them to some DVDs but everything went south from the night before.

...

Edited April 23, 2012 by duffy98

[jds]

When many known-good images fail to work on redeployment, to me, it smells of hardware problems...

Or a virus (eg., perhaps those images are also infected).

BTW, what're the chances that Symantec Anti-virus can't scan Symantec Ghost images?

Joe.

Edited April 24, 2012 by jds

[Sfor]

My flash drive won't load in Safe Mode, Nero won't burn to a CD, keeps shutting down due to an error. Is there any way or method to save files in Safe Mode?

When it comes to getting USB flash drives working in Safe Mode, it is possible to use DOS drivers, for such a task. But, it is a road full of thorns, as it is relatively difficult to get DOS level drivers to work correctly.

The easiest thing would be to enable BIOS USB flash drive support, if available.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Sfor

[jds]

When it comes to getting USB flash drives working in Safe Mode, it is possible to use DOS drivers, for such a task. But, it is a road full of thorns, as it is relatively difficult to get DOS level drivers to work correctly.

Not really. Just the other day I needed to bootstrap a system that wouldn't even do Safe Mode. I simply took a minimal boot diskette and copied two driver files into a suitable directory (to keep the root directory neat and tidy) and then created the following 'config.sys' file (the first few lines are probably unnecessary, I just cut down an existing file) :

BREAK=ON
BUFFERS=30
FILES=45
LASTDRIVE=Z
FCBS=16,16

REM - Panasonic's universal USB-controller driver (formerly Novac)
device=A:\USB.DRV\USBASPI.SYS /v /w
REM - Adaptec's ASPI disk driver (supports partition table)
device=A:\USB.DRV\aspidisk.sys

Now I simply connected a USB hub (because this greatly improves compatibility with various Flash drives) and plugged a Flash drive into that.

So all it takes is a boot/recovery floppy with a little space for the two driver files and a simple 'config.sys'. Note the trick about using a USB hub, although a few (not many) hubs are incompatible with the Panasonic driver, so it helps to have a couple of different types in case their compatibility is unknown.

Joe.

[Monroe]

Thanks Joe and Sfor for the USB info ... I googled around and I see other talk about a definite "yes" with XP SP3. I will "experiment" with all this after I get this computer completely fixed. I tested the hard drive ... just bought it on ebay in Feb ... it was used but seller said it was close to new. All tests said the hard drive is OK. I am in the early stages of recovery. Yesterday, I formatted the drive, did a fresh install of Windows 98SE and installed U98SESP3 by PROBLEMCHYLD, all went well ... did a few Ghost backups at various stages, everything seems to be OK so far ... the Ghost backups work and I am now in the process of installing all the IBM Thinkpad drivers and then all that software that I had on before. Computer fully starts but I will keep making some Ghost backups along the way ... even now, I would hate to have to start completely over. Later I will try to see if I can get USB flash drives to work in Safe Mode.

...