Trying to help out a family member whose computer has crashed. It is a Compaq desktop that came with Recovery CDs, that I assume are just images of the machines state when it left the manufacturer. Naturally, the user doesn't want to lose all of his data, so I need WinXP's Recovery Console to see if I can disable some services, etc. and, maybe, get the system running. I've tried to call Compaq for information, but sounds like they can't help.
The system had Norton GoBack installed, but reverting to a previous time doesn't solve the problem. Tried Safe Mode. Tried Last Known Good Config, no help. There is an endless loop where GoBack says it must reboot the system to protect it from a major crash.
The crash occurred after the following sequence of events. Turned on his Grisoft AVG antivirus ( it wasn't running for some reason). Ran Lavasoft Ad-Aware Antispyware (which detected over 100 items, including win32.Welchia.B), removed all items detected. Tried to run Spybot Search & Destroy and was blocked by Zone Alarm firewall (I suppose, though installed, it had never been used, so the ZA permissions had not been granted). As I was doing all of this remotely, and the family member was not available to disable Zone Alarm, I was stuck with the ZA alert message showing and no way to get rid of it, as a remote user (LogMeIn IT Reach software). So, I decided to reboot the system which resulted in its present trashed condition. Of course, despite the user's lack of protection and knowledge of how to do basic system maintenance, I feel responsible for his current computer crash. He is in his 70's, lives alone, and uses his computer a lot.
I'm no expert, just trying to help someone out and causing more problems than I've helped. Can anyone give me some good advice. I need to go to his house, several miles away, and get his system going, but I hope I can, first, find a way to repair it, instead of reverting it to its original setup. Is it possible to use the Recovery Console from a WinXP CD that goes with one of my machines?
Thanks!
The system had Norton GoBack installed, but reverting to a previous time doesn't solve the problem. Tried Safe Mode. Tried Last Known Good Config, no help. There is an endless loop where GoBack says it must reboot the system to protect it from a major crash.
The crash occurred after the following sequence of events. Turned on his Grisoft AVG antivirus ( it wasn't running for some reason). Ran Lavasoft Ad-Aware Antispyware (which detected over 100 items, including win32.Welchia.B), removed all items detected. Tried to run Spybot Search & Destroy and was blocked by Zone Alarm firewall (I suppose, though installed, it had never been used, so the ZA permissions had not been granted). As I was doing all of this remotely, and the family member was not available to disable Zone Alarm, I was stuck with the ZA alert message showing and no way to get rid of it, as a remote user (LogMeIn IT Reach software). So, I decided to reboot the system which resulted in its present trashed condition. Of course, despite the user's lack of protection and knowledge of how to do basic system maintenance, I feel responsible for his current computer crash. He is in his 70's, lives alone, and uses his computer a lot.
I'm no expert, just trying to help someone out and causing more problems than I've helped. Can anyone give me some good advice. I need to go to his house, several miles away, and get his system going, but I hope I can, first, find a way to repair it, instead of reverting it to its original setup. Is it possible to use the Recovery Console from a WinXP CD that goes with one of my machines?
Thanks!
