[gmbigger]

Alright...

So I looked and looked and googled and googled and couldn't find a case that was axactly like mine so here's my problem...

I'm dual booting Windows XP Home Edition SP3 and Ubuntu 10.04.
Now I've had a hell of a time getting Windows back on my machine in the past months and I just got it working with all the proper drivers. Things were working well. So then I decided to change the Windows theme and patched the uxtheme file.



I downloaded from the links and follwed the instructions and everything worked fine. So today I decide to run Ccleaner and see if I had any registry errors just so I could keep my Windows partition running smoothly. One of the errors it found was something with the Arial font so I figured it'd fix it. After it ran I go onto Firefox and my fonts are changed to what looks like Time New Roman. So instead of looking to see how I could fix such a small little matter, I get the great idea to run my system restore to the point before I patched the uxtheme file (which was only a couple days ago). Now it shows me an error message about how it can't system restore but it lets me do it anyway. So I reboot and windows.exe does not run. No icons and no menu bar. Just my wallpaper. Looking through the internet to fix this problem was pointless as all the fixes I found involved running the task manager which in my case, I can't even access. Ctrl + Alt + Del does not work. I rebooted a few times and it lags on the welcome screen, gives me my pointer but still does not boot explorer.

So I log into Ubuntu and see if I can just move the patched version of the uxtheme file into C:/WINDOWS. Still doesn't work. I'm thinking system restoring may have caused an error in which it was trying to access a file that did not exist. Either way, I am out of ideas and am now reaching out for suggestions.

[huggie54]

try CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to access task manager

[gmbigger]

No, it didn't work.

[huggie54]

have you got your windows cd,try the fixmbr and fixboot command

[gmbigger]

Is that going into the "repair windows" option when you boot from CD?

[huggie54]

1.Place your Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD drive. Then start the computer. The computer will boot to the Windows XP CD-ROM, bypassing the damaged Windows XP installation.

2.Follow the prompts in the setup process until you reach the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press the "R" key to open the Recovery Console.

3.Select the drive where your damaged Windows XP installation is located and enter the administrator password for it if prompted. A command prompt will be displayed when you have done so.

4.Type "help" at the command prompt, then press "Enter." The Recovery Console will provide a list of actions you can take. These include data recovery options such as copy, which allows you to copy your personal data files to an external storage device, and repair options such as chkdsk, which can repair or recover your hard drive if needed.

5.Select the option that applies to the problem affecting your particular Windows XP installation. Type the associated command and press enter to run the needed repair process for your Windows XP installation

[gmbigger]

So I ran chkdsk and it found one "or more" errors. How do I go about seeing what they are and fixing them?

[huggie54]

chkdsk automatically tries to fix the errors

[gmbigger]

Alright. I feel a little stupid now. I don't know where to go from here. Chkdsk did not fix the problem.

[huggie54]

try fixmbr command,if you go back to post 6 it explains what to do,Type help at command prompt and there will be a list of commands to suit your problem

[gmbigger]

So I ran fixmbr. I somehow got into safe mode and now it's loading explorer. But now I have a whole new problem, it freezes right of the bat. None of the drivers work now. I was wondering if it would just be better to reinstall.

[huggie54]

Morning,instead of doing the complete reinstall,try a Windows repair first,set bios to boot from CD-ROM as 1st boot order,put in xp cd reboot,prees any key to continue,click next until you get to "press F8 to agree" and the screen after is where you press "R" on the selected os to repair the windows installation

[gmbigger]

This just seems to be getting worse and worse. Went ahead and repaired my installation of Windows and now it just freezes on the splash screen. I've gone and repaired it again. Gone and ran chkdsk. Doesn't seem to help however.

[huggie54]

Like you say it may be best for a clean install,if you can use the ubuntu save what you need delete and reformat all partitions and start anew

[gmbigger]

Yeah, But thinks for everything else. I know now what I should have done in the beginning.