Can't access XP after today's update

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

I have Windows XP Pro on my home computer with the latest updates installed,
and this week's updates downloaded overnight and informed me this morning
that they were ready for installation. I did not recall any outcry in the
general tech headlines I perused this week noting any major problems after
this round of patches, but perhaps I missed something (I was pretty busy this
week).

I have the hard drive partitioned with Partition Magic 8.0 (updated to
whatever was current). XP and the Office programs are on the primary
partition; my other software is on the other partition. [This is the first
time I've partitioned (done last December, after a hard drive crash).]

I had to leave the house this morning after the Window Update (or whatever
it is called now in its combined form), and while I was gone, my husband
informs me that at some point, the computer flashed to the blue screen of
death, stated that it had some error (I've tried to get him to be more
specific, and he just doesn't remember - he said it all happened so fast --
though he's under strict instructions to write it all down the next time!!
lol!!), and that XP would be shutting down.

Since that time, we've been able to reboot Windows, but the computer is not
responding to any keyboard clicks, or to the wireless mouse commands (and I
even put in fresh batteries). I tried going into safe mode, and could not
get past the initial window with all of our family names. I tried rebooting
with the Partition Magic CD, and running a disk check for errors, but I can't
get the keyboard or mouse to respond in that program, either, so I can't get
past the initial screen showing the partitions and sizes.

Help! I'm no expert at this stuff, though I know a bit more than the average
user, I think. But this one has me stymied. The Knowledge Base isn't
helping me at all, but perhaps I'm just not running the right terms through
my search.

I don't have a backup computer at home. We drove to my husband's office so
I could initiate some assistance and some research on this issue. I run a
small business on the web, so regaining access is critical.

My gratitude is very sincere for any assistance you can provide. These
groups have usually been very useful. My backup email at the moment is
.

Jan

The July 11th updates did *not* disable lots of people's computers.

After your December hard drive crash, did you replace the hard drive?

"jj" <> wrote in message news:7782532C-18B4-413B-AE49-...
> Thank you in advance for your assistance.
>
> I have Windows XP Pro on my home computer with the latest updates installed,
> and this week's updates downloaded overnight and informed me this morning
> that they were ready for installation. I did not recall any outcry in the
> general tech headlines I perused this week noting any major problems after
> this round of patches, but perhaps I missed something (I was pretty busy this
> week).
>
> I have the hard drive partitioned with Partition Magic 8.0 (updated to
> whatever was current). XP and the Office programs are on the primary
> partition; my other software is on the other partition. [This is the first
> time I've partitioned (done last December, after a hard drive crash).]
>
> I had to leave the house this morning after the Window Update (or whatever
> it is called now in its combined form), and while I was gone, my husband
> informs me that at some point, the computer flashed to the blue screen of
> death, stated that it had some error (I've tried to get him to be more
> specific, and he just doesn't remember - he said it all happened so fast --
> though he's under strict instructions to write it all down the next time!!
> lol!!), and that XP would be shutting down.
>
> Since that time, we've been able to reboot Windows, but the computer is not
> responding to any keyboard clicks, or to the wireless mouse commands (and I
> even put in fresh batteries). I tried going into safe mode, and could not
> get past the initial window with all of our family names. I tried rebooting
> with the Partition Magic CD, and running a disk check for errors, but I can't
> get the keyboard or mouse to respond in that program, either, so I can't get
> past the initial screen showing the partitions and sizes.
>
> Help! I'm no expert at this stuff, though I know a bit more than the average
> user, I think. But this one has me stymied. The Knowledge Base isn't
> helping me at all, but perhaps I'm just not running the right terms through
> my search.
>
> I don't have a backup computer at home. We drove to my husband's office so
> I could initiate some assistance and some research on this issue. I run a
> small business on the web, so regaining access is critical.
>
> My gratitude is very sincere for any assistance you can provide. These
> groups have usually been very useful. My backup email at the moment is
> .
>
> Jan
>
>

no

and in chatting with a friend, I just remembered something else, when I was
in Partition Magic, I noticed that the Drive names had been wiped -- they
were no longer C and D, but had been replaced with the notations Partitions 1
and 2. Does that give any clues?

"Michael Jennings" wrote:

> The July 11th updates did *not* disable lots of people's computers.
>
> After your December hard drive crash, did you replace the hard drive?
>
> "jj" <> wrote in message news:7782532C-18B4-413B-AE49-...
> > Thank you in advance for your assistance.
> >
> > I have Windows XP Pro on my home computer with the latest updates installed,
> > and this week's updates downloaded overnight and informed me this morning
> > that they were ready for installation. I did not recall any outcry in the
> > general tech headlines I perused this week noting any major problems after
> > this round of patches, but perhaps I missed something (I was pretty busy this
> > week).
> >
> > I have the hard drive partitioned with Partition Magic 8.0 (updated to
> > whatever was current). XP and the Office programs are on the primary
> > partition; my other software is on the other partition. [This is the first
> > time I've partitioned (done last December, after a hard drive crash).]
> >
> > I had to leave the house this morning after the Window Update (or whatever
> > it is called now in its combined form), and while I was gone, my husband
> > informs me that at some point, the computer flashed to the blue screen of
> > death, stated that it had some error (I've tried to get him to be more
> > specific, and he just doesn't remember - he said it all happened so fast --
> > though he's under strict instructions to write it all down the next time!!
> > lol!!), and that XP would be shutting down.
> >
> > Since that time, we've been able to reboot Windows, but the computer is not
> > responding to any keyboard clicks, or to the wireless mouse commands (and I
> > even put in fresh batteries). I tried going into safe mode, and could not
> > get past the initial window with all of our family names. I tried rebooting
> > with the Partition Magic CD, and running a disk check for errors, but I can't
> > get the keyboard or mouse to respond in that program, either, so I can't get
> > past the initial screen showing the partitions and sizes.
> >
> > Help! I'm no expert at this stuff, though I know a bit more than the average
> > user, I think. But this one has me stymied. The Knowledge Base isn't
> > helping me at all, but perhaps I'm just not running the right terms through
> > my search.
> >
> > I don't have a backup computer at home. We drove to my husband's office so
> > I could initiate some assistance and some research on this issue. I run a
> > small business on the web, so regaining access is critical.
> >
> > My gratitude is very sincere for any assistance you can provide. These
> > groups have usually been very useful. My backup email at the moment is
> > .
> >
> > Jan
> >
> >
>
>
>

After it crashed, I suppose you should have replaced the hard drive.
Taking pills instead of getting dental work done is taking chances.

It sounds like you might be able to get at the data if it were a secondary
hard drive, accessed by means of a new primary hard drive. If you have
backup, restoring your system to a new hard drive might be safer than
installing Windows to a new hard drive, and then trying to get at your stuff.
Hard drives cost about the same as Partition Magic. Yours is probably a
parallel ATA - the new ones are serial ATA. What I would do would be
to get a hard drive at Circuit City or Best Buy. If you don't want a do-it-
yourself repair, have a repairman diagnose and fix it - this will cost more.

Mind that I'm hip-shooting - I can't lay my hands on your computer.

"jj" <> wrote in message news:8EE11049-B22F-4DBF-9E92-...
> no
>
> and in chatting with a friend, I just remembered something else, when I was
> in Partition Magic, I noticed that the Drive names had been wiped -- they
> were no longer C and D, but had been replaced with the notations Partitions 1
> and 2. Does that give any clues?
>
> "Michael Jennings" wrote:
>
>> The July 11th updates did *not* disable lots of people's computers.
>>
>> After your December hard drive crash, did you replace the hard drive?
>>
>> "jj" <> wrote in message news:7782532C-18B4-413B-AE49-...
>> > Thank you in advance for your assistance.
>> >
>> > I have Windows XP Pro on my home computer with the latest updates installed,
>> > and this week's updates downloaded overnight and informed me this morning
>> > that they were ready for installation. I did not recall any outcry in the
>> > general tech headlines I perused this week noting any major problems after
>> > this round of patches, but perhaps I missed something (I was pretty busy this
>> > week).
>> >
>> > I have the hard drive partitioned with Partition Magic 8.0 (updated to
>> > whatever was current). XP and the Office programs are on the primary
>> > partition; my other software is on the other partition. [This is the first
>> > time I've partitioned (done last December, after a hard drive crash).]
>> >
>> > I had to leave the house this morning after the Window Update (or whatever
>> > it is called now in its combined form), and while I was gone, my husband
>> > informs me that at some point, the computer flashed to the blue screen of
>> > death, stated that it had some error (I've tried to get him to be more
>> > specific, and he just doesn't remember - he said it all happened so fast --
>> > though he's under strict instructions to write it all down the next time!!
>> > lol!!), and that XP would be shutting down.
>> >
>> > Since that time, we've been able to reboot Windows, but the computer is not
>> > responding to any keyboard clicks, or to the wireless mouse commands (and I
>> > even put in fresh batteries). I tried going into safe mode, and could not
>> > get past the initial window with all of our family names. I tried rebooting
>> > with the Partition Magic CD, and running a disk check for errors, but I can't
>> > get the keyboard or mouse to respond in that program, either, so I can't get
>> > past the initial screen showing the partitions and sizes.
>> >
>> > Help! I'm no expert at this stuff, though I know a bit more than the average
>> > user, I think. But this one has me stymied. The Knowledge Base isn't
>> > helping me at all, but perhaps I'm just not running the right terms through
>> > my search.
>> >
>> > I don't have a backup computer at home. We drove to my husband's office so
>> > I could initiate some assistance and some research on this issue. I run a
>> > small business on the web, so regaining access is critical.
>> >
>> > My gratitude is very sincere for any assistance you can provide. These
>> > groups have usually been very useful. My backup email at the moment is
>> > .
>> >
>> > Jan
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>