Well last night I think I killed--or at lease severly injured-- my Dell Dimension. Its all my fault. I was working on the Peru photos and had Nikon View, Capture, and my editor open....along with several large files..and things were slowing to a crawl, so I started to close programs, but Capture (of course) just hung and wouldn't close, even with Task Manager, and everything seemed frozen; so I STUPIDLY just shut off the PC with the power strip (which I've done 100 times before) but when I went to restart, it said that it can't start Windows because a file is missing or corrupt C:\windows\system32\system I think. Ug--that's bad. I tried using the Windows Recovery Console from the Dell disk but it can't find anything on the C drive (it seems to think that C is a floppy or CD). And doesn't see the D drive (where my photos are--thankfully a seperate, physical drive--not a partition.) I do get a C prompt, but no files or directories.
I don't think there's any physical problems with the drive, so I am hoping that all I have to do is reinstall Windows. And not replace the drive
I do have all the photos backed up on CDs/DVDs as well as an external Maxtor, so I am actually less worried about the photos then about everything else.
Most of my data files are backed up on my external Maxtor but of course none of the programs. Fortunately I backed up just before my trip, so all that's really missing is my updated bird data from Peru (no small task, but I can recreate it) and the Peru photos that have been edited so far (which actually should be on the D drive, if I can ever get to it.) Thing is, I am not even sure I CAN reinstall Windows, if the OS doesn't see the C drive. I was afraid to try anything before talking to Dell.
I really was tempted to stay home from work today to call Dell, but I just can't miss more work right after vacation, so I will have to call when I get home tonight.
any words of encouragement are welcome. I feel a little sick right now!
I don't think there's any physical problems with the drive, so I am hoping that all I have to do is reinstall Windows. And not replace the drive
I do have all the photos backed up on CDs/DVDs as well as an external Maxtor, so I am actually less worried about the photos then about everything else.
Most of my data files are backed up on my external Maxtor but of course none of the programs. Fortunately I backed up just before my trip, so all that's really missing is my updated bird data from Peru (no small task, but I can recreate it) and the Peru photos that have been edited so far (which actually should be on the D drive, if I can ever get to it.) Thing is, I am not even sure I CAN reinstall Windows, if the OS doesn't see the C drive. I was afraid to try anything before talking to Dell.
I really was tempted to stay home from work today to call Dell, but I just can't miss more work right after vacation, so I will have to call when I get home tonight.
any words of encouragement are welcome. I feel a little sick right now!