Of course I dont back up my stuff so now I paid hard for it.5 freaki'n months of editing down the pipes.My emachine decided it doesnt want to boot anymore within a few days of completing my first documentary of the war.I get a message on a black screen that goes something like bla/bla/system32/noskrn/exe is missing or corrupt.I got emachine to send me restore disks and I have basicly two options - 1,wipe out and full restore/2,restore with back up.Of course I want back up but the info I get is my uploaded clips might be there in documents but no timeline,software gone and Im hoping there is another option that will allow me to keep sonyvegas intact and not wash all the editing down the pipes for good.I have a feeling Im screwed and learn a lesson (BACK UP YOUR WORK STUPID).Just a last cry for help before I pull the trigger with restore.Thanks folks,Fred
HOLY *(*&^#!@^ NIGHTMARE
- Thread starter airbayforce
- Start date
Sorry to hear about your PC's breakdown. Been there, done that... way too many times.
I've learned my lesson about backing up (Lost years of digital photos and the original editing timelines for my first 4 movies) and now do backups religiously. It might be worth your time to invest in one of those inexpensive USB hard drives to do a nightly copy to just in case your PC takes another crap.
Stay cool, though. What does not kill us, makes us stronger.
I've learned my lesson about backing up (Lost years of digital photos and the original editing timelines for my first 4 movies) and now do backups religiously. It might be worth your time to invest in one of those inexpensive USB hard drives to do a nightly copy to just in case your PC takes another crap.
Stay cool, though. What does not kill us, makes us stronger.
Hi Fred, I've run into similar issues myself, and the majority of the time, your data can indeed be salvaged.
If you can provide the full output of the error message you're receiving I might be able to help you.
Do not, however, jump the gun and wipe your drive prior to at least trying a couple methods of retrieving your data.
Worst case scenario, if I couldn't walk you through it, and we couldn't find someone in your area able to do it, you could mail the drive to me and I could work on it here. (worst case scenario... aside from just simply not being able to get to the data)
My guess is that your boot sector is corrupt, or the file table is corrupt, both of which are possible to fix.
I personally had an issue recently where my drive decided to continually drop the boot sector, so I would have to fix that every week or so, when I finally tired of that, I bought a new drive, cloned the old one, and use the new one as the main drive, problem solved, not a problem since (that was 3+ months ago)
I definitely understand your frustration, but all hope is not yet lost.
If you can provide the full output of the error message you're receiving I might be able to help you.
Do not, however, jump the gun and wipe your drive prior to at least trying a couple methods of retrieving your data.
Worst case scenario, if I couldn't walk you through it, and we couldn't find someone in your area able to do it, you could mail the drive to me and I could work on it here. (worst case scenario... aside from just simply not being able to get to the data)
My guess is that your boot sector is corrupt, or the file table is corrupt, both of which are possible to fix.
I personally had an issue recently where my drive decided to continually drop the boot sector, so I would have to fix that every week or so, when I finally tired of that, I bought a new drive, cloned the old one, and use the new one as the main drive, problem solved, not a problem since (that was 3+ months ago)
I definitely understand your frustration, but all hope is not yet lost.
Yah, it's not the end of the world. I had that happen once.
I ended up buying a new hard-drive to use as the "main" drive on the computer. Then for about $20 I bought an adapter casing for the old drive, which let me use it as an external drive. It didn't matter if the Windows boot didn't work anymore, when using it as an external drive.
I ended up buying a new hard-drive to use as the "main" drive on the computer. Then for about $20 I bought an adapter casing for the old drive, which let me use it as an external drive. It didn't matter if the Windows boot didn't work anymore, when using it as an external drive.
Thanks guys
The message actualy reads windows root/system32/ntoskrnl.exe.Thank you for responding.Is it possible to slap a new drive in,load xp on it,hook up the old drive externaly in a case and be able to see my timeline as I left it?If so would I be able to work with it or just use it as a refference?I did keep a story board but its in the rough.Thanks aagain for responding so quickly.Ill get down off the bridge now and hold off on the restore.You guys are going to heaven.Fred
The message actualy reads windows root/system32/ntoskrnl.exe.Thank you for responding.Is it possible to slap a new drive in,load xp on it,hook up the old drive externaly in a case and be able to see my timeline as I left it?If so would I be able to work with it or just use it as a refference?I did keep a story board but its in the rough.Thanks aagain for responding so quickly.Ill get down off the bridge now and hold off on the restore.You guys are going to heaven.Fred
I guess Im in good company
"My guess is that your boot sector is corrupt, or the file table is corrupt, both of which are possible to fix" Sounds like it really pays in one way or another to get some serious computer education when ever I can.Glad to hear its not the end of all.I actualy have a guy who happens to be the coach of a soccer team,who happens to also be a full time computer expert but after paying him for a drive I havent seen yet (probably some left over H&R block garbage from his work) wich I happen to have volunteered to document the season for his team and I was promised not to worry about 6 weeks ago.Screw him,Im desperate and I guess folks like you are the only ones who can understand.while Im here I can ask another question.So I liked to screw around with home movies of my kids ect. then when I got deployed to Iraq I took advantage of the oportunity to gather as much footage as possible and wala - my first doc. I shot in on a $500.00 panasonic edited on vegas and now Im hooked for life.I all ready have my next project lined up with the "Healing dogs" you know the ones that go to hospitals ect. and lift peoples spirits.Anyway I have this thing with the war doc. I dont know what it is or how to percieve it.I know I like it but can I simply upload the whole damn thing and let folks like you give me the real deal opinions?Thanks for all the help and I gotta get my movie back before I can do anything with it.Im putting the cart before the horse a little,Fred
"My guess is that your boot sector is corrupt, or the file table is corrupt, both of which are possible to fix" Sounds like it really pays in one way or another to get some serious computer education when ever I can.Glad to hear its not the end of all.I actualy have a guy who happens to be the coach of a soccer team,who happens to also be a full time computer expert but after paying him for a drive I havent seen yet (probably some left over H&R block garbage from his work) wich I happen to have volunteered to document the season for his team and I was promised not to worry about 6 weeks ago.Screw him,Im desperate and I guess folks like you are the only ones who can understand.while Im here I can ask another question.So I liked to screw around with home movies of my kids ect. then when I got deployed to Iraq I took advantage of the oportunity to gather as much footage as possible and wala - my first doc. I shot in on a $500.00 panasonic edited on vegas and now Im hooked for life.I all ready have my next project lined up with the "Healing dogs" you know the ones that go to hospitals ect. and lift peoples spirits.Anyway I have this thing with the war doc. I dont know what it is or how to percieve it.I know I like it but can I simply upload the whole damn thing and let folks like you give me the real deal opinions?Thanks for all the help and I gotta get my movie back before I can do anything with it.Im putting the cart before the horse a little,Fred
When this happens to one of my clients, I just use a bootable Linux disk with network support, boot the machine into Linux, mount the XP disk image and transfer any files I want to rescue to a network drive.
The important thing is that you hard drive is probably fine. You've simply got some corrupted or missing system files, boot records, etc. If the partition table is intact and the hardware is still functioning, you've got nothing to fear; except an ignorant repair person.
The important thing is that you hard drive is probably fine. You've simply got some corrupted or missing system files, boot records, etc. If the partition table is intact and the hardware is still functioning, you've got nothing to fear; except an ignorant repair person.
It sounds like you don't have a windows XP disk, so this might be a bit tough to do on your own... but here's essentially the steps:
http://www.analogduck.com/main/node/294
(sounds oddly familiar to the problem I was having -- I didn't end up loosing anything, or end up having to reinstall any software)
simply doing a search on google for 'ntoskrnl.exe' will give you a glimpse at how many people share this issue. Personally I blame Microsoft for selling a junk product, but on the other hand, some of that blame falls on the end user for not keeping the system in optimal running condition (which means, hard drive and registry defrags and checks on a daily, or at least weekly basis) The majority of windows users have probably never run a disk defrag, fewer still a registry defrag...
Granted, it would be a wonderful thing if we didn't have to, if it were built in and 'just happened' in the background, as it more or less does with Linux (occasionally one will walk by a linux server to hear the drives cranking away for no apparent reason.. it's "reindexing" the files and such, kind of like a defrag, but not quite -- seems to happen once per day, typically on off hours)
Anyway, so you know.. this is a common issue many windows users suffer from at one point or another, from the quick look at a few of the articles I read it looks like there's a largish majority of the support world having no clue, "Compaq said this is a hardware issue and I need to send it in for repair" etc.
It can be fixed with a standard windows XP install disk. Not the crap recovery disks that emachines provides, but a real windows install disk, a bootable one. alternatively, as you haven't got one of those...
if you have a floppy drive, you could download this and make a boot disk: http://1gighost.net/fantasy/xpquick.exe
which might help...
borrow an XP disk from a friend, then boot to the recovery console, and follow the steps as laid out in that first link I posted.
Primarily what you want to do is 'chkdsk /r' (which runs the "check disk" program with the "repair errors" switch turned on) that will take an awful long time most likely, but will probably fix the problem. Additionally it wouldn't hurt to then do 'fixboot' which will rewrite the file that stores the boot info, and/or 'fixmbr' which rewrites the master boot record, though it's recommended to try without fixmbr first.
Personally, I would recommend that you do the following.
Get yourself an external drive large enough to hold your backup files. All the video files, the timeline info, etc -- not the installed programs, but the data from those programs, the programs could always be reinstalled.
Download a good boot/repair tool.. I think most people are probably using knoppix these days.
Then you attach your usb drive, boot from cd with the tool I mentioned above, and copy the files you want to save over to the new drive, then wipe the old drive, and start anew.
This method is a bit tedious, and honestly, a pain in the ass, but it can also prove to be a longer term fix, whereas fixing the problems with with windows boot disk through the 'recovery console' are more like a bandaid. In some cases a bandaid applied to a wound that would be better off getting stitches.
Keep in mind too, that while it is a common problem, it can also be indicative of a drive that is failing physically, so my second method would probably be the ideal. Alternative to that would be what Steve had said. Get a new drive (if you're on a laptop this could be more of a pain..) remove the old drive, and install the new one in its place. Reinstall windows on the new drive. Then attach the old drive with an external exclosure (or with a desktop it could be configured at a secondard drive and put back inside), and copy your relevant data over to it's corresponding places on the new drive. After that you can wipe the old drive and use it for backup, or additional storage, whatever -- but again, keep in mind it is possible that this old drive is failing physically.
http://www.analogduck.com/main/node/294
(sounds oddly familiar to the problem I was having -- I didn't end up loosing anything, or end up having to reinstall any software)
simply doing a search on google for 'ntoskrnl.exe' will give you a glimpse at how many people share this issue. Personally I blame Microsoft for selling a junk product, but on the other hand, some of that blame falls on the end user for not keeping the system in optimal running condition (which means, hard drive and registry defrags and checks on a daily, or at least weekly basis) The majority of windows users have probably never run a disk defrag, fewer still a registry defrag...
Granted, it would be a wonderful thing if we didn't have to, if it were built in and 'just happened' in the background, as it more or less does with Linux (occasionally one will walk by a linux server to hear the drives cranking away for no apparent reason.. it's "reindexing" the files and such, kind of like a defrag, but not quite -- seems to happen once per day, typically on off hours)
Anyway, so you know.. this is a common issue many windows users suffer from at one point or another, from the quick look at a few of the articles I read it looks like there's a largish majority of the support world having no clue, "Compaq said this is a hardware issue and I need to send it in for repair" etc.
It can be fixed with a standard windows XP install disk. Not the crap recovery disks that emachines provides, but a real windows install disk, a bootable one. alternatively, as you haven't got one of those...
if you have a floppy drive, you could download this and make a boot disk: http://1gighost.net/fantasy/xpquick.exe
which might help...
borrow an XP disk from a friend, then boot to the recovery console, and follow the steps as laid out in that first link I posted.
Primarily what you want to do is 'chkdsk /r' (which runs the "check disk" program with the "repair errors" switch turned on) that will take an awful long time most likely, but will probably fix the problem. Additionally it wouldn't hurt to then do 'fixboot' which will rewrite the file that stores the boot info, and/or 'fixmbr' which rewrites the master boot record, though it's recommended to try without fixmbr first.
Personally, I would recommend that you do the following.
Get yourself an external drive large enough to hold your backup files. All the video files, the timeline info, etc -- not the installed programs, but the data from those programs, the programs could always be reinstalled.
Download a good boot/repair tool.. I think most people are probably using knoppix these days.
Then you attach your usb drive, boot from cd with the tool I mentioned above, and copy the files you want to save over to the new drive, then wipe the old drive, and start anew.
This method is a bit tedious, and honestly, a pain in the ass, but it can also prove to be a longer term fix, whereas fixing the problems with with windows boot disk through the 'recovery console' are more like a bandaid. In some cases a bandaid applied to a wound that would be better off getting stitches.
Keep in mind too, that while it is a common problem, it can also be indicative of a drive that is failing physically, so my second method would probably be the ideal. Alternative to that would be what Steve had said. Get a new drive (if you're on a laptop this could be more of a pain..) remove the old drive, and install the new one in its place. Reinstall windows on the new drive. Then attach the old drive with an external exclosure (or with a desktop it could be configured at a secondard drive and put back inside), and copy your relevant data over to it's corresponding places on the new drive. After that you can wipe the old drive and use it for backup, or additional storage, whatever -- but again, keep in mind it is possible that this old drive is failing physically.
By the way, in case I didn't mention it before..
This is ALWAYS a frustrating problem, but I too, like you, have experienced this right in the middle of an edit, and it feels like the whole world is against you at that point... not to worry, it can be repaired. 99.999 times out of 100.
This is ALWAYS a frustrating problem, but I too, like you, have experienced this right in the middle of an edit, and it feels like the whole world is against you at that point... not to worry, it can be repaired. 99.999 times out of 100.
Thanks guys
Im glad you are here and hope to return some valuable info in the future To have even someone even offer to mail them your hard drive is unbelievably kind.Just cant get that kind'o love in Jersey!
Im glad you are here and hope to return some valuable info in the future To have even someone even offer to mail them your hard drive is unbelievably kind.Just cant get that kind'o love in Jersey!
I look at it like this..
we here at indietalk are a community, even approaching a family at times I suppose. We have to take care of our own (just like our brothers and sisters in the military take care of their own, or well... they're supposed to anyway)
If I've got a particular thing that I'm good at, that someone is in need of, why wouldn't I offer to help? Especially as I currently have a little free time, while I transition from my old job to my new job.
we here at indietalk are a community, even approaching a family at times I suppose. We have to take care of our own (just like our brothers and sisters in the military take care of their own, or well... they're supposed to anyway)
If I've got a particular thing that I'm good at, that someone is in need of, why wouldn't I offer to help? Especially as I currently have a little free time, while I transition from my old job to my new job.