Ask A Geek

Q: I downloaded a crack and ran the .reg. Then I tried to defragment my disk. After that it seems like my sony Vaio (CR353) running vista home premium crashed. The computer boots up to a blue screen with some errors. When I boot up it shows me two options:

(a) repair

(b) start windows normally

If I chose repair it says-comp will go to the factory settings. If I chose start windows normally”- again the blue screens comes. It’s not even opening in the safe mode.

I tried to open in safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, and all other safe mode options but all of them lead to the blue screen.

I don’t want to format my hard drive. It has lots of movies and software I don’t want to lose. Is there anyway I can make a backup now? Is there anyway to fix this?

Q: I have a .vhd complete PC backup file that I recovered from a crashed HD. I’m having trouble mounting one of the files. Is it possible to run CHKDSK on it to try and repair the file?

Q: My computer has 2 separate drives. One for CD and one for DVD. How can I get iTunes to back up my music onto a DVD? With the older software I was able to change the drive that iTunes recognized. I can’t figure out how to do this with the new software.

A: I’d suggest you just burn off the music using a different software prorgam. If you don’t already have a program that can do this like Roxio then you can try a freeware application like CDBurnXP.

Just make sure you test your backup disks by verifying the music is stored correct after you finish the burn. You should also make sure you are aware of how the copy protection stuff work with your itunes purchases.

Q: My computer has 2 separate drives. One for CD and one for DVD. How can I get iTunes to back up my music onto a DVD? With the older software I was able to change the drive that iTunes recognized. I can’t figure out how to do this with the new software.

Q: My hardrive crashed a few weeks ago. I recovered a .vhd Vista backup file. How do access the file to recover some of my old info. Vista doesn’t recognize it as a backup. I read lots of stuff about mounting it, but I haven’t figured out how to do it. I’m running Vista Business x64.

Q: When I backup to my hard drive (complete hard drive), does the backup contain my OS or is it just data files? If it does include the OS can I restore it on a complete new hard drive? If so how would I do it?

Q: Is there a way that Microsoft can give me a CD free having a backup of all the files on Windows Vista Home Premium?

I think that some of my files are missing, like word processing etc.

Q: I have an Acer Aspire 3620 laptop running Windows XP with an Intel Celeron Processor.

My laptop has system backup technology. I did the “eRecovery” (Alt + F10) once because it had a virus. This time there was another issue with the computer so I wanted to do a recovery again only that this time it is giving me the following error:

“Fail in creating or opening a file” and when I click OK it says “Cannot find file C:\preload.tag” I click OK again and it goes to “Cannot find file X:\preload.tag” then I click OK once more and it goes to a black screen that says “NTLDR is missing, Press any key to restart”.

I click all [and any] key and it stays on the same screen. I cannot get into windows. I try restarting the computer and using safe mode but it wont even go to that menu.

Next I researched and found an article about ntldr is missing and tried to do the steps using a CD and not floppy. I tried the 1st try this suggestion in the article and it gives me the following error “windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll Please re-install a copy of the above file”. So next I tried 3rd try this and it takes me to the log in screen. I pick a username. Then it goes to the found new hardware. It says it helps me install software for Ethernet Controller. It doesn’t do anything because it says it cannot find the necessary software blah blah blah. Then it goes to a light blue screen and stays like that. I waited exactly 10 minutes and it was still like that! I restart and try again and same thing.

I did email acer technical support but they couldn’t answer my question and I couldn’t call them because I have no warranty.

What should I be trying now?

Q: Is there a way I can find out if Windows XP came backed up onto my hard drive? If Windows XP did come backed up onto my hard drive, how would I go about reinstalling from there?

Q: I am archiving my extensive photo collection to DVD. Is there any difference in +R or -R ?