Wtf Xp

[Dave]

Whenever I try to login my computer decides it doesn't want to work and immediately logs off. No icons, menu's or anything. Sometimes I get to see the desktop but that's as far as she goes. It WAS working in safe mode this morning but now it won't.

I can't think of anything in particular that may have caused this. No major system changes or anything of that nature. So now it looks like im going to have to backup all my shit using linux so i can reformat and such. I love you dual boot.

Kelvin, stay out of this thread.

[Lord Kelvin]

/me ignores last sentence :D

It's probably a virus, another one similar to that got my comp a couple years back. I forgot the name of the virus, or the exact fix for it, but IIRC it was one of those well-known worms (not Melissa, but one of the ones after it) that keeps shutting down your computer after you start it up.

[Dave]

I did a virus boot scan and nothing showed up so I dunno.

[Lord Kelvin]

On safe mode? And I assume that your virus software is updated regularly? If so, then I can't help you, except for the backup suggestion.

[Dave]

Yeah, you can't really do a boot scan in safe mode...

[StandingCow]

go into safe mode and do a virus scan with an up to date scanner.

[Dave]

go into safe mode and do a virus scan with an up to date scanner.

Read.

[StandingCow]

Read.

Safe mode with command prompt?

Don't be an asshole, we are trying to help ya.

[FaKToR]

You could try repairing your install and seeing if that works.

[Dave]

Hmm, i'll have to give it a try.

Anyways, i tried logging in once again and it seems to work (safe mode with command prompt) and im runnning a virus scan (nothing so far). I've also noticed that a lot of the commands that worked on my laptop (xp pro) don't work on my home pc (xp home). I don't know if that's a home/pro thing, a safe/ normal mode thing or if my home peecee is just fucked.

Any ideas? Anyways, I'm gonna try that xp repair thing if this doesn't work. Thanks to Standing Cow and Faktor, I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years.

[Milkman Dan]

Perhaps you could try a System Restore to an earlier time?

[Dave]

I would BUT it's a fresh format and I haven't made any restore points since. Perhaps my first order of business should be to create one should I get things going again. :p

After fooling around in my cartography lab I now have a much deeper knowledge of the command line which is to say it was non-existant before. Anyways, i suggest you guys check it (http://www.geocities.com/tlawlessrr/dos.htm) out should you ever get stuck in my situation. It could really come in handy.

the two most helpful pieces to me were the 'help' command and the '/?' switch. For those who don't know type a command followed by a space and the /? switch and you can get some good context sensitive help usually regarding the syntax of the particular command.

eg.

C:\>net /?
or
C:\>help
and we can't forget
C:\>dir /p

very useful. :D

Btw, does anyone know of a way to transfer files to and fro between computers using nothing but command line?

[Dave]

Ok, I did a virus scan last night. Nothing and I've still got the same problems.

[FaKToR]

I suppose you could just stick another HD in it and copy/paste.

[Mirsky]

Btw, does anyone know of a way to transfer files to and fro between computers using nothing but command line?

You were nearly there - you use the "net use" command to map remote directories/drives to a local drive letter

Then you use the copy or xcopy command to move/copy what you need.

e.g.

net use o: \\server1\myshareddrive

to map the directory myshareddrive on the server server1 to the o: drive letter on your PC. If you need to use a password place it at the end.

then

copy o:\*.* c:\

to copy all files from that directory to c:\
to copy the files and the sub-dirs you need to use xcopy with the /s or /e switches

xcopy o:\*.* c:\ /s

EDIT: the first O/S I played around with was MS BASIC but my first PC used DOS 6.0

[MakeMyDay]

What do you mean Log Of ?

Are you login in with a username and it logs you of?

Or does it shut down?

[StandingCow]

Have you tried an XP overlay? It replaces all the... I think .cab files in windows...

[Dave]

Luckily, Mandrake is reading NTFS (although it seems like there are holes in the drive likes it's not reading everything) so I do have an out if this doesn't work.