PC help required

[Tentenths]

Six months or so ago an unnamed idiot managed to delete a number of Excel & Word files from one of our Windows XP based pcs. Although the files in question have long since disappeared from the Recycle Bin am sure I recall reading that such deleted files still exist on the hard drive, so presumably it's now just a question of how to access/retrieve them?

Any tips, hints, suggestions and recommendations will be very gratefully received.

TIA

[esprit350]

i think and I may be wrong that they will have had the first letter of the file name swaped for a symbol of some sort, not sure where to look, you might have to trawl though windows explorer..

sure some one with better knowledge can offer further assistance.

[Setras]

drop me you email and i will send you a couple of utilites that can help......

they normally have the first charachter of the filename deleted...............

[Tentenths]

Thanks chaps

Eddie, you have a PM.

[red vtec]

as an add on to this if you do want to completely get rid of data use something like Eraser

http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

Always wipe a PC you are dumping or selling on, just in case.

[Vulcan Grey]

http://www.diskinternals.com/download.shtml

can recover deleted files, even when a drive is accidentally reformatted...

[mayevora]

Wish it was the same with Digi cameras - One of my Daughters massed deleted about 300 pics at the touch of a button on our camera 2 weeks ago, before I had a chance to download them.

Edited December 19, 2008 by mayesprit

[rogerch]

Try that link above posted by Vulcan Gray, I had a look and I'm sure there was something there about photo formats and recovery.

[jimmybondi]

Ian, you can retrieve the photos, but only when the card has not been used since then.

There are some nice tools (even free-of-charge) to retrieve them....

[Tentenths]

Ian, try PC Inspector Smart Recovery. Had a huge problem with an SD card some months ago but this software recovered every single photo. It's free too

[andydclements]

And now my turn to have a PC issue.

I've mucked up my mother baord, lost power during bios flash, now purchased new mb, cpu, memory from PC world, it boots to bios page, and states

bios checksum error

date not set

So I press the button to access bios, set date (I now realise it's mmddyyyy it wants, and save & exist, it re-boots and stops before anything comes on screen at all.

Andy ideas?

Andy

[pdgessler]

Not 100% sure but this might be a very simple fix. Double check all the jumpers on the board and make sure they are set properly (should show this in the mb manual).

The only other thing I can think of is check that the CMOS battery is seated properly. If everything checks out ok i have no idea what else it might be

Good Luck!!

Edited December 21, 2008 by Kimbers
remove quote of previous post. Pls limit quoting to posts several places above.

[rogerch]

Is the mb exactly, and I mean exactly the same as the old one, it's doubtful, they change too regularly, so you need to check that everything you have plugged into it is compatible, it's tough to get a cpu you in wrong way round, but I've seen it done. If the memory is not compatable you not going anywhere. If you still have the old board try the battery out of that. The beeps when you firsst start it are a code, and can tell you what the problem is, if you have access to the net look these up for the mb it could help. Still no go, take it back.

[doct93]

Did you only have to set the date once? Now presumably can't access the BIOS as it hangs before the POST screen?

Have you tried restting the CMOS via the jumper on the mainboard?

Potentially seems like a faulty mainboard, but try to boot with as few components attached as possible ie power, cpu, ram and video only.

Double check the connections from the PSU, there are all sorts of extra power connections to the board / chip these days, not always just the big ATX connector.

Beep codes (if any) can be a big help.

We need more information!

Tim B

[andydclements]

Thanks for the suggestions, but, I've given up on it.

I'm getting anew Bios chipfor the old board.

The new board would boot to bios warning screen , tell me there was a checksum error with the bios and theat the bios date wasn't set, so set the date, save and exit, then ti would jusy hang. re-set the CMOS using the jumper, and start again, and again. If you switched off after seting the date (and letting it hang for 5 mins) it would start the boot up, get to the point of checking the floppy as part of the bios boot, and beep then re-check, beep then re-check.

I searched the manufacturers website and it was supposedly one of two things, an issue with the CMOS battery or the bios needed flashing (which was how I got to needing a new M Board anyway), so I took the first one back to PC world. the next one does exactly the same, so it could be an issue with the whole batch, or just imcompatible with something.

I had connected both the 20 pin and 4 pin power supplies, it took some work to find the 4 pin supply as I had secured it away when I built the Pc with the previous MB, and it wasn't needed for that.

During the several hours of mucking about with the first new MB I tried disconnecting just about everything that was unnecessary so just had CPU, memory and a floppy drive, I suppose I could have disconnected that as well, and jjst made the bios skim searching for it. For the second board, I tried it twice, re-packaged it and waited for half an hour for a refund at PC world.

A new 4Mb bios chip is on the way from the USA, just a pity I couldn't find some old PC100 Dimms, I may have been able to get the really old MB to boot, and unplug its bios, then reflash my chip in that board, a fair bit of mucking about, but may have worked.

Anyway, I'm now using the PC I am thinking about using for the car, as my internet PC for a while. Who needs all that flashy stuff, decent processor, decent amount of RAM, decent amount of storage, floppy drive, DVD drive, decent video card etc?

Andy

Edited December 21, 2008 by andydclements

[oneshot]

just a pity I couldn't find some old PC100 Dimms,

Hmm funny you should say that...... Amazing what you find lying about

[doct93]

I've probably got a few old DIMMS lying about as well - I don't recall ever throwing anything away.....! Does mean there is a stack of boxes filled with old PC parts up to the ceiling in the spare room though!

Tim B

[Bibs]

My first windows based PC only came with 4mb RAM so I ordered the extra 4mb upgrade for

[Setras]

i have oodles of old ram....... even lots of rambus......