New usb card caused major issues

[kntrussell]

i installed a new usb card today. when my computer performed a restart to complete the install it froze at the "loading personal settings" screen and continued to do so. So i booted in safe mode with the intention to re-install over my windows xp media edition to fix what i amused was registry errors and could not because of another error. At the restart segment of OS installation a black screen comes up displaying iastor.sys could not be found press any key to continue. I gave up on the idea to re-install and tried uninstaling the driver in safe mode.

This brings me to my current predicament. i can now log in, in a normal mode. I have no internet, no usb, there for no mouse, and limited access to many of my programs.

I have information that i need off the computer and cannot access much of it. i have been working on this for almost six hours and am on the verge of a nervous break down.

I have a 2.56 IBM
2g of ram

i have also kept this computer fairly clean and anyother information nessasary id be happy to provide to anyone who can help with this issue.

 

[bc4]

The easiest solution would be to do a system restore to a point before you installed the card. (remove the card if you have not)

Back up any important files, then try again. Its hard to know what went wrong w/o a complete list of your system parts and the card you are trying to install

 

[Outlander_04]

have you tried a system restore?


According to google iastor.sys is a hard drive driver . Try checking in device manager and see if devices are listed .
You may find yellow triangles next to the devices having problems

 

[kntrussell]

Alright I have an Intel Pentium D prossesor
2g's of Oz Gaming edition DDR ram
Dynex Fast Ethernet card
APG Sapphire HD 1900s graphics card
Creative 24hrts surround sound card
500g sata drive
600w powersuply
+many extra fans

The card i was attempting to install was a 4 port dinex pci usb port
and the reason that it did not work is that it did not work with sp2 only sp1
or thats at least what dynex customer support said.

 

[kntrussell]

I forgot to mention in my previous messages that device manager is complete empty now, and every thing except for my sound card seem to be missing there drivers.

and you keep mentioning system restore
i have done alot with computers but im quite embarassed to say i have never done a restore, do you have to set this up
i gues i was kinda careless

 

[Outlander_04]

System restore is easy

start > all programs > accessories > system tools > system restore


If that doesnt work then the option is a repair install of windows .
Google " repair install windows xp "

 

[kntrussell]

yes at one point i was irresponsible and turned off system restore

The repair though says that it delete any non protected files
for example my excel files will no longer open and cannot be found for the most part.
i need to back these up before i do a system restore or reformat my pc.

 

[bc4]

If you do a repair and do it correctly (and your hardware doesn't fail) then your files will be left intact (but you lose all your windows updates)

here's a step by step.

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html

DO NOT HIT ENTER after you boot to the xp disk, hit "R" for repair. If you mistakenly hit "enter" you will erase your data

 

[kntrussell]

thank you very much all my infor mation is safe and my computer works as it should.

 

[kntrussell]

well i wish i could say this was over but its not.
my computer now has the ability to access all of its usb ports, but still cannot access exel or the internet.
it recognizes that its connected but cannot retrieve an ip.
its not the router because my wireless still works fine.
if you have any suggestions please let me know, im contacting my provider tommorow to try to get this fixed and im assuming with new updates this ill be fixed in no time, again thanks for getting me this far.

 

[kntrussell]

i have given in to defeat. after many hours of fighting a seemingly endless battle i copied the most important file and re-formated so i can start over fresh. again thanks for your help.