Earlier today, we had some power outages, and one of my PCs, when it
came back up, had all of the text showing SYBMOLS/Characters rather
than alphabetic characters. Apparently a file got corrupted.

Because they're all corrupted, it very hard to work my way around the
system, as all Windows screens have the same junk showing. (I'm
sending this message from a laptop running Windows 2000...)

If a file was corrupted, which one was it -- and is it likely that that
I copy that file from another PC here at the house also running XP. (My
"damaged" machine is a HP A250N, and the other is a Compaq.)

Thanks.


--
Walt Sherrill

You could try a System Restore (if you are able to navigate your way there)
or even boot into Safe Mode (tapping F8 during start-up) *may* possibly be
easier.

It might just be able to restore any corrupted/damaged files - and has to be
your first line of defence

Mart


"Walt Sherrill" <Walt.Sherrill.203m2f@pcbanter.net> wrote in message
news:Walt.Sherrill.203m2f@pcbanter.net...
>
> Earlier today, we had some power outages, and one of my PCs, when it
> came back up, had all of the text showing SYBMOLS/Characters rather
> than alphabetic characters. Apparently a file got corrupted.
>
> Because they're all corrupted, it very hard to work my way around the
> system, as all Windows screens have the same junk showing. (I'm
> sending this message from a laptop running Windows 2000...)
>
> If a file was corrupted, which one was it -- and is it likely that that
> I copy that file from another PC here at the house also running XP. (My
> "damaged" machine is a HP A250N, and the other is a Compaq.)
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> --
> Walt Sherrill

Mart Wrote:
> You could try a System Restore (if you are able to navigate your way
> there)
> or even boot into Safe Mode (tapping F8 during start-up) *may* possibly
> be
> easier.
>
> It might just be able to restore any corrupted/damaged files - and has
> to be
> your first line of defence
>
> MartWell, the System Restore solved the problem, but created several new
ones, as some applications were no longer installed, etc. But I
expected that. I had a real problem with my virus software, and
eventually switched to the provided by Road Runner (which was free).

Thanks for you help.


--
Walt Sherrill

Walt wrote :-

> ..... System Restore solved the problem, but created several new
> ones, as some applications were no longer installed, etc.

Whilst I'm pleased that you appear to have managed to resolve the problem, I
wonder how far back in time you picked your SR point. To have lost
previously installed programs suggests that you chose (or needed?) to go
back somewhat more than a day or two. Perhaps the most recent one,
immediately *before* the power outages would have been suffice - Oh, and
btw, thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated.

Mart



"Walt Sherrill" <Walt.Sherrill.207bei@pcbanter.net> wrote in message
news:Walt.Sherrill.207bei@pcbanter.net...
>
> Mart Wrote:
>> You could try a System Restore (if you are able to navigate your way
>> there)
>> or even boot into Safe Mode (tapping F8 during start-up) *may* possibly
>> be
>> easier.
>>
>> It might just be able to restore any corrupted/damaged files - and has
>> to be
>> your first line of defence
>>
>> MartWell, the System Restore solved the problem, but created several new
> ones, as some applications were no longer installed, etc. But I
> expected that. I had a real problem with my virus software, and
> eventually switched to the provided by Road Runner (which was free).
>
> Thanks for you help.
>
>
> --
> Walt Sherrill