Windows system recovery... need help.

[tockki]

I have a major problem. I had problems with my IBM wireless card (atheros) because it stops working after a few minutes... needing a reboot for it to work again. So I thought maybe a system restore will do the trick because at that time there were no problems.

However! For some strange reason, my computer stalled during the system restore and I had to restart it. The computer wouldn't restart but it did go to the thinkvantage program which I redid the system restore from a backup. It was successful until I rebooted the computer and the following message comes out....

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\c_949.nls
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windoews Setup using th original Setup CD-ROM... select r to start repair"

Trying to do the safe boot also revealed the same message...

One could say why don't you restore from factory settings.. I would but I have very sensitive information on the computer which I should've backed up last night but I didn't. The only copy is on the computer...

Can anyone help me out here? I called Lenovo Cust supp.. and they suggest the only way out is to go to Best buy or some place like that to download the file and do a factory restore....

I was wondering is there anyway to fix this or just get in to the computer to transfer the data to a USB drive that I have...???

Thank you for reading...

[jdhurst]

At this point, if a re-image is the only practical way to get the computer going, then first, use a Knoppix or Bart's PE boot CD to start the machine and back off the important data. It takes a while to create these, but they can be invaluable in these circumstances.
... JD Hurst

[tockki]

So I can dowload the BartPE files from another computer and make a bootable disk and load it to the Thinkpad... and that should get me in. I'll try.

I guess that is what the people at Best Buy will do...

(Sorry I'm not a computer genius... just know enough to get by..)

[jdhurst]

To make a Bart PE Windows Boot CD, you need to go to the Bart PE website (Google), download the CD creator, and build your own CD with a Windows XP SP2 computer. Not a trivial task for a regular user.

You can download a Knoppix Boot CD as an ISO file, and use any standard CD writer to create a boot CD. This is easier. Boot the machine and use the Knoppix file manager to see the hard drive. Then copy the files to a USB key.
... JD Hurst