Help - huge computer problem

[Golfgirl]

OK guys - I need some computer advice - or else I am about to get the yellow pages out and pay a tech to come over.... :shock:

I appear to have some disk corruption - unfotunately, it means that I can't open my Microsoft Outlook program, so I can't check my e-mails....

I can't live without email.... I don't have a real life off the golf course, only an electronic one.... :oops: :roll:

I have tried doing a system restore, and I have run chkdsk, defrag, disk cleanup, you name it... I can't fix whatever is the problem... :?

The file that is corrupted is called Outlook.pst

Any suggestions??

[Fishman Dan]

PM sent..

[AndyP]

Does anyone else think that "Fishman" sounds like a good superhero name? :mrgreen:

[Fishman Dan]

Does anyone else think that "Fishman" sounds like a good superhero name? :mrgreen:

Not me? :smt109 :smt047

[Jarro]

how'd you go GG :?:

did the fishman help you out at all :?

[Fishman Dan]

Hmmm, the eerie silence has me worried too :? :(

Last count her disk has a corruption, and her mail file is plonked right on top of it..... Scandisk might be able to recover it, or at worst isolate that spot on her disk, but i think it might mean she has lost some or all of her existing e-mail.

[AndyP]

Hmmm, the eerie silence has me worried too :? :(

Last count her disk has a corruption, and her mail file is plonked right on top of it..... Scandisk might be able to recover it, or at worst isolate that spot on her disk, but i think it might mean she has lost some or all of her existing e-mail.
If the ISP also had web-based access to the mail, would you be able to access it there? :?

[Fishman Dan]

Hmmm, the eerie silence has me worried too :? :(

Last count her disk has a corruption, and her mail file is plonked right on top of it..... Scandisk might be able to recover it, or at worst isolate that spot on her disk, but i think it might mean she has lost some or all of her existing e-mail.
If the ISP also had web-based access to the mail, would you be able to access it there? :?

Yeah, but none of her existing e-mail messages/contacts etc.

[markTHEblake]

Apparently this is a common problem with Microsoft Outlook, and can be repaired by following this instruction,

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010549331033.aspx

[Ducky]

If none of the above mentioned has worked for you, please post back and be more specific with the errors you are receiving (if any) and/or the behaviour of the program.

Kind regards,

Ben (Ducky).

[Onewood]

Is the green light on :wink: theres a little button you push :D

Sorry thats all I know :roll:

[Fishman Dan]

Blakey - tried Scanpst.exe but it couldn't 'locate' the file? Tried moving the .pst elsewhere and it had a dummy spit too. I then had to divert my attention back to my job, which turned a little sour today :roll:

There are other .pst file recovery tools, but if it can't read the file then there's the problem right there. When i left GG she was going to run a Check disk over it and see what it came back with.

And it wasn't a 2gb .pst file limit doozy either. If any of you out there using Outlook have MASSIVE amounts of mail, make sure you cull it before you hit 2gb.

[markTHEblake]

Go to Control Panel > Mail > Outlook data files, and remove the link to the offending PST file.

Open Outlook and let it create a new PST file. Outlook will at least work again.

Then you can worry about what to do with the corrupt file later, but it sounds screwed - might not even be able to delete it.

If she is running FAT32 converting to NTFS might solve that issue, or make a bloody mess of things if this is only an iceberg tip.

[990B Luva]

you guys think that GG has a problem, i have the netsky.d virus and cant get online at home, only school, 120GB+ HDD coming getting rid of crappy, old 30GB stuff with netsky on it

[Fishman Dan]

990 - should be able to remove that with any bog-standard anti-virus program?

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.netsky.d@mm.html

There's been a fix since late March. Go and get the demo product, should fix it up for you in the short term.

[Flowergirl]

Ok guys..........you all sound pretty smart when it comes to pc's......( except for Onewood :lol: ) I've just got a new comp at home with Windows Xp and for some reason it just turns itself on by itself ( I can turn myself on too - but hey thats another story).
What can I do??????

[markTHEblake]

FG, are you sure that you are actually turning it off in the first place, as opposed to putting into standby mode - which means its just sleeping......ZZzzzzz.. If its in Standby the green power light on the Case might be flashing.

There is a bunch of things that can reactivate the computer from Standby, ringing phone, keyboard press, bump the mouse, tap on the shoulder and so on (much like yourself)

Please describe how *you* normally turn the computer OFF. There is a bunch of ways, none necessarily right or wrong, and we can change a setting to change how your way works.

Now conduct this sequence as a test to completely power the computer off, click Start > Turnoff Computer > and Turnoff.
If the computer wont start by itself now, you have got it licked.

[Flowergirl]

I'll have a look when I get home.. ...thanks :D

[Golfgirl]

Ok - well, I'm back - sorta.....

I've changed the e-mail setting to run Outlook express as my e-mail program, and caught up on the 80 odd e-mails that have accumulated in the last few days....

This doesn't fix the problem, but unfortunately, I can't figure out what else to do.

I think that I will leave it alone until I get to Sydney and then get an eCowboy (Dan's term.... I just love it), to come and have a crack at fixing it.... :?

I would hate for the info in the Outlook program to be lost forever, as it has all my contact details (I don't use a paper address book since discovering Outlook) as well as all the e-mails which relate to Matt's employment with the idiots at Shellharbour.....

Does anyone know if it is possible for a tech to retrieve at least the contact info, then somehow set the computer to not use the corrupted part of the disk??? Or do they somehow fix the corrupted part??? (Forgive my ignorance..... :oops: )

Anyhow, 80 e-mails - nothing interesting.... boy I get some spam.... :roll:

[Fishman Dan]

Let me know the dates you are up and i'll see what i can do.

Did i mention they make a cracker of a pad thai up the road? ;)

[JJJ]

Golfgirl,

Sounds like you have a couple of bad spots on the disk and sadly your pst file is right in the middle of one. If scandisk can't fix it then you might be in trouble. There are companies out there that are pretty good at getting stuff back - one mob I've used in the past is http://www.payam.com.au/. You are looking at around $250 to recover the data if they can get it all back...... Might be time to back up everything you have and reformat the disk and perhaps even throw in another disk to enable you to backup between them.

JJ