Bizarre XP Pro Behaviour

[jamieallan]

Not sure if its in the right place to start with, apologies if it is.

 

Have got a staff laptop acting very strangely, would love to just wipe it, but there's some vital data that I need off it, and can't get to due to point 1 below (the others are also very annoying in case anyone has any ideas!)

 

1) I cannot copy the data, via either right clicking, ctrcl+c or in command prompt using DOS commands. When in windows I can't select paste, or ctrl+v does nothing...

 

2) When programs are loaded up, nothing appears on the start menu, yet if I alt+tab, everything appears..

 

3) The trackpad will every now and then have a mind of its own, off to the bottom left of the screen she goes!!

 

 

Have scanned for spyware and viruses, both with no joy. I guess what I'm asking is any idea on how to copy the data, then I can just wipe the bloomin thing, its getting me a tad mad.

 

Thanks all,

 

Jamie.

[pooley]

start in safe mode, see if things behave. That way you can iliminate some startup programs/services.

 

Possibly copy the data to another drive while in safe mode.

[SpuffMonkey]

Boot up a Linux Live CD and copy off the data using that...then blitz it

[mattx]

Blow it up. [ Like that blokes car that was in the other thread ]

[jamieallan]

Boot up a Linux Live CD and copy off the data using that...then blitz it

 

Ah, the one thing I haven't tried, been getting so stressed with the damn thing had forgotton about by boot cd. Fingers crossed.

 

Had tried the safe mode method, still no joy.

 

If this doesn't work, its going in the dishwasher.

 

Jamie

[EvLPhenom]

Second using a bootable linux disk then just copy the files you need to external device then reimage it.

[OutToLunch]

+1 for the LiveCD, although I find it's very useful to have a couple of cheap 2.5" USB caddys sat around too - you can always whip the HD out of the laptop, fit it in the caddy, ghost it just in case then give it to the teacher to go get their own data off once you've explained where it is

[jamieallan]

+1 for the LiveCD, although I find it's very useful to have a couple of cheap 2.5" USB caddys sat around too - you can always whip the HD out of the laptop, fit it in the caddy, ghost it just in case then give it to the teacher to go get their own data off once you've explained where it is

 

Cheers all, the boot cd worked a treat. Just getting the data off now, then it's going to be wiped to the maximum. Fingers crossed it stops playing silly beggars after that

[the_one_that_cant]

Just out of curiosity, take the battery out and run from mains power before you wipe (if you haven't already done so). See if that fares any better. Edited November 30, 2009 by the_one_that_cant

[mac_shinobi]

just curious if you run this util

 

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/temp/GetOpenClipboardWindow.zip

 

does it report any issues - if so what issues ?

[browolf]

live cd or

usb to ide/sata adaptor is handy for things like this:

IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 : All Products : Maplin