Question About Recovery From Back-up

[opalhort]

If I have to reformat or even replace the HDD and re-install WIN XP and have full drive backups created with MS backup (don't bother telling me how bad this is - I know, but for now this is all I have) is it possible to use this backup to recover all my program installations or do I have to re-install all programs again?

Data is no problem, they are on a different drive.

The affected PC (2.5 years old) had a boot problem 2 months ago and the computer shop got it back to life, telling me they repaired WIN. No idea how they did it since I could not even boot it. It worked OK for 2 months and now I got a "BIOS corrupt" error and trying to boot again is a no-go even from CD or floppy. Before this BIOS error I had WIN run into the check disk routine during boot after which the PC worked for an hour and then re-booted on it's own and produced the Bios error.

There is no question about virus infection, the PC is clean.

The computer shop suggested to reformat the HDD (a very last resort for me) but I think the problem may be with the motherboard ASUS (hopefully not the HDD).

Any ideas where to look for the problem?

opalhort

[wolfwolf]

If I have to reformat or even replace the HDD and re-install WIN XP and have full drive backups created with MS backup (don't bother telling me how bad this is - I know, but for now this is all I have) is it possible to use this backup to recover all my program installations or do I have to re-install all programs again?

Data is no problem, they are on a different drive.

The affected PC (2.5 years old) had a boot problem 2 months ago and the computer shop got it back to life, telling me they repaired WIN. No idea how they did it since I could not even boot it. It worked OK for 2 months and now I got a "BIOS corrupt" error and trying to boot again is a no-go even from CD or floppy. Before this BIOS error I had WIN run into the check disk routine during boot after which the PC worked for an hour and then re-booted on it's own and produced the Bios error.

There is no question about virus infection, the PC is clean.

The computer shop suggested to reformat the HDD (a very last resort for me) but I think the problem may be with the motherboard ASUS (hopefully not the HDD).

Any ideas where to look for the problem?

opalhort

The problem is the BIOS. You have to flash it using a floppy. If you have no second computer download it with a friend's

computer. (BIOS and Flash Program) If the BIOS-chip is broken you have to order a new one.

[opalhort]

The PC is already at the computer shop. The guy in charge appears to be knowledable but we have communication (language) problems.

I know there are a number of TV members here who can write Thai well.

Any chance somebody could provide me with some suggestions/instructions about what to do in Thai writing? i could then hand the info to the computer shop.

Thanks for any help.

opalhort