Author Topic: windows xp can't load users profile, all documents gone?! (Read 5228 times)

jennis · « **on:** August 09, 2011, 11:49:35 PM »

Please bear with me, I am the first to admit that I don't know a lot about computers, but I am a fast learner and good at following directions. I am really good at doing the things I use my computer for, but when it comes to the technical stuff, not so much. I have a dell optiplex 740 with windows xp. It has been slowing down for awhile, and I was getting windows pop up that said I was low on space on my C drive. I tried freeing up some room, but there were some random programs that seemed to be taking more room than others (programs that I don't use anymore, but it wouldn't let me erase them.) One day I tried logging on to my account and I got a window that said, "windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the default profile for the system. Detail: Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service." It then logged me on, but almost all of my icons were gone and my My Documents folder was completely empty. I'm hopeful that they're not really gone, because i was able to open a picasa icon (which I don't recall ever using before). Picasa pulled up all of my photos, but then immediately a message popped up saying the program had to close unexpectedly, so I couldn't save my pictures. I'm trying not to freak out, because pics of my 3 kids don't exist off of my computer. I just barely went to try to log on again, but this time after giving me the same message‚ it just went to a blue screen with no icons. I clicked on the disk clean-up icon down on the bottom of my screen, and it said that I had 0 MB of available space, and System Restore was suspended so it couldn't protect my computer until I freed at least 200 mb. I tried, but got several different messages when I tried, including: "an error occured while writing installation info to disk. Check to make sure enough disk space is available and click retry or cancel." Or "unable to locate/process internal binary resource. Pleas contact your software vendor." Or "runtime error! This applicationhas requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way." Sorry if this is too much info. My #1 priority is for sure recovering my pictures, and then to get my computer working again. I know space is obviously an issue. If it won't let me delete things, do I need to buy more memory before doing anything else? And then what? Is this damage that can be fixed?

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #1 on:** August 10, 2011, 01:59:30 AM »

Don't panic! A fault with your computer has caused you to be logged on with a "temporary profile". This has not erased your documents.

Probably your PC would benefit from a software rebuild. In the meantime, look for your documents using Windows Explorer. Go to the C: drive, then Documents and Settings, then look for your user name. You should find your documents/pictures folders there.

jennis · « **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2011, 10:41:01 AM »

Thank you Rob! I was able to find my pictures, and went to save them all on CDs so I have them if anything happens, but it doesn't give me the option to save to disk. I know it used to, because I've done it before. When I go to file/send to, it only offers 3 1/2 floppy A. Do they even make those anymore?

Also, when you talk about a software rebuild, that sounds complicated. I assume I need to take my computer in somewhere to get that done? Should I bother with a system restore if it will let me do it first?

Transfusion · « **Reply #3 on:** August 10, 2011, 10:52:39 AM »

A software rebuild means reinstalling windows-you can do that with the restore partition on your Dell.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6802870_use-dell-pc-restore-partition.html

truenorth · « **Reply #4 on:** August 10, 2011, 10:56:37 AM »

For the immediacy of your concerns re your pictures. Have you tried inserting a USB flash drive into the computer (use the rear ports) and doing a simple drag and drop to the open window of the flash drive? If you do get them transfered to a flash drive a word of caution DO NOT do anything such as adding more to that flash drive or use it for anything else UNTIL you have access to another computer to transfer them to a more permanent medium (such as a cd or dvd disc). But once you have them installed on the flash drive you can then remove them from your computer HDD and that will start the process of making more HDD space available (which appears to be at the root of your computer problems). Have you tried removing your no longer required programs via add/remove programs? What is the capacity of the HDD you have in the computer? What is your make and model of the computer?truenorth