Magic Folders hosed my computer?

February 21, 2006 10:34 PM

My computer is hosed. I installed Magic Folders at the suggestion of Ask Mefi and now I can't start it whatsoever.

Compaq Presario 2199US laptop.

I installed the program, hid a few folders and exited the program. My computer froze up and I had to hit the power button to restart. When I booted up again, I found the loading window to lead to a blue screen error and then my computer rebooted (only to lead back to this screen and another reboot and so on...)

I managed to stop the auto reboot and paused on the error message, the most important part of which included:

STOP: 0x0000008e

mfx.sys Address FF77602FF base at F775F00 DateStamp 43fb6892

The geniuses at PC Magic advise to boot in safe mode or last known good configuration, but I can't do either as they both lead to the same error and reboot.

So is my computer hosed? I know I could quite easily reformat, but I haven't got a clue where my Windows CD is and I'd rather not lose a year's worth of photography, music and homework (I guess I haven't backed up in a while.)

posted by sian to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Your disk is probably fine. You just need to delete the mfx.sys file. The easiest way to do this is to boot with your XP CD (if you can find it or loan one from someone else), go into recovery console mode, and delete it.

Alternatively, you could put the drive in another computer and delete the file.

If neither is an option, you can try the NTFS bootdisk here although I don't have experience using it.
posted by helios at 10:41 PM on February 21, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, helios. I can snag a recovery disk from the computer lab tomorrow.

I'm not a techy person by any means.
posted by sian at 10:44 PM on February 21, 2006

Response by poster: I found my CD in a stack of blanks. (So disorganized.)

I went into the recovery console, deleted:

windows\system32\drivers\mfx.sys
windows\magic.exe

and I'm supposed to delete c:\SYZ_DAT.

I try to, but it says that "access is denied". I also try to cd to that directory and am denied. Any ideas?
posted by sian at 10:55 PM on February 21, 2006

Response by poster: Never mind. I've got it. Thanks!

Flagged for close.
posted by sian at 10:57 PM on February 21, 2006

Sian: Be a good netizen. How did you fix it?
posted by Plutor at 6:19 AM on February 22, 2006

Response by poster: I did... what the linked page told me to do. (Whoops)

http://www.pc-magic.com/mfxt.htm#Anchor3

If you can boot into Recovery Console, then do so and enter "disable mfx" and "disable xms1563k".
posted by sian at 6:30 AM on February 22, 2006