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Can't install or download anything!

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by daydreemer, 2009/03/10.

  1. 2009/03/10
    daydreemer

    daydreemer Inactive Thread Starter

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    My computer has been acting very strange and doing odd things lately so I figured it would just be easier to backup the important stuff and refomat the drive rather than try to isolate the problem/problems and fix each one. I tried to install the NTBACKUP.MSI backup tool off of my XP Home Edition CD and received the following message "Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continueing this one" - I do not have any installations in progress as far as I know. After trying to install a few other things to test if anything would install, I have found that nothing will. I am not able to download anything either including microsoft updates. When I try to download a file it acts like it is going to work and gets to 99% complete and just stops. No messages or response, it just hangs on the last 1% while the download window stays open and appears as though it's still working on that last 1% with every download I try.

    There are several other various and inconsistent issues on my computer and I'm wondering if I just have one big problem or if I really have that many things wrong. I have a feeling that maybe my registry is really messed up but I don't have a clue how to diagnose the problems I'm having. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks a bunch!

    Theresa
     
    daydreemer,
    #1
  2. 2009/03/10
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Welcome to WindowsBBS :)

    You clearly have a number of problems which may or may not be related .....

    There are plenty of other backup programs available which are probably better than the XP Backup facility, but as you are unable to install anything they are not really relevant at the moment....
    Windows 'thinks' just that - one possible solution is to look in Task Manager for msiexec.exe or msiexec and to stop the process by right clicking on it > End Process and try the installation again.

    If this is unsuccessful it would be worth downloading the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility

    If neither of these solutions works Windows Installer may be corrupted - you can download a fresh copy from here ....

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=889482FC-5F56-4A38-B838-DE776FD4138C

    On another tack your problems may be related to a hardware issue - I would certainly test your hard drive using the manufacturer's disk diagnostics - you will need to download on another computer .....

    Disk Diagnostic Software ....

    ExcelStore

    Hitachi/IBM

    Samsung

    Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum

    Western Digital

    If you don't know the make of the drive this may be a little tricky to ascertain given that you cannot presently install anything - may be necessary to physically look at the drive to determine the maker - alternatively Device Manager or Systen Info will give some detail, but not always the manufacturer's name. If only a model no. is quoted a Google will most likely show some hits allied to the maker's name.

    You said at the outset ....
    Always an option and sometimes the best way round multiple problems, but do try and test the hard drive first. No point in making a fresh install on a flakey drive :)

    As for backing up consider direct transfer to an external hard drive, which presumably you have if you were intending to use XP Backup or burn to CD/DVD, which XP Backup will not do.
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2009/03/10
    daydreemer

    daydreemer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks for your reply. I'll try your suggestions and let you know the outcome. Thanks again!

    Theresa
     
    daydreemer,
    #3

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