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Cant repair XP Pro sp1/sp2

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by eafin, 2005/02/03.

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  1. 2005/02/03
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    Tried to do a repair on XP Pro sp1, upgraded to sp2. Media Player inop, No restore points/dates, printing functions not the same, machine running great before upgrade.
    My messege was "Insert XP Pro sp2 to continue repair" I know this isnt exactly the message, but you get my point. I dont have one as I did my upgrade from a download. Please advise.

    Question, Could I load PartitionMagic,put xp os in its own partition, then just remove and replace XP?
    Thanks in advance,
    Eric
     
    eafin,
    #1
  2. 2005/02/03
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    Removing and then reloading XP is basically starting from the beginning. It certainly can work and may be your best option at this point.

    How are your drive(s) / partition(s) set up now?

    Do you have all your data backed up? Install CDs for all your apps?

    Is SP2 on CD and do you have a CD burner?
     
    Newt,
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  4. 2005/02/04
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    FYI - SP2 can be downloaded from here and burnt to CD - ~270 Mb. You will get a lot of stuff you don't need, but at least you have it on CD.

    I used this before SP 2 was available on CD having previously run the Release Candidates RC1 and RC2.
     
    PeteC,
    #3
  5. 2005/02/04
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    XP pro repair

    Main HD is a 60 gig, with a 250gig USBd as backup. Should I just make a folder for this as I didnt Ghost it when it was first installed. I just want to fix what is wrong and go on from here...
    Thanks as always..
    Eric
     
    eafin,
    #4
  6. 2005/02/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    A suggestion ....

    Copy all your data to the external hard drive including an export of your Address Book, Favourites, Cookies and email accounts. I would also copy the Outlook Express Message Store to the external drive - for the location of your Message Store open OE > Tools > Options > Maintenance > Store Folder.

    When you are sure that you have all your data safe disconnect the USB drive.

    Check that you have all your program CD's and boot from the XP CD following these instructions ....

    I am assuming that you have a Windows XP CD and not a Recovery disk. Many Recovery disks destroy partition information and wipe the entire drive.

    Check in your BIOS that the boot order is set CD/Floppy/HD

    Boot from the Windows CD "“ follow the on screen prompts "¦..

    To set up Windows XP now press ENTER

    Accept the Licence Agreement F8

    Searching for previous versions of Windows

    To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows without repairing press ESC

    Ensure that the drive/partition selected is the one on which XP was set up and press D to delete the selected partition.

    To delete the partition press ENTER

    To delete the partition press L "“ heed the warnings and DOUBLE CHECK before hitting L

    To create a partition in the unpartitioned space press C

    Accept max size and press ENTER

    To set up Windows XP on the selected item (Partition (New Raw)) press ENTER
    Format the partition using the NTFS file system "“ preferred unless you want an install of Win 98 to access data on the drive/partition, if so choose FAT.

    Set up is formatting "¦â€¦

    When format is complete XP will install.

    When complete install your antivirus and firewall before you even think of connecting to the Internet. Update the virus definitions immediately and then go to Windows Updates and download the Critical updates.

    With XP up and running you can use Partition Magic to create a new partition on the drive - I would leave at least 10 - 15 Gb for the Windows partition - C:\
     
    PeteC,
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  7. 2005/02/05
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    PeteC your suggestion..

    I did as you suggested, got to the point of accepting licence agreement by hitting F8, and thats as far as I could go. Nothing would work. Had to hit esc to reboot. Please advise as to what to do now.
    Thanks,
    Eric
     
    eafin,
    #6
  8. 2005/02/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Ensure that the CD is clean and that there is no damage and try again. I cannot think of a reason right now which would cause the PC to freeze at that point.

    If you have a second optical drive set that up in BIOS as the first boot option and try again.

    If neither of these ideas work post back.
     
    PeteC,
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  9. 2005/02/05
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ok, will do as you advise...and let you know what happens...Thanks..
     
    eafin,
    #8
  10. 2005/02/05
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    Still will not let me continue after hitting F8..

    Please advise
     
    eafin,
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  11. 2005/02/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Is the drive currently formatted FAT32 or NTFS?
     
    PeteC,
    #10
  12. 2005/02/05
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    Both drives

    are NTFS...
     
    eafin,
    #11
  13. 2005/02/05
    eafin

    eafin Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ntfs?

    Any more thoughts/ideas?..
     
    eafin,
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  14. 2005/02/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    That makes it more difficult - I was hoping to suggest the straightforward use of FDISK to delete the partition and format the drive. With NTFS it is more difficult ....

    Assuming you are happy to format the drive follow these instructions - at your own risk and with no guarantee of success

    Download a Windows Me Startup disk from Bootdisk.com and download delpart.exe from here - scroll down to Partitioning. Put delpart.exe onto the Me boot floppy.

    Refer to here for instructions on the use of FDISK - particularly Page 2, section headed 'The FDISK delete screen'.

    Run delpart.exe from the floppy and then reboot and create partitions with FDISK, format and boot from the XP CD to install XP.
     
    PeteC,
    #13
  15. 2005/02/05
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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    eafin--My purpose is not to muddy the water so perhaps you should await further comment from Newt or PeteC, but if I understand your first post, you wanted to repair XP SP1 **, but installed SP2 and somewhere along the way Windows Media Player and some printer functions would not work. When you tried to repair WinXP (using SFC /Scannow?) you were asked for the XP SP2 CD, but you do not have such a CD.
    The files for both SP1 and SP2 are probably on your hard drive, so you do not need the CD--except perhaps to establish that you have a licensed copy of XP on the PC. I wonder if the XP SP1 CD would accomplish that.
    Then to repair SP2 you want to be sure scannow is looking for those SP2 files in the correct location on the hard drive. Check the Source Path in your Registry--HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SourcePath
    You do not want Source Path to point to the CD-ROM drive, but rather some place on the hard drive, such as C:\.
    As I said, wait for further comment from those more knowledgeable. And if I have misinterpreted the problem, just ignore the above.
    ** P.S. Why did you want to "repair" SP1 in the first place? You say that everything was fine until you installed SP2.
     
    Welshjim,
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  16. 2005/02/05
    Zander

    Zander Geek Member Alumni

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    Unless I missed it somewhere in this thread, it doesn't appear you've tried uninstalling SP2. If not, try it. It should be in your add>remove programs list.

    Otherwise, you could try the repair using a XP slipstreamed disk. If you don't have SP2 on your hard drive anymore you'll have to download it again to do this. I don't know if this will fix your problems or not being you think it's SP2 that's at fault. It's worth a try though. My first suggestion though, would be to try uninstalling SP2 if you haven't already done so.

    I'll also ask the question Jim asked. Why did you want to repair windows in the first place? If you let us know what the problems are, perhaps we can help you fix them without the need for the repair or wiping the drive and starting over.
     
    Zander,
    #15
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