[Manners]

OK. Will do. If it is too far gone, my husband was looking at flash drives to store everything and maybe re-format the disk and start from scratch.
Manners

[Advertisements]

I was thinking more along the lines of a parallel install which would make the data much easier to deal with, but let me peek at the report first. I may be able to spot the source of the problem in there.

[wannabe1]

I was thinking more along the lines of a parallel install which would make the data much easier to deal with, but let me peek at the report first. I may be able to spot the source of the problem in there.

[wannabe1]

Uninstall you printer and printer drivers, reboot, and reinstall them. Let's see if we can get rid of the spooler errors. The report shows the printer drivers as not properly installed. That would certainly cause spooler errors.

[Manners]

Sorry it took so long. Our cable was down for awhile. Have tried re-installing HP a few times now. Part way through it just disappears..poof.
Also I took a screen shot of error messages. Just don't know how to add it to this message so I attached.

Attached Files

•  screen_shot.doc   489.5KB   11 downloads

[wannabe1]

After looking at the WinAudit report, you have a lot more errors than just that. Explorer has been crashing, there are services that aren't starting because dependent services are missing, many missing drivers, etc...

Would you be game for a parallel installation to see if we can straighten things out and get your data on a working installation?

[Manners]

How painful is it?? Will they have to lock me in the loony bin afterwards or worse..during?? LOL!! OK. I'm game.

[wannabe1]

It's a walk in the park compared to the alternative...

What we'll be doing is installing Windows along side the current install, but we'll use a different directory. All your data will be accessible from the new installation, so you can move that into the new one. Then we can remove the broken directory and fix the boot prompt you will be getting once we complete the install.

You will be booting to the cd to do this. We'll start out the same way as the repair...boot to the cd.

At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press Enter to set up Windows XP.

Accept the License Agreement by pressing F8

With your current installation selected in the box, press Esc

Select the C: Partition1 [NTFS] in the box and press Enter

To continue setup using this partition, press C

Now you should see formatting options...choose the last one "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)" and press Enter

To use a different folder, press Esc

Name the folder WINDOWS0 (just type a 0 (zero)) and press Enter

The Windows installation should begin.

When it finishes, we'll have to install drivers and your programs will have to be reinstalled, but your data should be tucked safely away in the Documents and Settings folder (C:\Documents and Settings) under your current user account name...so when you set up the new installation, give yourself a slightly different user name.

I'll be right here if you run into problems or have any questions.

[Manners]

It would probably be better if I started fresh in the morning. I'm going to finish backing up tonight, just in case. Thanks again for all of your help.
Manners

[wannabe1]

I'm sure I'll be wandering around here someplace...

Be sure to use the product key from the machine you're fixing...

Give me a shout if you need anything.

[Manners]

YIPPY!! That was completely painless! I am using the new install to write this! Now, where do I go from here? Thank you sooooo very much!

Lots of questions though:
1. Do I activate Windows? I am already activated on the old install.
2. How do I switch documents from the old install?
3. I am worried about space, so how do I go about deleting from the old install or will I be able to eventually delete all of it?
4. What about updates and SP2? Also, I am worried I don't have a virus program running but don't want to install another AVG - space again!

I just really can't thank you enough.
Manners

[wannabe1]

Outstanding!

For your questions:
1. Do I activate Windows? Yes, Windows will have to be activated, but hold off until we are done.
2. How do I switch documents from the old install? Navigate to the old user account in the "Documents and Settings" folder, locate the files you need to recover, copy them, and paste them to the same location in your new user account. If you should happen to get an "Access Denied" error, we'll take ownership and move them.
3. I am worried about space, so how do I go about deleting from the old install or will I be able to eventually delete all of it? We will be removing the whole broken directory once we're sure we're done with it.
4. What about updates and SP2? Also, I am worried I don't have a virus program running but don't want to install another AVG - space again! You'll need to have an Anti Virus application before you go online. If you do not have space to install it again, navigate to C:\Program Files and locate the AVG folder...right click on it and choose "Delete". This should garner you enough room to install it on the new directory. We'll get to SP2 as soon as we remove the old directory.


Now my turn.
1. Are you asked which operating system you want to start when you boot the machine?
2. Is the new installation behaving as it should?
3. In Device Manager, do you see any yellow ! or ? displayed next to any devices?

[Manners]

I am running a virus scan now inorder to make sure nothing snuck in when I first connected. Have to leave for HS Basketball game but will be back shortly.
Answers:
1. Are you asked which operating system you want to start when you boot the machine?
Yes
2. Is the new installation behaving as it should?
So far.
3. In Device Manager, do you see any yellow ! or ? displayed next to any devices?
Yes. Lots of yellow? as follows:

[color="#FF0000"]Base System Device
Base System Device
Multimedia Audio Controller
Network Controller
PCI Modem
SM Bus Controller
Unknown Device
Video Controller
Video Controller (VGA Compatible)

[wannabe1]

What's the make and model number of the machine?

[wannabe1]

We'll need to edit the boot.ini file to remove the boot prompt.

Open Control Panel and double click on the "System" icon. Under the "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on the "Settings" button. In the new window, click on the "Edit" button. A notepad window will open (boot.ini)...copy the contents of that window and paste it here for me.

[Manners]

Laptop is an Nspire Model CL51 with Centrino.

Here is the c & p:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWSO
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWSO="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin