[blackdahlia143]

Hi there - I am over at the Malware Removal section of the forum - just to give u a quick idea what is going on... Desktop hijack... went through a lot of steps with little success.

The main problem that is holding us back is: I cannot install service pack one.
When I try to - it stops and says that the Atapi driver is in use - I googled that and it said it operates the protocol for CD drive.

So - there is no CD in the drive... I am not sure what process is using the driver to turn it off.

Excal - my helper from the hijack topic suggested I put it(atapi driver) in a folder on the desktop.

Unfortunately I can only use the task Manager to run things - and u cannot move atapi using that - not sure it would move because it is being used anyway.

So two questions:

1. Could I possibly delete the driver - I dodnt really use my CD drive - and get it back later - or would this completely screw up the system.

2. I have an unpacked copy of XP Pro on my c: drive - not on disk - a friend not from the forum suggested I try to install XP overtop the old version. Is it possible to install a version of XP using files that is on the old version on the same drive. I hope that is explained right - I just mean go to Task Manager>File(new task)>Windows setup and so on and overwrite XP uhhhh u know while it is still on the hard drive stored on the previous version of XP.

I am kinda nervous of doing that - but I am hoping that if I did it would fix the registry...

Ok any ideas. Thanx Guys

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Why not just disable the CD-ROM in the device manager or in the bios. Or better yet, if it doesn't void any warranty(s) you may have, open the case and unplug the bus cable connected to your CD-ROM drive, then try re-installing sp 2.

Another thing you can try, which is a wee bit more tricky, is to create a slipstreamed version of your XP CD including Service Pack 2, and then do a repair installation.

You can learn more about slipstreaming here and about doing a repair installation here

[Fenor]

Why not just disable the CD-ROM in the device manager or in the bios. Or better yet, if it doesn't void any warranty(s) you may have, open the case and unplug the bus cable connected to your CD-ROM drive, then try re-installing sp 2.

Another thing you can try, which is a wee bit more tricky, is to create a slipstreamed version of your XP CD including Service Pack 2, and then do a repair installation.

You can learn more about slipstreaming here and about doing a repair installation here

[blackdahlia143]

Do u know how to get to the device maager using Task Manager? I have no start menu or task bar or icons to access it. And I have no idea what section of the drive it is in.

[Fenor]

I know you can disable your CD-ROM through the Recovery Console, but not through task manager itself. Can you not boot into safe mode?

[blackdahlia143]

Yes i can boot into safe mode but unsure how to get to the recovery console - even in safe mode - only the task manager works.

[Fenor]

i suggest you just do a repair installation following the site I posted in my earlier reply. But you can still go into the BIOS and disable the CD rom there. Reboot your computer and hit F1, F2, F10 and del. Not all at once, but these are the normal keys to press to get into a computers bios. Then go to the screen where it lists your Cd-ROM, highlight it then change it to disabled. It is very tricky and dangerous messing with the bios if you don't know what you are doing, so if you are not comfortable going and changing settings in the bios, then do the repair installation.

[blackdahlia143]

The only problem with that is it talks about doing it using a disk - I do not have a disk - but I do have XP - downloaded and unzipped from a friend - on my drive.

Can I use this to do the repair? Or would it be a paradox - not able to use something on a drive that it is repairing?

[Fenor]

Since it's not a legit version of windows, that could be your problem altogether. There are alot of crappily made boot-leg versions of XP flying around the Internet and they have all kinds of problems, especially when trying to do any Windows Updating from the Windows Updates webiste. I suggest you buy a legit version and then do a complete wipe of the drive and start over. Use another hard drive if you want and you can copy back any documents on this hard drive that you want to keep onto the new hard drive that has the good version of XP on it.

[blackdahlia143]

Cool - I never thought about doing that - Thanks for the help.