[DOU12]

My home pc (XP Home Edition)desktop was gone. Nothing works but Control/Alter/Delete.
I tried all kinds of tweaks from Geeks to Go forums, but it did not work. Finally I got a Window XP Home Edition OS CD from a friend, and started the window repair work. The repair process went well. After reboot, the screen shows

Setup is being restarted ----

Then the following window comes up

Insert Disk
Please insert the Compact Disk labeled 'Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD'
into your CD-ROM drive.

Since I got SP2 CD at hand, so I put in the SP2 CD. Obviously, the setup only wants SP1 CD.
The following screen shows:

The file 'asms' on Window XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD is needed.
Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK.

When I click cancel button, the following messages come up:
Fatal error
An error has been encountered that prevents setup from continuing.
One of the components that Windows needs to continue setup could not be installed.
The operation was canceled by the user.

The computer starts to reboot automatically after I close the box. It goes back to the Insert Disk part.

Looks like burning a CD of Window XP Home Edition SP 1 is the solution. Anyone else has other suggestion?
Wondering why it has to be SP1. Thanks for the input.

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See if you can get to a point before the repair and the problem

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

http://support.micro....com/kb/315222/

Using a different CD is fine as long as it is the same version as you installed with

What happened to your CD

[Retired Tech]

See if you can get to a point before the repair and the problem

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

http://support.micro....com/kb/315222/

Using a different CD is fine as long as it is the same version as you installed with

What happened to your CD

[DOU12]

Thank you, Keith.

I tried the Safe mode earlier. This is what I got at Safe mode:

Microsoft® Windows XP® (Build 2600.xpsp1.020828-1920:Service Pack 1) <== at top of screen

Another box shows:
Windows XP Setup cannot run under Wafemode. Setup will restart now.

Once I hit OK button, it goes back to regular boot and gets to Insert Disk box again.

[Retired Tech]

It could be that the disc you are using has SP2 included, whereas the version installed is SP1

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

So where is your XP cd with SP1 ??

Murray

[DOU12]

Don't have the Window XP Home Edition SP1 CD yet.
It is strange it requested SP1 CD after running window XP repair. My pc is 4 year old(before SP1) and
the XP Home Edition OS CD is fairly new(after SP2).

[Murray S.]

Did you update to SP1 prior to trying all of this??

Murray

[DOU12]

Yes. I applied SP1 first, then SP2 later before I had the window problem.
Somehow, I found out the SP2 was gone after the window problem.

[Murray S.]

Suggest you wait until you get your XP cd (I assume you have a valid key code)..

Then, use a Win98SE or WinME boot floppy to fdisk all partitions.. then use the XP cd to boot and re-install..

Murray

[DOU12]

I was able to burn the Window XP SP 1a CD from the following website:
http://www.microsoft...p1/network.mspx

Started the computer, and it went through the same things:

Setup is being restarted ----

Then the following box comes up

Insert Disk
Please insert the Compact Disk labeled 'Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD'
into your CD-ROM drive.

I put in the Window XP SP 1a CD, but it still prompted the following box:

The file 'asms' on Window XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 CD is needed.
Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK.

I looked at the contents of the new XP SP 1a CD, and found one file folder named asms. There is no
any single file named 'asms' on the whole CD though. This is not very encouraging. I thought once I
got the XP SP 1 CD, the problem would be fixed. Looks like it is more complicated than that.
At this point, I don't know what to do. Should I call the microsoft support and hopefully get some clue
or just about time to give up?

[Retired Tech]

Could be wrong, but there is a difference between an XP CD which includes SP1A and the one you have which is only the service pack

[Murray S.]

Could be wrong, but there is a difference between an XP CD which includes SP1A and the one you have which is only the service pack

Nope Keith, I think you have it right.. You need the XP install before you can apply a Service Pack..

DOU12: You need your XP cd to install XP first !!

Murray

[DOU12]

Murray S and Keith,
I do have the XP Home Edition CD. I used the XP CD to repair the window, and it requested the
XP SP 1 CD in order to continue the setup of window. That is when I burned the CD of XP SP 1a.
Those two CD are separate. I don't have a XP CD including SP 1.
That is what confused me that the repair window process required the SP 1 CD, and the SP 1a CD
did not meet the requirement.

[Retired Tech]

That's new to me

I understood that XP would re-instate the original installation as part of the repair, leaving data and programmes intact

No idea why it wants an additional service pack

[Murray S.]

Is there anything on the hdd that needs to be kept??

If not, use a Win98SE or WinME boot floppy to fdisk to wipe out the non-DOS partitions (the XP partition).. Then, do a new install with your XP cd and then upgrade right to SP2 through the Microsoft website..

Murray