[Zuisa]

Okay, so this all started when I (obviously stupidly) downloaded Win OSX. It looked liked a legitimate program, I thought it would be fun, so I downloaded it. After installation, I had no taskbar, mac or pc style. I figured that this had just been a bad idea, and went through My Computer and into Program Files and found the uninstaller.

Uninstalled and rebooted: still, no taskbar. I figure now what I should do is a system restore. I can get the start menu to pop-up by hitting tab + space bar while on the desktop, but system restore just won't open. Sometimes nothing loads at all, and sometimes a window opens that says System Restore but had the little white box icon that you get when programs aren't responding. I went in through Windows\System32\Restore to try to open it that way, and the same result.

All the other programs seem to be opening fine, but (of course) the one I need isn't opening.

Is there anything I can do?

Edited by Zuisa, 28 January 2006 - 11:23 PM.

[Advertisements]

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter to replace the system files, you need the XP CD.

System File Check will show an on screen blue progress bar, reboot when the bar goes


Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a command prompt then press enter.

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.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

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:

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


A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

[Retired Tech]

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter to replace the system files, you need the XP CD.

System File Check will show an on screen blue progress bar, reboot when the bar goes


Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a command prompt then press enter.

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.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

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:

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


A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

[Zuisa]

I don't have an XP CD. There wasn't one that came with my laptop, which I always thought was odd.

[Retired Tech]

See if you can start restore using the command prompt

You can borrow a same version as was originally installed XP CD to run the system file check, (if you downloaded SP2 you need an XP with SP1 CD)

[Zuisa]

I did some searching and found through here that the image for the installation cd is in the C:\I386 folder, and so I ran the sfc /scannow and it ran all the way through without any error messages.

I then went into safe mode with command prompt and opened %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and the same thing happened as before; empty window opened.

[Retired Tech]

See how you get on with this

http://support.micro....com/kb/313853/

And

http://support.micro...kb/302796/en-us

[Zuisa]

For the first link, all the Registry Keys existed, and for the second I got nothing but a fuzzy blue window when I tried to expand Services in Computer Management, but when I ran Net Start, System Restore Services was on the list.

[Retired Tech]

But it still won't run?

[Zuisa]

Nope.

I'm getting to the point where I've had so many problems with my computer in such a short amount of time that I think I might as well just reinstall Windows. It's a bit drastic, I know... but I'm not seeing a huge amount of other options.

[Retired Tech]

I would go with trying to borrow an XP CD to run a repair install

If you didn't get an XP CD, does the PC have a recovery partition

You can use these to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to boot the PC and keep tapping the delete key until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, type Y then press enter and as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

XP Repair Install

Or here if you are unable to run XP Repair Install

Alternative XP Repair Install Method

Use Windows Installation CD to repair the current installation, from the list, which uses a slightly different method

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update