Screwed Windows XP boot - urgent!

[ponder]

Ohya good point, email and browser bookmarks Email is the most irritating as I personally don't have a program that does it automatically for Outlook, there's Mozbackup for Thunderbird however.

Usually copying and restoring the right folder is enough for email.

 

[Mars]

It's not CRITICAL she gets the laptop today, I just want to avoid reinstalling Windows at all costs..

Then first try the ubcd4win and if that does not work then start looking further.

And back everything up. Its always possible that you have just uncovered a deeper problem that cant be fixed.

 

[cyberbob1979]

Hi

You can try to use the following : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

That usually saves my bacon

 

[|tera|]

Hi

You can try to use the following : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

That usually saves my bacon

That assumes system restore is enabled and a registry backup is available? Am I correct?

 

[squirrel]

Windows XP Home if that makes any diff. Internet is SUPER slow at the moment at a friends 1mb line. Not sure what to do

 

[AstroTurf]

BFR

 

[Mars]

Windows XP Home if that makes any diff. Internet is SUPER slow at the moment at a friends 1mb line. Not sure what to do

buy a prepaid gig from webafrica or wherever.

 

[Mars]

BFR

Big Friendly Rabbit?

 

[shinji]

1.) http://www.acer.co.za/ac/en/ZA/content/drivers - or try the global site for BIOS updates. Seems that your laptop can run Windows Vista so that could be an option...

2.) My default when the crap smack the fan is revert to linux - lots of cool disk utilities that can really help to repair a lot more issues than windows utils can.

3.) Be evil! Tell the tannie her HDD passed on. Get a new one and load the right stuff - use the old one to store all your pr0n. :twisted:

 

[AstroTurf]

Big Friendly Rabbit?

Backup, format, reload

 

[bekdik]

1. Tell the lady that unfortunately you've encountered a problem and the machine won't be available today, but rather weds.
2. backup the userdata & pst files - Linux can be your friend for this
3. Run a repair install from an XP CD. Note run the 2nd repair option, not the first. This will reinstall XP while retaining what's already there.

 

[squirrel]

Ok some updates. I'm still attempting to download UBCD4Win but managed to find an ISO of Windows Recovery Console that works. I can logon to the Administrator account with no password.

 

[squirrel]

I am BEYOND happy!!! I managed to delete Service Pack 3 files through the Recovery Console and it did the trick! Stoked!

 

[Mars]

Nice.

Now for the moral of the story.. If it anit broke dont fix it.

 

[PsyWulf]

^this

 

[NomNom]

Nice.

Now for the moral of the story.. If it anit broke dont fix it.

tbh I would of also did the upgrade, but if the SP wouldn't install I would of done a complete backup of the customers files and attempt to fix the problem, changing a registry key to get a service pack to install is a huge no no however, that or reinstall from scratch.

Or offer to upgrade to Windows 7, if the hardware supports it.

 

[cyberbob1979]

Yeah - it does, but it should be on if the client hasn't fiddled

That assumes system restore is enabled and a registry backup is available? Am I correct?