Repair windows

[at2wooden]

If I am having a problem with windows XP, can I repair windows by inserting my windows CD and hitting "R"?
When would I do this?
Does this change my other settings
(Like if I deleted something important, or if windows doesn't recognize hardware)
or 3rd party software?
Will an XP upgrade CD work too?

[DanTheBanjoman]

It'll preserve settings and other crap. It'll do a repair install, which is jsut a normal isntall but at the end your data is still there :)

[at2wooden]

YESSSSSSSSSSS!! Thanks Dan.

At what point in the install do I hit "R"?

Can I use an XP upgrade CD?

[DanTheBanjoman]

Just start installation, press enter. It'll look for a previous installation. If found it'll ask if it should repair it instead.
If it doesn't find the isntallation cancel setup, you will need a CD of the same language as the current setup.

[at2wooden]

Thanks again Dan

[Solaris17]

Dan tries his hardest to make us happy.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Can't make a woman happy, so I'll settle for tpu users.

[Solaris17]

DanTheBanjoman Can't make a woman happy, so I'll settle for tpu users.


Can't make a woman happy:im....sorry:ohwell:
Can't make a woman happy, so I'll settle for tpu users: :p

[wazzledoozle]

DanTheBanjoman fails at life, too :p

[at2wooden]

I did a full reinstall about a month ago. After a week or so I noticed that I started to get the yellow exclamation mark of death in my device manager and couldn't get my computer to recognize any of my optical drives or printer. Would not restore to any of my restore points either. Sometimes the machine just restarts by itself for no reason. I suspected a hot CPU. but I checked the temps in the bios and it is about 45c. Checked connections a dozen times.
Been needing an excuse to build my dream machine and that was close enough, but hate walking away without solving the problem.
Probably nothing a new PSU (it HAD a new eMachine PSU) and new MB wouldn't cure.
Of course if it's the CPU.......:shadedshu.......I am building this rig around it.

ECS P4VXASD2+V5.X MB
1.5GHZ 400 FSB 256KB Willamette P4
Rosewill RES02-SLV 500W PSU (with 24-20 pin adapter)
CoolerMaster IAC-002 Socket 478 CPU Fan
Asus GeForce4 MX440se 64MB 4X AGP
120GB 133IDE HD
2 X 512MB PC133 SDRAM
Liteon DVD-RW / Floppy / 5.25” BayCooler
Benq ATX Case

[wazzledoozle]

It could be the hard drive, maybe its old and breaking down causing data corruption.

[at2wooden]

Funny, I had just decided that this old machine needed updating and ordered new 300W (eMachine) PSU, extra case fans, and memory shields.
It wasn't long after that my original hard drive took a dump.
You're thinking, co-incidence, right? lol
I bought a new maxtor 120Gb and for some reason it wouldn't load XP.
(I put the maxtor into another older machine and it worked fine)
I put a new 80GB WD in and it was like Mikey. He liked it!
Reinstalled windows...........back to the present.
Can believe that the new PSU made my HD go south, but other than the restore/lost peripherials and the occasional shutdown on its own, it works fine. :)
Will try a repair install tomorrow. The PS is my biggest suspect.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Run memtest86. Bad memory can do a lot of funky things.