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PC problems...


MikeW

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Over the past few weeks, like many other users of ccleaner I have suffered several problems.

 

1. I lost all access to my DVD/CD drive(No amount of reloading drivers helped. XP could see the drive but not the media in the drive)

 

2. Like many others I suffered the loss of the folder $hf_mig$ due to the hotfix issue, and could not find an easy fix anywhere.

 

3. I also had the problem with Hotfix KB912945 ( not of course ccleaners fault)

 

I did not have a usable restore point or a full back up. The solution that worked for me was to use the Windows Repair function on the original XP disk. Going this route meant no loss of programs or data, and all the windows settings remained in tact. The process took about 45mins to complete and return the PC back to a clean windows install. The only other task was to visit Winows update to get all the updates since the date of the XP master disk used.

 

For the experts on the forum I guess this all basic, but for so many of us that arn't experts or techs this is a simple fix that is often overlooked. Hope this is of help to others. - Mike

 

How to perform a Windows Repair - http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit - IE11 - Nod32 - Mbam pro

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Thanks Mike that is very helpful. I also did a repair to replace my $hf_mig$ folder. It worked likke a charm. (Although Matt may not agree)

 

Good Times!

:P

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Thanks Mike that is very helpful. I also did a repair to replace my $hf_mig$ folder. It worked likke a charm. (Although Matt may not agree)

 

Good Times!

:P

 

I need to do this but can someone please just confirm for me that there will be no loss of programs or (non-microsoft) files :unsure:

(Just want to be absolutely certain before doing it)

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I need to do this but can someone please just confirm for me that there will be no loss of programs or (non-microsoft) files :unsure:

(Just want to be absolutely certain before doing it)

 

Hi JDPower,

 

I would suggest that you read these links. Repair Install.1, and Repair Install.2.

 

It is always recommended that you backup important data when you make changes, but the purpose of a Repair Installation is to only replace files, etc. that the installation installs. It isn't supposed to touch anything else. In other words, it is supposed to only remove files that it can replace (with the exception of Updates).

 

Matt_ had a problem with his iPod after a repair installation, but that's the only thing that I've seen go wrong.

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Why is nothing ever straight forward :(

 

Only got a recovery CD with this PC and can't seem to access Windows install from this. Found an old XPsp1 cd but can't use it cos this PC is sp2, and as I used the hotfix cleaner I can't uninstall sp2 to use the CD. AAAARGH!!!!

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Why is nothing ever straight forward :(

 

Only got a recovery CD with this PC and can't seem to access Windows install from this. Found an old XPsp1 cd but can't use it cos this PC is sp2, and as I used the hotfix cleaner I can't uninstall sp2 to use the CD. AAAARGH!!!!

 

 

I also used a recovery disk that came with my Fujitsu PC worked fine. Perhaps not all recovery disks are the same. Other possibility is to use one of the MS issued SP2 disks should work the same. Follow the instructions in the link in my first post. Hope you solve your problem.

Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit - IE11 - Nod32 - Mbam pro

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Why is nothing ever straight forward :(

 

Only got a recovery CD with this PC and can't seem to access Windows install from this. Found an old XPsp1 cd but can't use it cos this PC is sp2, and as I used the hotfix cleaner I can't uninstall sp2 to use the CD. AAAARGH!!!!

 

A member on the forum was in your exact situation. He used his SP1 CD to do the repair installation, and then re-installed SP2 afterwards. So you shouldn't have any problems.

 

Do you have anymore questions?

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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A member on the forum was in your exact situation. He used his SP1 CD to do the repair installation, and then re-installed SP2 afterwards. So you shouldn't have any problems.

 

Do you have anymore questions?

 

Sorry, maybe didn't explain clearly. I can't do the repair install because it detects a newer version of Windows than is on the CD. And I can't remedy this by uninstalling SP2 first as I ran the hotfix cleaner (hence one of the reasons I want to do this) and sp2 is no longer listed in add/remove programs :(

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Sorry, maybe didn't explain clearly. I can't do the repair install because it detects a newer version of Windows than is on the CD. And I can't remedy this by uninstalling SP2 first as I ran the hotfix cleaner (hence one of the reasons I want to do this) and sp2 is no longer listed in add/remove programs :(

 

I understand. Why don't you PM sn-fred. He had the exact same problem, but he figured out a way to do the repair installation without uninstalling SP2. He also couldn't uninstall SP2 becuase the hotfix uninstaller removed the SP2 uninstaller.

 

You can do it. ;)

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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I also used a recovery disk that came with my Fujitsu PC worked fine. Perhaps not all recovery disks are the same. Other possibility is to use one of the MS issued SP2 disks should work the same. Follow the instructions in the link in my first post. Hope you solve your problem.

 

Funnily enough the xp(sp1) disc I was trying to use to do the repair install is an old Fujitsu recovery disc, and your right it works just like a normal xp disc.

The recovery disc for this pc is a Toshiba one and when I put it in CD drive and run it, it doesn't do anything and I can't find any sign of Windows by exploring the files on the cd. The instructions for the disc say to put it in drive, turn off pc and restart whilst holding the 'c' button. This brings up a window with three options - Recovery (which reformats the disk), Expert recovery (which only seems to allow some tweaking to the reformat) and exit.

Other possibility is to use one of the MS issued SP2 disks should work the same. Follow the instructions in the link in my first post. Hope you solve your problem.

 

Do you mean the free one they sent out to save downloading it, don't they just have the service pack 2 update on them?

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Its a recovery disc.

 

Just a thought, is it possible to replace the sp2 uninstaller?

 

If you reinstall SP2 that should replace the uninstaller.

 

SP2 Uninstaller Options

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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If you reinstall SP2 that should replace the uninstaller.

 

SP2 Uninstaller Options

 

Well tried reinstalling sp2, still isn't listed in add/remove. Not really surprised as I tried reinstalling that silly active-x hotfix last week cos I wanted to uninstall and that didn't put the uninstaller back either.

 

Went through the four suggestions in that link (after reinstalling sp2):

No1, use add/remove, can't do that, not there.

No2, put uninstaller file path in 'Run', didn't work, said file wasn't there.

No3, system restore, nope XPsp2 was preinstalled so no sp2 restore point.

No4, hmmm looks scary. Especially as I only have available Windows on a recovery disc meant for a different computer (as the recovery disc for this comp will only let me do reformat then reinstall). I did start but chickened out as during the Windows setup (before the 'Welcome to setup' message) I saw it loading all sorts of things at the bottom which were for the old pc, eg FAT32 file system (this comp is NTFS), and I didn't want to risk ballsing it up completely. SO, is this method still possible with this disc even though its for a different pc? I've had two reformats in past two months, I really don't want another :(

 

Can't believe the recovery disc for this computer will only let me do a reformat, gonna go do some Googling there must be some way of just reinstalling/repairing Windows using it, all of the above would be unnecessary then.

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Let us know what you find. I googled for a bit, but I didn't really have enough information to narrow the search. Hopefully you find some helpful information. The information that I found implied that the recovery disc, is simply that...recovery. Hopefully it can do more than that. <_<

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Let us know what you find. I googled for a bit, but I didn't really have enough information to narrow the search. Hopefully you find some helpful information. The information that I found implied that the recovery disc, is simply that...recovery. Hopefully it can do more than that. <_<

 

Right, well looks like you can't really get round it as the Windows files aren't present on the disk in their normal format. I did find this:

There is a way to reinstall windows without having to recover and erase the hard drive. To reinstall windows close any applications running. Go to Start, Run. Type in C:\i386\winnt32.exe and click OK. This will start the windows install similar to installing windows from a retail cd. Follow the instructions and choose the default answers (OK or next.) Have your Windows ID ready in case it asks for it. This will reinstall windows and possibly fix any windows related issue, but it is still a good idea to back up data first.

I tried this and it said it couldn't do an upgrade install as it couldn't find "C:\i386\WINNTUPG\NETUPGRD.DLL". So I explored the sp1 recovery disk and found the WINNTUPG folder, I copied it into the i386 folder on my comp and tried the above again and this time it DID give me the option of an upgrade reinstall. I didn't go any further as I thought I'd post here first. Would this be a good way of reinstalling XP or would I be better off using No4 two posts above to atempt to remove sp2 despite using the recovery disk for a different pc?

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Go for it. But if you try to do an upgrade it might stop you. But it won't hurt to try. A repair installation would get past the service pack thing. And and upgrade might let you do it. I'm not certain.

 

blah, blah, blah...the answer is YES! :D

 

The only problem is that if your i386 folder is corrupted at all you could screw yourself. Do you have an i386 folder on your CD? If so, copy it to the i386 folder that you already have. It will ask you if you want to replace, click YES TO ALL. This way you have a clean copy of all the files before doing an upgrade from the i386 folder.

 

Did I explain that clearly?

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Okay, and now I am going to poke fun at you. :P I just realized that you were the one who wanted to delete the i386 folder! :lol:

 

(It is powerful, huh?) ;)

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Okay, and now I am going to poke fun at you. :P I just realized that you were the one who wanted to delete the i386 folder! :lol:

 

(It is powerful, huh?) ;)

 

Yeah yeah I know, the irony isn't lost on me either. Gonna give it a try a shortly. My I386 folder should be ok as I only just reformatted and reinstalled a couple of weeks ago and reinstalling sp2 yesterday I would hope would fix any possible corruption. Besides the recovery disc with sp2 has no easily usable traces of Windows so can't copy it from there anyway.

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Well I finally did it and it worked pretty much fine. Even stopped halfway to ask me if I really wanted to reinstall my 'unsigned' Omega drivers :D. It did corrupt my modem drivers, so couldn't connect to net to activate Windows, causing a phone call to Microsoft India, but the bloke was very efficient so no real problem. Have even copied the folder to disc for future use if necessary. Had to reinstall a load of Windows updates as expected and I now have a nice full $hf_mig$ folder (and no longer have that bloody stupid active-x update) B)

 

In case anyone was wondering I did some digging and it seems the Toshiba recovery disc that I couldn't access Windows from only contains a Norton Ghost image of the hard drive as was when factory installed. This is apparently standard practice with Tosh recovery cds. I downloaded the free trial version of Ghost to have a look for myself and its right, all the files installed after reformat are there exactly the same on the disc.

 

Thanks for all the help and advice again krit (and MikeW for the original post) ;)

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Nice work JD! :D I'm glad that you're in business and that you got the result that you wanted. Good footwork on your part too.

 

Good Times! ;)

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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Well I finally did it and it worked pretty much fine. Even stopped halfway to ask me if I really wanted to reinstall my 'unsigned' Omega drivers :D. It did corrupt my modem drivers, so couldn't connect to net to activate Windows, causing a phone call to Microsoft India, but the bloke was very efficient so no real problem. Have even copied the folder to disc for future use if necessary. Had to reinstall a load of Windows updates as expected and I now have a nice full $hf_mig$ folder (and no longer have that bloody stupid active-x update) B)

 

In case anyone was wondering I did some digging and it seems the Toshiba recovery disc that I couldn't access Windows from only contains a Norton Ghost image of the hard drive as was when factory installed. This is apparently standard practice with Tosh recovery cds. I downloaded the free trial version of Ghost to have a look for myself and its right, all the files installed after reformat are there exactly the same on the disc.

 

Thanks for all the help and advice again krit (and MikeW for the original post) ;)

 

 

Very glad all worked out for you in the end.

 

Mike

Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit - IE11 - Nod32 - Mbam pro

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