Re: Should I Reinstall XP? Seems Kind of Drastic

From: francis gérard (spam_at_spamcop.net)
Date: 08/04/04 

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 20:58:03 -0400

"Mikey" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:bdfa01c479b7$a04096a0$a501280a@phx.gbl...
[...]
>
> This morning I attempted to get my Win98 SE machine to
> recognize the printer on my XP machine so that I could
> print to it. This is things started to fall apart.
>
> I was not able to get the Win98 SE machine to recognize
> the printer, and then I started having problems on my XP
> System. Namely, VERY slow performance, programs locking
> up, half of my wallpaper is missing, can't access Outlook
> 2003 -- the list goes on and on.
>
>
> 5. Contacted Dell Tech support.
>
> Regarding issue 5, they are telling me that it sounds
> like my XP OS is corrupted and the ONLY solution is to
> reformat the disc and reinstall XP.

that's typical canned response from so-called tech support goons, and
disgusting

it's difficult to make a diagnosis, given the information you've provided so
far, but since you're in a panic, i'll give it a shot. you seem to have
suggested that things 'fell apart' when you attempted a network print job
from the Win98 machine to the WinXP machine, correct? the problems (which
you'll need to describe in more detail) may not have anything to do with the
failed printjob, but let's start there.

ok, first thing you can try... shutdown (or disable) the print spooler
service on the XP machine and see if things settle down, if so, then we
figure out what went wrong and fix it. if not, then we re-enable print
spooler service and diagnose further. you'll need to provide clearer
details though, "can't access Outlook, etc" is kinda vague. you say the
machine is experiencing "very slow performance', so my first guess would be
an errant process (perhaps the print spooler) is hogging the cpu, which
would cause the rest of the system to become unresponsive and almost
impossible to use, hence programs locking up, half-drawn wallpaper, etc.

so, to shutdown the print spooler service, Start menu, Settings, Control
Panel, Administrative Tools, Services console. look for 'Print Spooler' in
the list of services, right-click on that entry and select Stop from the
context (popup) menu. Windows should display a service control dialogue
'stopping print spooler...' then disappear. does that help? NO, then
continue reading...

are you familiar with the Windows Task Manager, if not, you need to learn.
CtrlAltDel (press those 3 keys simultaneously) which will either bring-up
the Task Manager or the Security Dialogue, if it brings up the latter, press
T for Task Manager. assuming you see the Task Manager on your screen, click
on the Performance tab, is the CPU Usage sitting at or near %100? if yes,
then there is a process hogging the cpu. click on the Processes tab, then
click twice on the CPU column header (sorts processes based on their current
cpu usage), near the top you will see the processes using the most cpu time,
look for the one process whose CPU usage is really high (don't count System
Idle Process, that's irrelevant), but the offending process should be
immediately below that one. if you find such a process, make note of the
Image Name (write it down), then kill the process by right-clicking on the
process, and choose End Process from the context menu (confirm Yes to the
Termination Dialogue that will popup).

then get back to us with further details... 

--
francis

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