Re: Mass Coruption with Downloaded Installations

Post back when you are finished with the clean install. It's important
that you do it right. Otherwise, no one will be able to help you!

Hopefully you booted off the CD-ROM drive. Hopefully you have all the
hardware drivers you need.

What Service Pack level is your intallation CD? Presumably it's not SP3.
If it's SP1 or lower, it's important you enable the Windows firewall. If
it's SP2, the firewall is already enabled by default. When you are ready
to install SP3, have a look at these instructions:

Two major problems with SP3 have been reported. With preparation
on your part, though, you won't (more than likley) experince *any*
problems whatsoever. Still, it is always wise to image your hard drive
before undertaking any major change like a Service Pack upgrade.

Problem #1: On certain PCs that come with a factory-imaged hard
drive erroneously assuming the CPU is Intel rather than AMD (e.g.,
HPs), upgrading to SP3 without applying a particular patch first is
problematic. See this page for more information and for the fix:

http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/archive/2008/05/08/does-your-amd-based-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx

(or http://tinyurl.com/6zs52d )

Problem #2: It is best to disconnect all perpipheral devices (e.g., USB
external hard drives, printers, etc.) and configure a Clean Boot
environment (because certain anti-malware programs that run in the
background can interfere with the upgrade). See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Personally, I have had best results *not* using Automatic Updates.
Instead, I recommend that people download the entire .iso file of SP3
from Microsoft and burn an SP3 CD:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2fcde6ce-b5fb-4488-8c50-fe22559d164e&displaylang=en

(or http://tinyurl.com/5h8cw6 )

More reading material regarding the Best Practices method of upgrading
to SP3:

http://www.iaps.com/windows-xp-sp3-installation-guidelines.html

http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron/archive/2008/05/08/windows-xp-sp3-read-all-prerequisites-for-a-successful-installation.aspx

(or http://tinyurl.com/6nf4k4 )

Currently, there is free support specifically for issues related to
upgrading
to SP3:

"Free unlimited installation and compatibility support is available for
Windows XP, but only for Service Pack 3 (SP3). This support for SP3 is
valid until April 14, 2009."

The above is from:

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11273&gprid=522131

(or http://tinyurl.com/6cw2xk )

----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are able to create and save an image of your entire hard drive,
then if something calamitous happens, all you need to do is restore the
image, which should take about fifteen minutes. There is half-decent
freebie called DriveImageXML. It's very basic, but it gets the job done.
Personally, I like to use Acronis True Image. It isn't free, but it also
gives you the ability to make incremental images. Although you can save
image archives to any media, I recommend using a USB external hard
drive. For the latest Acronis product:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

To comparison shop:

http://www.google.com:80/products?q=Acronis+True+Image+Home+2009&btnG=Search+Products&hl=en



"Thomas Bussell" <ThomasBussell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:70840CA0-EBD0-4826-877B-92F13C0CE930@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Alright, I believe I'm doing the 2nd one you posted. I don't know how
to
image my hard drive, I know how to burn an image to a drive. I have
only 1 OS
installed. Every so often I do a low level format. I use "DBAN" or
Darik's
Boot And Nuke, and completely wipe the drive, then install. But still,
I get
the same problem. I have no clue why it does this. And I was hoping to
get
more help and insight on this problem.

"Daave" wrote:

"Thomas Bussell" <ThomasBussell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:FFC8477E-8FAA-48CD-BDCC-D772A8094322@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave, I'm quite new to the windows problems, most of the time I
could
call my
friend Josh, or my friend Rick and I could have my answers in a
matter
of
minutes. Well, we had a little rough time, and we're not speaking
anymore.

To answer your question on why I reinstalled windows: I usually
format
every
6 weeks. My computer gets bogged down from my work, from my gaming,
from my
programming, and my modifications.

How I reinstalled windows:

I stuck the disc in my drive, booted up.
Asked me if I wanted to repair, pressed "ESC" to exit that.
I deleted my partition
Started formatting
Then windows installation kicked in.

You are using a weird method with which I am unfamiliar. It seems
like
some sort of *parallel* installation:

http://www.windowsxphome.windowsreinstall.com/installxpcdparallell/indexfullpage.htm

If you are going through all that trouble, you might as well do a
proper
*clean* installation:

http://www.windowsxphome.windowsreinstall.com/installxpcdoldhdd/indexfullpage.htm

or

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Also, keep in mind that reinstalling Windows is a less-than-perfect
solution for dealing with the issues you mention. In fact, a
reinstallation is very rarely needed. Post back here to ask about
specific methods to maintain Windows XP.

Finally, imaging your hard drive is a must. Regularly create current
images of your hard drive, then all you need to do is restore the
most
recent image. That's a WHOLE lot faster than reinstalling Windows!





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Whizzing HD: nothing to see in Process Explorer?
    ... Two major problems with SP3 have been reported. ... Service Pack upgrade. ... The installation will fail if there are devices connected to ... (e.g., USB external hard drives, printers, etc.) ...
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  • Re: Whizzing HD: nothing to see in Process Explorer?
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  • Re: Mass Coruption with Downloaded Installations
    ... I've been told that SP3 has issues with AMD Processors. ... external hard drives, printers, etc.) and configure a Clean Boot ... To answer your question on why I reinstalled windows: ... Then windows installation kicked in. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Whizzing HD: nothing to see in Process Explorer?
    ... Two major problems with SP3 have been reported. ... Service Pack upgrade. ... The installation will fail if there are devices connected to ... USB external hard drives, printers, etc.) and configure a Clean Boot ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
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