XP MEDIA Edition SP 3 - Serious problem repairing OS - finding different answers!

[Citsme]

Hello. I hope you can help me with this situation; I've been reading different documents from many sources and I am getting different answers. I don't know what the best way to proceed and I can not do a clean install.

 

I was in a situation that due to neglect on my part, my desktop became very infected but currently, I believe that at this time it is no longer infected. I think that in the process of cleaning up the infections, I have damaged my XP Media SP3 OS. I used the CD that came with the system to repair the OS and got an error to the effect that the OS on my computer is newer than the OS on the disk. Of course it is; it includes all of the service packs. So, repairing the system with the original CD doesn't seem possible. I thought about trying to delete Service Packs but haven't reviewed that possibility yet.

 

I have previously slipstreamed XP Pro with SP3 successfully so I though that trying it with Media Edition would be a valid idea. From the same page in a Windows forum from Microsoft http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itproxpsp/thread/8546f297-9781-422b-b53e-4f283e6b13dc/ regarding slipstreaming for Windows Media Edition, I found two different points of view in the same post!

 

Dated Tuesday, April 29, 2008

At first I want to say that Slipstreaming SP3 into XP MCE 2005 is ALMOST supported, but we have to hack somethings." This comment was followed by a long technical process.

I seem to think you can't slipstream with the Media edition (which I keep highlighting as it is the problem as I see it, so far at least! :) ) however I don't know what I really can or can not do. I have the original disc and the original key and my goal is to dual boot to Windows 7. My C: drive is overstuffed so I have been moving files off of it to give it working space but I keep having errors that relate to OS problems and I did not write them down.

Do we have any suggestions out there? I appreciate any and all help I can get. This has been going on forever (especially since I got my laptop but my life is on the desktop!)

 

Thanks,

cs.

Edited February 15, 2012 by Citsme

[KenB]

Hi

 

I think that in the process of cleaning up the infections, I have damaged my XP Media SP3 OS

What makes you say this?

Can you give us some specific details ?

[Citsme]

Hello. I was working with one tech support person on a different and also credible computer assistance website in a specialty area for Malware, Viruses, Trojans, etc. He had me do quite a few different processes; it was an incredibly long link of posts. I did everything he said and ultimately, the computer was virus free. I had additional questions, so my problem was transferred to another area of the help forum and that person suggested I go back to where I just came from. I was weary at this point; my first helper was great and patient but I gave up when I got the second message.

 

This problem has been going on for approximately 9 months now; the only reason I didn't work harder to fix it is that I was fortunate to be able to purchase this laptop in October of 2011. Prior to that, I would spend days in a row working to try to recover the computer from the blue screen of death (it was potentially going to be my death from the stress!) I am very interested in computers and learning as much as I can; I help others who know NOTHING about computers get rid of malware, trojans et al.

 

It has been so long, I don't remember what the second question was about but now that you have reminded me, I will research that even if just for my personal knowledge.

 

I have had all sorts of problems I've not had before; some might be screen printed on the desktop and I will check that also. In the meantime, programs won't start, it was running extremely slow, it froze up a lot but mostly it was the errors that led me to believe it was the OS that was the problem.

 

I can't imagine that no one else with Windows XP Media Edition has not had to repair the system yet all I can find is what I can not do such as slipstream and not what I should do. Due to the need to get this computer working properly, I have tried a couple of different help forums and no one has anything much to say. Getting professional help is out $$ wise.

 

The computer is 6 years old and has been upgraded; in addition to the two internal drives, I have a 500mb external and a 1T external that started all these problems - it is coming back to me. I plugged in the 1T external drive and all was well. I didn't like the letters assigned to the drives and having been walked through the process before I was familiar with it and looked up the procedure and followed it through. That seemed to cause a problem and I ended up removing that drive until the computer works. It was attached sometime during the process when we worked on the infections so there is a posibility it could be infected however I remember running Malware Byte's, Super Anti-Spyware, SpyBot and a couple other on the drive; I even did a check disk and it came out fine. I'm sorry this is so long and not of much help. I am stressed, just getting over an extended illness and a bit forgetful which I am too young for at this time!

Dell Dimension E310 and has always worked perfectly. The only thing I regret is the MEDIA EDITION.

Thank you for your time and interest in this situation!

I hope I can find a place to choose emails when an answer is posted!

 

C Shirey

[KenB]

Hi again,

 

If you are considering dual booting Win7 and XP then I suggest that you scrap the problem OS.

 

You can then install Win7 first.

From here it is easy to create a second partition for XP.

( to do this with XP installed first is more awkward as you need software to create the partition )

 

If you want to go down this route there is a good tutorial here:

click here

 

You need to have installed Win7 first.

 

There is a problem here too.

You need to be sure that your system is Win7 compatible - and a 6 year old system may not be.

 

=================

 

Have you considered re-installing the OS ( not a repair install ) ?