In place upgrade/install to 'refresh' XP

[Guest BertieBigBollox@gmail.com]

Got a few problems with my windows xp at the moment...

 

Search files doesnt work, my firewire devices dont work etc.

 

Is there any mileage in doing an in place upgrade/install to try and

fix any issues? Or am I going to have to bite the bullet and do a

complete re-format and install?

 

Only problem is thats a lot of work with reinstalling drivers and apps

etc....

[Guest Malke]

Re: In place upgrade/install to 'refresh' XP

 

BertieBigBollox@gmail.com wrote:

> Got a few problems with my windows xp at the moment...

>

> Search files doesnt work, my firewire devices dont work etc.

>

> Is there any mileage in doing an in place upgrade/install to try and

> fix any issues? Or am I going to have to bite the bullet and do a

> complete re-format and install?

>

> Only problem is thats a lot of work with reinstalling drivers and apps

> etc....

 

No one can answer your question because we don't have enough information to

know why you're having problems. Unfortunately, the answer to your question

as you've written it is "maybe".

 

Doing a Repair Install isn't a big deal, so certainly you can try it. Back

up all your data first!

 

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install

How-To

 

If a Repair Install doesn't work, here are links about doing a Clean

Install:

 

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What

you will need on-hand

 

Please be aware that if your problems are being caused by hardware, neither

form of install (a software solution) is going to help.

 

Malke

--

MS-MVP

Elephant Boy Computers

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com

Don't Panic!

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: In place upgrade/install to 'refresh' XP

 

BertieBigBollox@gmail.com wrote:

> Got a few problems with my windows xp at the moment...

>

> Search files doesnt work, my firewire devices dont work etc.

>

> Is there any mileage in doing an in place upgrade/install to try and

> fix any issues? Or am I going to have to bite the bullet and do a

> complete re-format and install?

>

> Only problem is thats a lot of work with reinstalling drivers and apps

> etc....

 

You could try doing a repair install, but much depends on what's wrong. Back

up your data & then see

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

NB: Every once in a while I like to do a cleanup on my own laptop, too. But

I use Acronis TrueImage ( I like this much better than Ghost) and have a

"known good" & somewhat vanilla XP/Office/etc image which I can reload from

an external USB drive, and that makes this a lot easier.

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: In place upgrade/install to 'refresh' XP

 

On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:30:09 -0800 (PST), "BertieBigBollox@gmail.com"

<BertieBigBollox@gmail.com> wrote:

> Got a few problems with my windows xp at the moment...

>

> Search files doesnt work, my firewire devices dont work etc.

>

> Is there any mileage in doing an in place upgrade/install to try and

> fix any issues?

 

 

It doesn't hurt to try a repair installation. It may or may not fix

your problem, but it's easy to do, and should be at least worth a try.

 

Back up anything you can't afford to lose first, just in case.

 

> Or am I going to have to bite the bullet and do a

> complete re-format and install?

 

 

 

It's very hard to answer that, since you've told us next to nothing

about your problems. But here's my standard advice on doing that.

 

Why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view, it's usually a

mistake. With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to

reinstall Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0,

3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP,

each for the period of time before the next version came out, and each

on two machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have

never had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

 

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical

support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost

any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and

reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the

phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to

do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't

possess in any great degree).

 

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to

restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your

programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application

updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your

system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the

way you're comfortable with.

 

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may

have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?

Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data

backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and

tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you

like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve

that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far

between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for

troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all

other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

 

One other point: if you just reinstall Windows without finding out

what caused your problem, you will likely repeat the same behavior

that caused it, and quickly find yourself back where you started.

 

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Colin Barnhorst]

Re: In place upgrade/install to 'refresh' XP

 

In addition to Ken's and Lanwench's replies, you will need to bring your

system up to date on WU again. Not a problem, but allow time for that.

Also, make sure before you start that your XP cd is at the same service pack

level as the Windows on your hard drive.

 

<BertieBigBollox@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:8892710e-0a5f-4693-85a6-fa1181e6494c@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

> Got a few problems with my windows xp at the moment...

>

> Search files doesnt work, my firewire devices dont work etc.

>

> Is there any mileage in doing an in place upgrade/install to try and

> fix any issues? Or am I going to have to bite the bullet and do a

> complete re-format and install?

>

> Only problem is thats a lot of work with reinstalling drivers and apps

> etc....