Trying to prevent reinstalling WinXP
This is a discussion about Trying to prevent reinstalling WinXP in the Windows Software category; Working on a Dell laptop for a friend of a friend. WinXP takes forever to boot. . . over 3 minutes. Also takes about the same amount of time to shut down. There is no task bar, CTRL+ESC does nothing.
Working on a Dell laptop for a friend of a friend. WinXP takes forever to boot... over 3 minutes. Also takes about the same amount of time to shut down. There is no task bar, CTRL+ESC does nothing. Windows key does nothing. I can get into device manager and only driver missing is display driver. I have downloaded the chipset and wireless and ethernet drivers from Dell and they install but I still have no access to anything. It is WinXP SP2. Have downloaded the ISO of SP3 to install but pretty sure that is not going to fix it. I think he had a virus and had weak AV protection. Would run SFC but can't as I have no start button. Is there another way to run the command prompt? Ran CCleaner and got a few hits but nothing stands out in the registry portion. What is the best way to scan for virus when there is no anti-virus loaded i.e. best portable external scanner? USB seems to be hit or miss as well so something I can write to CD would be better. Any additional info I can provide. I don't want to have to reinstall if I can just recover it but I think I am headed down the new install path.
Participate in our website and join the conversation
This subject has been archived. New comments and votes cannot be submitted.
Apr 16
May 8
0
3 minutes
Responses to this topic
Working on a Dell laptop for a friend of a friend. WinXP takes forever to boot... over 3 minutes. Also takes about the same amount of time to shut down. There is no task bar, CTRL+ESC does nothing. Windows key does nothing. I can get into device manager and only driver missing is display driver. I have downloaded the chipset and wireless and ethernet drivers from Dell and they install but I still have no access to anything. It is WinXP SP2. Have downloaded the ISO of SP3 to install but pretty sure that is not going to fix it. I think he had a virus and had weak AV protection. Would run SFC but can't as I have no start button. Is there another way to run the command prompt? Ran CCleaner and got a few hits but nothing stands out in the registry portion. What is the best way to scan for virus when there is no anti-virus loaded i.e. best portable external scanner? USB seems to be hit or miss as well so something I can write to CD would be better. Any additional info I can provide. I don't want to have to reinstall if I can just recover it but I think I am headed down the new install path.
You should look forward to a reinstall of Windows. It is the best way to go and also it is sometimes quicker than troubleshooting. A reinstall will fix issues that you are not aware of. Make a repair disk and drive image so you don't have to do a complete reinstall next time.
James M Singleton
OP
Yeah I know. This is a friend's laptop and I didn't want to lose his pictures and files. Ended up reinstalling and finding a bad stick of RAM. Ordered him 4GB and now this thing screams. Thanks for the help.
