Hi, Peter.
KB article 315341 tells how to do an "in-place upgrade", also known as a
repair reinstallation. This is not the same as simply "Repairing" WinXP.
The steps get confusing, I know, because when we boot from the WinXP CD-ROM
we are first offered an opportunity to Repair, but we must reject that
offer, press Enter to choose to Install WinXP, and then choose Repair from
the NEXT time we see the "R" option. (See paragraphs 2 and 4 under Method 2
in the KB article.)
The first Repair option repairs only the startup files. Proceeding through
"install" to the next Repair option forces WinXP Setup to run again,
including the hardware-detection process.
In some cases, the first Repair option is enough, because all that is needed
is to write or refresh the System Partition's boot sector, plus the System
Files C:\ntldr, C:\ntdetect.com and C:\boot.ini. After almost any change of
motherboard/chipset/HD/controller, though, the re-install is required. The
full repair re-install should always work because it is practically
identical to a clean install, except that it preserves enough of the
Registry that re-installation of applications is seldom necessary.
I replaced my motherboard and it refused to boot even
after several attempts to 'repair' my system. I had to format and
reinstall.
HOW did you attempt to "repair" your system? Did you do the repair
re-install, or only the first repair option?
RC