Reinstall question - SP2

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Guest

Hi.. sorry for the cross post, but I realize that here is most likely to have
an answer for my problem.
I am having problems with intermitent failures to reboot (sometimes XP
reboots ok, sometimes I get a black screen, no error stored). I already tried
a lot of workarounds to no avail. So I just need to know one thing now:
0- I did a clean install of XP PRO SP2 CD, all my applications are already
installed.
1- Can I try to reinstall XP again over the same installation? I mean
install from the CD while Windows is running, and not booting from the SP2
CD.
2- Is there any known problem by doing this? The old installation will be
overwritten?
3- All my applications will continue to work if I choose to "update" the
installation?

English is not my mother thongue, I hope you understand what I am asking.

Thank you.
 
You can reinstall xp by all means, but 'not' while windows is running. You
wil need to insert your windows xp cd into the cd-rom, reboot your machine
and during the setup select the 'Repair' option. You will find details on
Repairing windows on my website:
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.freelanceit/index.htm
click the Win XP Faq button and look at Question 55

Do you have a separate cd of SP2 update or did you download it from the
Microsoft website?
Have you tried uninstalling SP2 to see if that cures the problem? You can
uninstall SP2 by going to the Add/Remove option in Control panel.

Are you receiving any error messages that might be useful to us?
 
Thanks for the reply.
I have a separate CD with SP2, so I can not uninstall. I used the same
machine with a SP1 CD and it worked fine (but I had to uninstall due to
copyright, it was my friend's cd). I installed from scratch a separate SP2 CD
again and the problem returned, so I am at lost.
In regard to error message, no errors are been generated. I unchecked the
"automatic restart" under performance/advanced options, but I get only the
black screen, just after the Windows XP logo. One thing that might be
helpful: It happens almost everytime when I restart (start/shutdown/restart).
However, when I shut it down and then start again, it goes uneventfull.
Is there something different happening in the background when you restart
instead of shutdown?
Thank you for your link, I'll give it a try.
 
Hi Joan,

Yes, I tried every single tweak to no avail.... :(
I guess my last resort will be to try the "repair" instalation...
What puzzles me is: It is intermittent, and only during reboot, it will
start normally when the machine is shutdown. Any ideas before a repair?

Zalman
 
if you do a repair, and it is successful,
will the contents of "my documents" still be there?
 
back up your documents before you do the repair if you haven't already done
so.
 
Thanks Avery, I already did that, although a repair is not supposed to wipe
documents.
I have my CD ready and will try in the next few hours.. I'll let you guys
know the result.
Thanks

Zalman
 
I am on hold to do a repair install.
Last night I did one last step and so far the system is stable, booting and
restarting without problems.
The last step was:
1- turned off virtual memory.
2- rebooted and deleted the pagefile.sys.
3- changed virtual memory to min 800MB and max 4096.
4- Rebooted and since last night I performed 6 restarts and it went ok.

I don't know yet if that is the cure, but so far so good and hope it stays
like this for a long time.

Regards,

Zalman
 
Smart said:
Hi Joan,

Yes, I tried every single tweak to no avail.... :(
I guess my last resort will be to try the "repair" instalation...
What puzzles me is: It is intermittent, and only during reboot, it will
start normally when the machine is shutdown. Any ideas before a repair?
Click to expand...

Some people "reboot" by pulling the power plug... don't do that unless
there is no alternative.
 
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