Windows XP Pro Dies

Need To Reinstall - But...

[nutsandbolts]

For some reason, my laptop has decided it no longer likes Windows XP Pro. It suddenly came up with:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
System32\Drivers\Isapnp.sys

So, following the various guides online, I expanded from the Windows XP Pro CD all of the missing/corrupted sys files. That was fun, for sure.

Now the bloomin' thing won't even boot into Windows XP without crashing and going back to the boot-up process for the laptop.

Okay - so I will need to reinstall Windows XP Pro - and here is my question. Because I have lots of files on the Hard drive (which are still there, I checked!) it won't make any difference to my existing documents, images etc if I reinstall Windows XP pro again will it? It won't touch ANYTHING but the Windows directory, correct? I know I may loose installed software, but that's okay - it's the actual PDFs, DOCs and JPGs I need to keep.

Appreciate any reply as I'm sitting here hovering over the install button.....

[lawman]

Can you boot it up in the safe mode?

[Reflection]

You should just be able to reinstall windows without touching anything else on your drive(I remember doing this once). Just pay close attention when you are navigating through the install options/menus.

Of course you might want to wait for some advice from someone else ;)

[nutsandbolts]

Lawman: No, it asks me to - but when I choose that option is still resets and goes back to the laptop start screen.

Reflection: I'm thinking the same. I've done the same thing before with Windows ME (spit!) but I don't know if this new fangled thingymewotsit XP Pro does things differently.

[Reflection]

If I recall correctly there is also an option when you are installing to 'repair windows' or something like that so you could try that first.

[nutsandbolts]

I've tried that, hence all the sys file moving above. Basically when I start up the laptop I boot from the Windows XP Pro CD and it goes into Windows Setup. I then have the options to Setup Windows (enter) - Repair (r) or Quit (f3)

I clicked R and went into the Recovery console as mentioned above..but alas, it's not fixed the problem.

So it looks like a clean install is the only way forward - but only if my files are kept!

Thanks for the suggestions so far folks!

[richlowe]

What I've done in the past is gotten a second disk drive and built a new XP OS on it, then booted it up with the first disk as an external disk. At that point I could just copy the files back.

Rule #1: backup, backup, backup and then backup again...

[jatar_k]

funny you should ask

I spent the last week trying to get a nasty virus off of my cpu. My cpu is now restore 6 build 1.

ok, maybe it isn't funny.

My restore had options ot repair, reinstall windows and quick format. I think the quick format moved everything to _BACKUP.

Can you believe there was no option for full format? I also couldn't get rid of the old restores (where the virus was living), couldn't format while booted with prompt, long list.

It does seem that xp keeps all the files around. It's the getting rid of them that was more difficult.

[ogletree]

[support.microsoft.com...]

[nutsandbolts]

Thanks ogletree, but as I said I've already done that and it's not booting up... Just need to know if reinstalling Windows XP Pro over the top will delete my PDF/Word files etc.

[AmericanBulldog]

I recently couldn't get a version of ezula off of my machine and reformatted, that wiped everything. But I did try a re-install first and I remembet it giving me the option of re-installing in the same partition thus keeping my files or creating a new one, thus wiping it all out.

[mayor]

I just had an XP wipeout myself. After considering all the options, I went richlowe's route and installed a second hard drive, but made it the master and the old one the slave. Installed XP fresh on the new hard drive, then was able to copy everything I wanted from the old drive to the new and lost nothing ... absolutely nothing. Now I'm about to reformat the old drive and use it for an easy backup of the new master.

[jatar_k]

I actually ended up using a 98SE bootdisk to format and then the restore disks.

nutsandbolts, look into the options. Mine gave a description of each specifically in regards to user data.

[nutsandbolts]

A follow up on this. I found this : You May Lose Data or Program Settings After Reinstalling, Repairing, or Upgrading Windows XP [support.microsoft.com]

So... I used Method 4 (described on the above link) - and reinstalled Windows XP Pro in a different directory.

And yes, it worked. Everything was fine apart from having to re-install Office XP again and other programs.

This guide was also helpful [support.microsoft.com] for anyone else in the future that may have to do this!

[mil2k]

Maybe you will now like to go through this thread.

[webmasterworld.com...]