Imperfect install of XP Pro w SP1a

[Greg Ansen]

Recently I made the choice of upgrading one of my Win2000
Pro workstations to Win XP using the MSDN DVD #2305 (July
2003). The particular disc is labeled, "Windows XP
Professional with Service Pack 1a".

This choice was in preference to installing XP from an
earlier XP disc and applying SP1a separately. But it was
unfortunate because, *repeatedly* during the install, I
received notifications that certain SP1a files were not
being found. Reasonably, I think, I felt that I had
little choice but to instruct that the particular files
be ignored and that the installation proceed. The errors
were not disc read errors. It was as though the files
were mislocated or misidentified on the DVD.

[However, another person has subsequently told me that
*their* DVD #2305 worked fine for XP Pro SP1A install]

I believe that, hoping to correct deficiencies in the
installation, I subsequently installed SP1a from Disc
#2042 (April 2003).

I subsequently applied all Windows Update critical
updates.

The immediate problem is that when I click Help And
Support in the Start Menu, all I get is a message box:

Help and Support Error
Windows cannot open Help and Support because a
system service is not running.
To fix this problem, start the service named 'Help
and Support'.

However, no Help and Support service appears in the
Services dialog.

When I found that Help and Support was not working
I "reinstalled" SP1a from Disc #2042 but doubt that the
process proceeded satisfactorily on either this or the
earlier occasion. No indication was given.

Currently,

C:\WINNT> dir helps*

shows that HelpSvc.exe is present in
C:\WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386 and also in
C:\WINNT\system32\dllcache.

This is different to an XP installation with working H&S.

Another specific problem is that the printer driver seems
not to have updated to the latest XP version.

With the objective being a complete and correctly
functioning installation in all respects, where should I
go from here? Will the Windows Update updates have been
lost when I retried SP1a? I take it they would also be
lost doing a full reinstall of XP followed by SP1a.
Reinstallation on a clean disc is not a palatable option.

 

[Barry Sandhorst]

I had to replace my MB because the onboard video crapped
out. they told me just to do a reinstall of XP Where I
purchased the board. I have gone through the same screens
that you are talking about. Eventually it would not even
allow me to continue the installation. Have you found out
anything on this yet? My notifications were saying that
the file could not be copied from the CD.

 

[Greg Ansen]

Hey Barry, no I don't know more. The machine works
normally for most of my purposes so I haven't been in a
hurry to blast it with more installs. Still, I want it
sorted. Part of my reason for going to XP was to resolve
minor OS problems that had crept into my 2000.