Can't do a System Restore

[Guest]

Suddenly after almost a year the computer won't find my DVD ROM (NEC 3540A).
Tried reisntalling it but it won't find it. I then tried todo a system
restore to a variety of past dates and I get a msg saying XP can not restore
to an earlier point. Short of reformating is there anything I can do?

I checked and there are no hardware conflicts.

thanks

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

The majority of the time this is caused by a corrupt restore point. Turning
System Restore off then on again will purges all existing restore points, and
creates one new one.

Try running System Restore from Safe Mode.
Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start
your computer in Safe Mode.

Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that
has administrator credentials.
In Safe Mode type or paste the following command in the Start - Run box then
press Enter.

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

There are also other possibilities that can cause this to happen. The following
pages have some troubleshooting steps to take.

Troubleshooting steps to take when System Restore fails to restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srfail.html

How to Disable and Enable System Restore
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/disablesr.html