Help uninstalling SP2

[dave]

Greetings!

I damaged some files on the hard disk on my Toshiba laptop recently in
a repartioning operation, such that the OS doesn't run completely
correctly. I don't want to use the old backup I have (sigh...), so I
pulled out the Toshiba install disk to reload some of the software. It
immediately complains that I've installed SP2 on top of them so they
won't reinstall anything. Seems reasonable.

So I figured I'd go through add/remove programs and uninstall SP2. That
goes fine through the "Restoring Catalogs" step (step 4), at which
point the uninstall process complains "The system cannot find the file
specified", and quits. I'm guessing this is referring to a file damaged
in the repartitioning fiasco, but I don't have a clue which one.

Do I have any other choices for uninstalling SP2? The MS knowledge base
suggests using the XP install disk to do the uninstall, but the Toshiba
disks don't provide that kind of capability.

Thanks for any info!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Dave;
Normally a Repair Installation will do it:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/repaxp.htm

But you do not have a regular Windows XP CD.
Instead you have a Toshiba install disk.
Depending on how Toshiba made the CD determines exactly what you can do.
Contact Toshiba and/or check the computer manual for details.

Restoring the back-up or a Clean Installation with the Toshiba CD may be
your only options.