Restoring system to factory default settings

[G$]

My system (Windows XP Home Edition) stopped recognizing
my cd drive. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but I
get this message- a problem occurred during hardware
installation. Your new hardware might not work properly.
Under device status it says- Windows cannot start this
hardware device because its configuration information (in
the registry) is incomplete or damaged(code 19). Tech
support at the place I bought it assured me that it was a
hardware problem but after unsuccessfully trying a new
drive, they admit to having been wrong and tell me that
my only option is to do a full system recover by making a
bootable disc etc, etc. How do I do this?

 

[davetest]

My system (Windows XP Home Edition) stopped recognizing
my cd drive. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but I
get this message- a problem occurred during hardware
installation. Your new hardware might not work properly.
Under device status it says- Windows cannot start this
hardware device because its configuration information (in
the registry) is incomplete or damaged(code 19). Tech
support at the place I bought it assured me that it was a
hardware problem but after unsuccessfully trying a new
drive, they admit to having been wrong and tell me that
my only option is to do a full system recover by making a
bootable disc etc, etc. How do I do this?

Before you do anything drastic, see this:
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q270/0/08.asp&NoWebContent=1

and this, if the above wasn't helpful:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm

Dave