XP Home repair questions

[J Lunis]

Thought I posted this about 8 this AM. Trying again with a couple more
questions added.
Plan on running XP Home SR2 repair.
I have read a number of articles/sites on the process but have a few
general questions.
Backup - some articles/sites suggest backing up most files, some claim
Repair should not affect any files but those associated directly with
XP. Do I need to back up files and, if so, which ones?
Partitions - My OEM internal hard drive is partitioned. Will Repair
affect files on partitions other than c:\?
How can I tell if the OEM XP was SR1/SR2?
How will this affect sw updates I have installed?
One web site warns not to connect to the net until I apply upgrades. How
does XP find and install upgrades if I can't connect to the net and have
XP search for the upgrades?
Will I need to re-register XP?
Accounts - have 5 (Don't know why). Will Repair affect this?

TIA

 

[db]

there is lot's of information
on repair installs at microsoft.com

what you did not mention
is why you have considered a repair
installation to be an answer, especially if
your so many unanswered questions.

what are you trying to resolve
with a repair install?

- db
Thought I posted this about 8 this AM. Trying again with a couple more
questions added.
Plan on running XP Home SR2 repair.
I have read a number of articles/sites on the process but have a few
general questions.
Backup - some articles/sites suggest backing up most files, some claim
Repair should not affect any files but those associated directly with
XP. Do I need to back up files and, if so, which ones?
Partitions - My OEM internal hard drive is partitioned. Will Repair
affect files on partitions other than c:\?
How can I tell if the OEM XP was SR1/SR2?
How will this affect sw updates I have installed?
One web site warns not to connect to the net until I apply upgrades. How
does XP find and install upgrades if I can't connect to the net and have
XP search for the upgrades?
Will I need to re-register XP?
Accounts - have 5 (Don't know why). Will Repair affect this?

TIA

 

[J Lunis]

there is lot's of information
on repair installs at microsoft.com

what you did not mention
is why you have considered a repair
installation to be an answer, especially if
your so many unanswered questions.

what are you trying to resolve
with a repair install?

- db

in message Thought I posted this about 8 this AM. Trying again with a couple more
questions added.
Plan on running XP Home SR2 repair.
I have read a number of articles/sites on the process but have a few
general questions.
Backup - some articles/sites suggest backing up most files, some claim
Repair should not affect any files but those associated directly with
XP. Do I need to back up files and, if so, which ones?
Partitions - My OEM internal hard drive is partitioned. Will Repair
affect files on partitions other than c:\?
How can I tell if the OEM XP was SR1/SR2?
How will this affect sw updates I have installed?
One web site warns not to connect to the net until I apply upgrades.
How
does XP find and install upgrades if I can't connect to the net and
have
XP search for the upgrades?
Will I need to re-register XP?
Accounts - have 5 (Don't know why). Will Repair affect this?

TIA

ah, such a list
selecting Disk Management gives "server execution failed"
Event ID errors on DCOM and COM+
Windows Explorer takes 4-5 minutes to 'find' drives
Explorer can no longer find NAS drive
Every Windows Service gives a 'Interface:Class not registered' for
dependencies
Bluetooth won't work
Device Manager is empty
no services will run in START>RUN
Not all my problems but many of them.

 

[db]

with that listing the other has lost
relevance....

if the xplorer is taking along time
then it is likely a hardware/device
failure that is inhibiting your o.s.

have you tried accessing safemode?

if you can access your safemode
there are some options you can
take....

- db

there is lot's of information
on repair installs at microsoft.com

what you did not mention
is why you have considered a repair
installation to be an answer, especially if
your so many unanswered questions.

what are you trying to resolve
with a repair install?

- db

in message Thought I posted this about 8 this AM. Trying again with a couple more
questions added.
Plan on running XP Home SR2 repair.
I have read a number of articles/sites on the process but have a few
general questions.
Backup - some articles/sites suggest backing up most files, some claim
Repair should not affect any files but those associated directly with
XP. Do I need to back up files and, if so, which ones?
Partitions - My OEM internal hard drive is partitioned. Will Repair
affect files on partitions other than c:\?
How can I tell if the OEM XP was SR1/SR2?
How will this affect sw updates I have installed?
One web site warns not to connect to the net until I apply upgrades.
How
does XP find and install upgrades if I can't connect to the net and
have
XP search for the upgrades?
Will I need to re-register XP?
Accounts - have 5 (Don't know why). Will Repair affect this?

TIA

ah, such a list
selecting Disk Management gives "server execution failed"
Event ID errors on DCOM and COM+
Windows Explorer takes 4-5 minutes to 'find' drives
Explorer can no longer find NAS drive
Every Windows Service gives a 'Interface:Class not registered' for
dependencies
Bluetooth won't work
Device Manager is empty
no services will run in START>RUN
Not all my problems but many of them.

 

[J Lunis]

with that listing the other has lost
relevance....

if the xplorer is taking along time
then it is likely a hardware/device
failure that is inhibiting your o.s.

have you tried accessing safemode?

if you can access your safemode
there are some options you can
take....

- db

OK, here is what I have learned.
Safe Mode - Administrator
Explorer can 'find' files/folders quickly - no delay
Disk Management - still get 'server execution failed'
Services - attempting to get Dependencies still gives
'Interface: class not registered'
Safe Mode - my name
Explorer can 'find' files/folders quickly - no delay
Disk Management - still get 'server execution failed'
Services - attempting to get Dependencies still gives
'Interface: class not registered'
In both cases I get Event error 7026
can't find drivers Fips, intelppm, fwdrv, ZetSFD
This may be normal, but booting up normally, Explorer shows Document and
Settings accounts of Administrator, All Users, Default User, Guest, my
name, Owner. In Safe Mode, I can only log on as Adminstrator, My Name.

 

[db]

the only clue i can see
is that ZetSFD which
is somekind of netgear system
file and possible spyware.

the fact that is is no longer
found by the system indicates that
it was removed. however, the system
was not restored afterwards and
is still referring to it.

since safemode is a bit more stable
you can try to restore the system to
a functional point in time. This will
replace the registry with a version that
does not have any references to those
netgear files. As a tip you might want
to make a restore point for today that
way you can return to the present
state if you need to bounce back and
or fourth between them.

(is netgear a famaliar issue for you?
otherwise, i can only make guesses
as to how this manufacturer
is involved with this issue and your system.

one guess is that either the program was
removed and did not restore your registry
or your system files "or" a antiviral discovered
the malware and removed it. however the
system files were not replaced and or repaired.

i would not be surprised if netgear was a bit
like sony with their spyware that was secretly
integrated with their device drivers)

if system restore is not successful then
run sfc /scannow from the run command
line via the start button.

there is additional fyi on corrupted
registry and microsoft has provided
a little program to restore the registry
called guided help. you can check it here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

although the repair install is a good idea
and would likely help the o.s., you might
want to save this for last since i fundamentally
think that the problem is a corrupted registry.

also, since safemode seems a bit
more stable than normal mode, you
might want to make copies of any personal
files if they are not in another partition
other than main o.s. partition.

- db

with that listing the other has lost
relevance....

if the xplorer is taking along time
then it is likely a hardware/device
failure that is inhibiting your o.s.

have you tried accessing safemode?

if you can access your safemode
there are some options you can
take....

- db

OK, here is what I have learned.
Safe Mode - Administrator
Explorer can 'find' files/folders quickly - no delay
Disk Management - still get 'server execution failed'
Services - attempting to get Dependencies still gives
'Interface: class not registered'
Safe Mode - my name
Explorer can 'find' files/folders quickly - no delay
Disk Management - still get 'server execution failed'
Services - attempting to get Dependencies still gives
'Interface: class not registered'
In both cases I get Event error 7026
can't find drivers Fips, intelppm, fwdrv, ZetSFD
This may be normal, but booting up normally, Explorer shows Document and
Settings accounts of Administrator, All Users, Default User, Guest, my
name, Owner. In Safe Mode, I can only log on as Adminstrator, My Name.

 

[J Lunis]

I still keep coming back to either Windows installer (which I have
updated) and/or WMI. I have read where both of these can be associated
with a number of my problems. So far, I have been unable to find an
upgrade/repair for WMI - thus, my original quest for a repair.
WMIDiag finds a number of problems. Is there a way to repair just WMI?

 

[J Lunis]

Found something that may or may not be relevant so I will post my
followup to this under a different post titled "WMIdiag . . ."