XP Repair

[GaryG]

My system (XP Home upgraded from Me 4 years ago) has become slow booting,
extremely slow shutting down, and sluggish otherwise. I've unwisely used
registry cleaners for several years and maybe I've caused the registry to be
part of my problem.

I investigated the possibilty of a repair install using the XP upgrade CD
(have looked at the MikeStevens Web site), but I can't boot from the CD, nor
can Windows Explorer find anything on it. Maybe I have to run setup and
change my boot device order?

Don't understand. Can someone help me get a handle on what I'm missing here?

 

[AJR]

Have you performed "Disk Cleanup", "Defrag" and Start > Run > %Temp% to
unclutter the computer? Consider installing Windows Defender (free from
Microsoft) to eliminate spywaware/malware.

You need to enter BIOS setup - select the CD drive as first boot device.

Boot from the XP CD - bypass repair via Recovery Console - setup will
detect the XP installation and offer to repair it - select OK and setup will
do an upgrade installation - product key required. Although it's an
upgrade - backup critical data..

 

[Ronaldo]

Try another CD Drive... if Windows Explorer doesn't read the Windows XP CD
your device is probably damaged. Can your CD Drive read other CDs?... you
could try and clean the drive laser lens with a laser lens cleaner or open
the drive cover and clean the lens... a little dust is all it takes for the
drive to not be able to read or write.

To boot from the WXP CD (w/any CD Drive), you may need to access the BIOS
and rearange the startup order for the CD Drive to start first. Check the
Mike Stevens website for your particular keyboard access key or combination
to access the BIOS. If this doesn't help you can be sure the problem is the
CD Drive.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My system (XP Home upgraded from Me 4 years ago) has become slow booting,
extremely slow shutting down, and sluggish otherwise. I've unwisely used
registry cleaners for several years and maybe I've caused the registry to be
part of my problem.

I investigated the possibilty of a repair install using the XP upgrade CD
(have looked at the MikeStevens Web site), but I can't boot from the CD,

Why not? What happens when you try?

nor
can Windows Explorer find anything on it.

You mean that when you don't try to boot from it, it's telling you
that the CD is blank?

If so, either there's something wrong with the CD or your CD drive.

Maybe I have to run setup and
change my boot device order?

If you haven't done that, it's likely that that's why you can't boot
from it. But if you CD drive is incapable of reading something on the
drive, that's also the problem.

 

[GaryG]

I have done Disk Cleanup, CHKDISK, Defrag, cleared browser cache. But I
haven't used %Temp%. I'll give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion!

I looked in setup and the device is the first boot device.

I have an Optorite CD/DVD Reader/Burner and a few months ago I couldn't read
DVDs, although CDs worked fine. I installed a Cineplayer Decoder Pack and now
DVDs play fine, but CDs don't. I don't think Optorite is a mainstream mfgr,
so I tried to see if I could find a new driver or any clues. Nothing helped.

I don't want to lose DVD reading capability so I think I'll look in an old
PC I kept around for spare parts. If there's a name brand CD device in it,
I'll put that in my spare slot and see if I can use it strictly for CDs. I
use ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite so I have virus/spyware protection.

Some expert named Mike Stevens has a Web site with a complicated procedure
for a repair installation. Is a repair install simply a matter of doing what
you said, or is it necessary to make slipstream CDs, etc? That sounds like
something I'm not prepared to tackle.

 

[GaryG]

Something is wrong with my CD/DVD Reader/Burner. It's an Optorite, not a name
brand, and won't read any CDs - data or audio. A few months ago I had a
problem reading DVDs, so I installed a Cineplayer Decoder. Now DVDs work but
CDs don't.

I looked in setup and the device is the first boot device. Something is
wrong with the device, so as I replied to the previous post, I'm going to
scavenge a CD drive from an old PC, plug it into a spare slot, and see if
that will work for me.

Mike Stevens' Web site has a complicated procedure for a repair
installation. In your opinion, is it necessary to make slipstream CDs, etc?
That sounds like something I'm not prepared to tackle. Or is is possible just
to simply tell my box to do a repair install (after backing up my data files
and being prepared to reinstall my apps)?

 

[GaryG]

When I try to read a CD from the device, the activity LED blinks for a minute
or so, then stops. Absolutely nothing else happens.

Windows Explorer displays a completely blank right pane, as if there isn't a
thing on the CD. I'm convinced that something is wrong somehow with the
drive, but as I mentioned to the other two who posted replies for me, I'm
going to install a saved CD reader into a spare slot and see if that will
give me CD reading capability. Then I can use my existing device for DVDs and
won't lose that capability. Not a high tech fix, but I'm not an expert and I
don't have a lot of time for a better way.

Once I can read the Win XP install CD, what's your opinion re: doing the
simple repair install versus the Mike Stevens LONG version?

 

[Ronaldo]

Something is wrong with my CD/DVD Reader/Burner. It's an Optorite, not a
name
brand, and won't read any CDs - data or audio. A few months ago I had a
problem reading DVDs, so I installed a Cineplayer Decoder. Now DVDs work
but
CDs don't.

I looked in setup and the device is the first boot device. Something is
wrong with the device, so as I replied to the previous post, I'm going to
scavenge a CD drive from an old PC, plug it into a spare slot, and see if
that will work for me.

I recently repaired three CD Drives, two CD-RWs and a DVD-Rom... and found
that a little dust in the lens or lack of lubrication in the laser rails is
enough to make them have trouble reading CD/DVDs. It seems that the laser
needs to slide normally to read normally and the laser is weak enough that a
little dust interrupts it. I used just a little dab of vaseline on the wire
rails (just enough to make it slide normally but not drip) and cleaned the
laser lens with a soft cloth with a little alcohol... that was all they
needed to start working again, the three of them are working, two still have
other unrelated problems, but none was working before.

Mike Stevens' Web site has a complicated procedure for a repair
installation. In your opinion, is it necessary to make slipstream CDs,
etc?
That sounds like something I'm not prepared to tackle. Or is is possible
just
to simply tell my box to do a repair install (after backing up my data
files
and being prepared to reinstall my apps)?

You don't need a sliptreamed WXP CD but you need at least the same update
version as installed, to do a repair installation. If you find the
slipstreaming complicated you can do it with the help of "AutoStreamer".
The slipstreamed WXPSP3 CD is not absolutely necessary but it saves a lot of
time you would spend later intalling the SP3 Update.

 

[Daave]

Once I can read the Win XP install CD, what's your opinion re: doing
the
simple repair install versus the Mike Stevens LONG version?

There is only one way to perform a repair install of Windows XP, and
Michael Stevens does a very good job outlinining the procedure.

When you say "simple repair," what exactly do you have in mind?

Also consider that a repair install may not have any impact on a
system's sluggishness. But for your own peace of mind (since you
unfortunately ran registry "cleaners", which can sometimes screw up a
system), go for it and perform a repair install; it's a good learning
experience if you have the time. Just make sure you back up all your
data first -- just to be on the safe side.

If after performing the repair install, you are still experiencing
sluggishness, read on...

Here are the most common causes for PC slowness:

1. Malicious software (malware)

2. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton
and McAfee). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply
use way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other
programs. And their default mode is to scan your entire hard drive each
time you boot up.

3. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the
background -- with or without your knowledge.

Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how to
configure them not to always run at startup:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs to
not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

4. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A
quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values
under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit,
and Peak.

The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you
used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of
Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM.
Otherwise, you may want to explore this further by running Page File
Monitor for Windows XP:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

5. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode
didn't change from DMA to PIO:

http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/

and

http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/

 

[GaryG]

Ken,
OK. I found an old CD-ROM drive and plugged power and signal cables to it.
It reads my CDs ok, but I only have one sound card so I don't think I can
play audio CDs without adding an additional surplus sound card and plugging
it to a surplus set of speakers. So I'm in a position to Win XP
repair-install now.

Could you help me with another question? My Optorite CD/DVD reader-burner
used to play CDs just fine. But I couldn't get DVDs to play, (although I
could burn DVDs to backup my data files). So I installed Roxio's Sonic
CinePlayer DVD Decoder Pack and DVDs started playing as they should.

I didn't think to test CD operations at the time. Does a CD/DVD combo device
typically use the same read/write components (lenses, etc) for CDs and DVDs?
If not, I probably need to clean the CD-specific components. But if they do,
I suspect my problem could be either the CD-related hardware in the device,
device driver, or whatever other software the device uses. (I don't know
quite enough about computers to understand whether a device needs anything
besides its driver to work correctly.) Would you advise replacing my CD/DVD
device with a name-brand that may prove more dependable?

Incidentally, I used %TEMP% to delete files that I may not have been
deleting via the other cleanup methods I've used. I also installed
Microsoft's latest updates as well as SP3. Performance seems to have picked
up a bit. So I don't have a compelling reason to repair-install at this time.
Your opinion? (If it ain't broke, don't fix it?)