I am having an issue with my XP Pro. I installed a SP3 beta file I found on the web. After installation my computer would not boot past the Win XP logo and would restart by itself. The old me would use whatever means to salvage files I hadn't backed up yet and reinstall Windows from scratch. Now, after hearing Carey Holzman rant about how we should always try to "fix" the problem instead of "scrapping" the installation, I decided to use the repair option on the Windows disk. It seemed to work seamless, but now I have a problem with Windows update. It downloads about 92 updates, but everyone fails to install. If anyone has a fix for this I sure would appreciate it.

I haven't tried it myself, but try that Dial-A-fix(dialafix.net) program Carey talked about in Episode 6. Mike Petro has used it to handle problems like you are having.

You could try Dial-a-Fix first and see if that solves your problem.

If not, go to windows update, and on the left side is a link to review your update history. You will then see all the failed installations. If you click on the Red 'X' icon, an description of the error will appear with an error code.

You can google this error code to find more information regarding the problem.

Thanks guys, I looked at Dial-a-Fix but I also Google'd my problem and found and applied this fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144 . I'm back in business

Hi,

Dial-a-Fix would register that specific DLL mentioned in that MSKB article and a bunch of other relevant ones also.

It can repair a lot of issues with Windows XP and is a must have utility in your toolbox.

Kind Regards

Simon Zerafa
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Hi all just my 2 cents about repair VS reinstall. I have done a repair many times on many different OSes from MS. Not one time let me repeat not one time has a repair install not messed my system up to the point where I had to reinstall anyways. It will sometimes fix the problem you were having but at the expense of about 10 other problems. I was preety surprised when I heard Cary suggest a repair install for that reason. I know he says doing a reinstall is cheating or is the lazy way or whatever he says but let's face it the most important thing when you are repairing something is that the problem gets fixed not if you took the easy way out. In fact I might argue that taking the easy way out actually makes you more efficient.

I have to agree with ElBurro. Especially when I need to do 4 or 5 repairs in a day. I need something that is guaranteed to work. A re-install usually does the trick.

I'll chime in in support of reinstalls.

I decided to try to repair an install (against my better judgement) due to recommendations from other techs.

I had the operating system and programs working fine. However, the HP printer driver frontend (using .NET) crashed on startup. No combination of reinstalling .NET, reinstalling the drivers, dial-a-fix, or re-registering DLLs by hand would make the frontend launch.

I promptly reinstalled the box and everything worked out fine.

At that point, I decided to always go with my instincts. If I feel a box is better off being formatted, I do, and don't think twice about it.

P.S. I didn't bill the client extra for my mistake. I never should have attempted to repair the computer. I billed them my standard reinstall rate and chalked it up to a learning experience.

Good call as I've stated before every time I've done a repair install it's took me 3 times longer to fix and I've ended up having to reinstall anyways.

I think if you have time on your hands (which most of us do not) then sure it may be a nice challenge to find out what is truly causing the problem,but only for knowledge sake. I have fixed a few computers, some were easy enough and others took me days, yes I said DAYS to figure out and in the end it was always best to backup, wipe the drive and reinstall. Most every time you give someone back their computer after a reinstall they cant believe how much faster it runs anyways. I do think you should devote at least an hour to the problem at hand and then let the owner decide on what action should be taken, after you've explained to them the benefits of a reinstall. From my experience most people will be fine with it especially if you can save their data, which is usually the # 1 concern anyways.