How to clean install Win XP OS after I damage Registry Keys?

[chew]

Hi everyone

I need your advice. :-[

The story goes:

About 3 weeks ago I deleted from my partner's IBM A22M laptop the VX2 nasties using Ad-aware 6.0 181 ...

(It was all completely my fault as I was "trigger" happy and pressed the Delete without looking at the hook on the Registry Keys or consulting anyone ... there you go a good product in the wrong hand. A little knowledge is dangerous you know)

Her Laptop specs:

IBM A22M
Windows 2000 OS
Pentium III 700++ Mhz or something ...
20 GB HDD

The result:

IE 6.0 no longer works. Dead infact (not matter how I tried ...) and the laptop is acting weirdly lately as it cannot access to certain website say University E-Journal link. Also the links within the University own webpage.

The future action:

Since she needs her laptop to do her work and I destroyed it ... it's only natural that I have to pay for it. Ahem! I intend to upgrade her present system to Window XP Home Edition OS.

My Questions:

Since I deleted two Registry Keys on her laptop/ system.

1) Can I still do OS upgrade using clean installation?

2) Or is it better or safer to do clean installation?

3) Is this a problem if ... eerrmmm ... all her original laptop softwares (I don't have a clue what they are ... ) are at her home town and she too has no idea what they are? (honest this is her laptop and NOT illegal or something)

4) Anything I should know? I have NEVER done any installation at all.

So anyone and everyone ... could you advice me please.

Thank you

Chew

P/s: hmmm ... not cheap especially if I am paying ... d'oh! Wish I waited for more advice before deleting ...

[Close_Hauled]

Chew;

I fixed a problem like this once. I found a backup of the registry on the hard drive. I found it after reading a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that told where backups can be found. I will research it for you.

Close Hauled

[chew]

Close_Hauled ... errmm ... ???

:)

[Close_Hauled]

-{ Quote: "Close_Hauled ... errmm ... ???

:)" }-I am still trying to find the article. Sometimes you can find backups of the registry on the drive. If it is not too old, then you can fix it without any problems. Another option is to use the install CD to fix the registry.

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "
My Questions:
Since I deleted two Registry Keys on her laptop/ system.
1) Can I still do OS upgrade using clean installation?
" }-
Hi Chew,

No good deed goes unpunished. ;)
Did you already promise her to get the XP? Why not just reformat and reinstall the Win2000? XP is even more of a resource hog than 2000, so make sure her laptop has enough RAM before going to XP.

Yes you can do a clean install with the upgrade disc, but you will need the original Win2000 CD during setup to verify. Here is a link (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/honeycutt_02october07.mspx)
that will help.

-{ Quote: "2) Or is it better or safer to do clean installation?" }-
I think and probably others here would say it is better to start clean. Unless you are in a hurry. Make sure you back up all her important data first like emails, favorites, and documents.

-{ Quote: " 3) Is this a problem if ... eerrmmm ... all her original laptop softwares (I don't have a clue what they are ... ) are at her home town and she too has no idea what they are? (honest this is her laptop and NOT illegal or something)" }-
Well if you can't tell and she can't tell what software is on her computer and if you don't have the program cd's, then you have no choice but to upgrade.
-{ Quote: " 4) Anything I should know? I have NEVER done any installation at all." }-
Laptops can be tricky, many have special video drivers, etc. that are not available in XP, so some video capture or other features may not work the same in XP. It will probably work in some form, just not all the bells and whistles. For such an old laptop, they probably won't have XP drivers for the devices either (check first).

Lastly, I would try everything else first to see if it could be made to work. Doesn't Adaware have a registry backup or something?

[Devinco]

Chew,

Ad-Aware 6.0 has a backup called Quarantine.
If you had Auto Quarantined set then it might work.

From the Ad-aware 6.0 help file "Backup":

-{ Quote: " 4. Reinstalling/restoring quarantined-objects
If you wish to re-install components you previously removed using Ad-aware, open the quarantine manager from the
'Status' screen.
Click 'Status',
Click on 'View quarantined objects'.
Click on the item in the list that you want to restore,
Click 'Contains' to verify that the selected item is the desired item to restore,
Click 'Restore',
Click 'OK'.
To return to the status-screen, click 'Status'. " }-

Good Luck!

[Smokey]

-{ Quote: "Hi everyone

I need your advice. :-[

The story goes:

About 3 weeks ago I deleted from my partner's IBM A22M laptop the VX2 nasties using Ad-aware 6.0 181 ...

Her Laptop specs:

IBM A22M
Windows 2000 OS
Pentium III 700++ Mhz or something ...
20 GB HDD
" }-Already tried the Windows 2000 Registry Repair Utility?

More info and download at Microsoft Download Center:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=56d3c201-2c68-4de8-9229-ca494362419c (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=56d3c201-2c68-4de8-9229-ca494362419c)

Ciao,




Smokey

[chew]

Thanks Closed_Hauled & Devinco for your advice.

errm ... it was a straight delete and no backup ... I only remeber that after I deleted all of them including the quarantine stuff. D'oh!

hmmm ... The laptop is only 3 years old (I know that's very old in tech. term).

Yes, I have promised her but she has no idea whatsoever about OS or computer stuff only Office Application and Web Sufing. Ahem!

If she can find her Original Win2K OS CD and I will just use that and re-install Win2K for her again ... then I guess I can save the £££ for something else

Otherwise, it would be to upgrade rather than clean upgrade using the link you provided.

hmm ... now just have to see if her Win2K OS CD can be found ...

So ... summary.

1) No = Win2K OS CD = Win XP Home Ed. upgrade installation only. (not clean installation)

2) Yes = Win2K OS CD = Win XP Home Ed. Clean upgrade installation.

Please advice.

Thank you

Chewkw

P/s: ... hmm... IBM A22M ... wonder about all the drives and stuff ... Ahhhhh!

[chew]

Thank you Smokey

Woohoo! That's great. I haven't tried that yet. I was wondering if such thing was available before.

Excellent! Will give it a go later.

Cheers

Chew

[Smokey]

-{ Quote: "Thank you Smokey

Woohoo! That's great. I haven't tried that yet. I was wondering if such thing was available before.

Excellent! Will give it a go later.

" }-You're welcome!;)

Ciao,


Smokey

[chew]

Smokey

Have you used it before?

Say if the Registry Keys are missing (well I deleted two of them ...) ... will the Win2K Registry Repair Utility re-establish the link again?

Chewke

[Tassie_Devils]

You virtually have nothing to lose at this stage, so why not reinstall W2K from the disc, over the top of original.

You can just do install over top of old I am led to believe and it worked, that was like about 2 years back.

[I]Caveat: It worked for me but I had nothing to lose

You don't lose any programs/files, etc. It will just overwrite the OS again.

At least you can try that, then if that fails miserably, you will be better off just reformatting/reinstall W2K again, as she is already familiar with it and won't be a learning curve for her.

Of course, finding all of her programs again could be a bother. ;D

Cheers, TAS

[chew]

Thanks Tassie Devils

I think that might be the best solution to start with ... provided she can find her original Win2K CDs ... hmmm...

Will definately have to get her to search for them ...

Cheers

Chew

[chew]

Smokey & everyone ...

Just to update you guys.

I have just tried the Win 2K Registry Repair Utility .... errmm ... no joy there.

No luck. It Did Not fix the problem.

So I guess the next step will be re-installing Win2K OS as suggested by Tassie_Devils.

Cheers

Chew

[noonie]

Hey chew:
Have you checked the info at IBM. Ibm has some of the best support schemes in the industry. I don't know if it goes back as far as your friend's laptop, but all the newer (mine is a 2 year old centrino) thinkpads have a hidden partition on the hdrive, with the recovery info, os, drivers etc.
On mine you press 1 button at boot a couple of clicks and it reinstalls it to factory new. There probably is a way to just do a os repair. IBM is very innovative. The os key should be on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop somewhere. Check IBM support site and or other dedicated thinkpad user forums.
Good luck

[chew]

Hi Noonie

Thanks for the info. regarding IBM " ... reinstall to factory new."

I will check that particular function out later on this week.

A bit busy right now.

Thanks again.

Chew :)