Hey there guys,

Long story short yesterday I got the urge to update the drivers for my X850 and I think I hosed my XP install in the process.

I got lazy and thought that I would be fine installing the new drivers over the old ones but that just locked up on me. So i installed Driver Cleaner and got rid of everything ATI. I installed the new drivers but now everytime I restart my computer it acts like there are no video drivers installed. (Can not play games, choppy when scrolling through webpages, ect...). So I admited defeat and started to backup my files and look for my Windows XP CD. I found it in 2 pieces.

My question is how can I fix my XP install?

Use the Jellybean keyfinder to extract your current XP key, borrow a friends XP cd (must be the same version, service packs don't matter), copy it, use your key to install. If you want a pressed CD, call Microsoft (1-800-360-7561 should do it) and explain your story. They'll replace the media for a resonable fee ($10, IIRC).

Ok, I geuss I will be making few phone calls tonight.

Thanks Peng Lord

Do you use system restore? if you do, restore from be for it was messed up

somehow you uninstalled yor plug and play, put your original cd back in and reinstall windows or it might just let you put the driver back

maybe repair your install or something you may have to do updates again

I would say use the system restore before you go re-installing , its a pretty good system at it wotks about 85% of the time.

The repair install in windows should just let you re-install the OS without wiping all your data.

And http://www.drivercleaner.net/ works great for me.

System restore and Drivercleaner turned out to be a waste of time to try to fix what those drivers broke. I borrowed a cd from a friend and now im on my new install of XP.

It didn't really hurt that much to wipe off that install because it was starting to get a little on the bloated side

Thanks for the help

No problem, glad to hear your back up and running. I've personally found that trying to deal with system restore and the other methods of "fixing the problem" tend to take just as long (or longer) as a nice clean re-install. People say its the "lazy" way, but if it works and achieves the result you're looking for, then where's the problem.

Quote: Originally Posted by Peng Lord No problem, glad to hear your back up and running. I've personally found that trying to deal with system restore and the other methods of "fixing the problem" tend to take just as long (or longer) as a nice clean re-install. People say its the "lazy" way, but if it works and achieves the result you're looking for, then where's the problem.

I have to disagree, In most cases of messing up a driver it is easier to do a restore that I fully reload... and im sure everyone does not have a backup/networkserver to put their media and what not on so they dont lose every thing.(IMO)

Quote: Originally Posted by killert I have to disagree, In most cases of messing up a driver it is easier to do a restore that I fully reload... and im sure everyone does not have a backup/networkserver to put their media and what not on so they dont lose every thing.(IMO)

in most cases of messing up a driver, its easier to just uninstall/reinstall the driver...if you are doing a system restore every time you screw up a driver, you are squashing a fly with a sledgehammer...and this is the year 2006, dvd burners have been a standard for a few years now, so "everyone does not" need shared network storage to backup their important data...and for the really stubborn people, there are these marvelous little things called "partitions" that sort-of defeat the purpose of both...

using system resore fails to solve the fundamental problem because a preexisting issue could still be present in one of your resore points, but just hasnt manifested itself yet because you havent triggered it (updating drivers unsuccessfully, for example), what good is doing a system resore if you are only going back to your functionally sound yet unable to update state? sounds lazy and ass-backwards...

all of this is moot point, unfortunately, because he obviously wasnt afraid to lose his data in the first place, and probably didnt have system restore enabled anyway (like a great many people, for the performance increase and freed up drive space)...

doing a repair would have been my first choice...

reinstall without formatting would have been my second choice, since it wont remove any of your data, just break some apps that have some kind of install-trail in windows

formatting and starting fresh would have been my last choice, but your incentive to do so is directly proportional to the severity of the problem, and your lack of love for the data in its crosshairs...

Quote: Originally Posted by Fu3lman reinstall without formatting would have been my second choice, since it wont remove any of your data, just break some apps that have some kind of install-trail in windows .

I didnt even know that was posable

Quote: Originally Posted by killert I didnt even know that was possible

you do now....

it saves you a ton of trouble, especially if you are dealing with people who just want their system to run like new, but give you no idea where and what they want backed up....

just boot up with the cd, select the existing windows installation, and when it asks if you want to overwrite it, hit "yeah", and it will act just like a brand new windows install except all of their data is still intact, where it was before, so you can just do a system-wide search for *.mp3, *.jpg, *.doc, and just crap all that crap into a folder on their desktop, then charge them $120...

Fuelman hit the nail on the head with his comments, I don't think I need to clarify myself for a change... I always seem to leave out just enough details that I immediately get a response that "disagrees" with me. Though, I do have to say the reason I didn't suggest reinstalling the driver is that FlameThrower said he had tried that in his/her original post.

But I will add that since I have multiple systems I can pull my critical files off of my HD and back them up, I usual skip the repair install for myself, but I have been known to use it on friends systems or when I'm not in the mood to backup a bunch of crap someone downloaded off of the net that they can easily re download. I also skip the repair install if a virus is suspected of causing the problem, as the simplest way to remove it is often by deleting the partion and starting fresh.

Well that did not last too long.

As soon as I got everything up and running I installed those ATI drivers (same files i had originally downloaded). That was a big mistake. I think that download got corrupted somehow because those drivers did the same thing to the new install of XP. Now im back at square 1 again

Been there... (unfortunately..)..

Since then I invested in buying a few programs which are really dear to me... being;
- Registry Mechanic
- Regdoctor

& Winaso Registry Optimizer...

Sure.. it cost me "pretty penny" but I've come to value the " combo" of these ' proggies...
Op to now.. there is nothing these could not handle...

TDR

Quote: Originally Posted by Fu3lman you do now.... it saves you a ton of trouble, especially if you are dealing with people who just want their system to run like new, but give you no idea where and what they want backed up.... just boot up with the cd, select the existing windows installation, and when it asks if you want to overwrite it, hit "yeah", and it will act just like a brand new windows install except all of their data is still intact, where it was before, so you can just do a system-wide search for *.mp3, *.jpg, *.doc, and just crap all that crap into a folder on their desktop, then charge them $120...

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$150.00 .