also can i jsut reinstall the upgrade ie. XP pro without it deleting anyof my files? that is what i did the first time to upgrade my computer and it didnt delete anything. just wondering if it would just upgrade it again.

If you do an install, it will delete the windows files and install a whole new version of windows. Your files won't be deleted unless you choose to format, but none of your applications will work afterword. The repair install you're been trying is in essence the upgrade install. One way you could get out of this, is if you have another PC you could put your drive into and copy the cd to a folder on your C:\drive. then run setup from there. I have had this problem before for various reasons. One of which was an adaptec cd driver that was in the windows folder from the original install, but would break the cd function during setup. The fix was to delete the driver file before running setup.

i dont have another pc to tranfer the harddrive over. can i just reinstall the XP Pro upgrade cd? that wont erase any of my files right? it didnt the first time. i will have to reinstall any application i have put on there?
i would like to do that if it doesnt erase stuff.
thanks

#tbone

Here's how to do a 'Refresh Install' of Windows XP

In theory, it won't erase your 'stuff'.

But if the problems on your system are particularly bad, it also might not fix them, and if you've got encryption enabled on your files to 'protect' them, they will still be there after the install, but you won't be able o access them!

To be safe, before you go ahead with the procedure, right click on any folders you use to store your data files and choose 'Properties'. On the General tab, click the 'Advanced' button and make sure the 'Encrypt contents' box is not selected. On the 'Sharing' tab ensure the 'Make this folder private' box is not checked. When you've confirmed those settings, or changed them wherever you need to, go ahead with the refresh install by following the instructions in that article.

i dont think you understand. everytime i start my computer it begins to finsish its repair that it was going but cannot fine the before mentioned file (asms), so i was wondering to get my computer to even get to the desktop if i could just reinstall XP Pro and the files and stuff would still be there. right now the only thing my computer does is ask for that file everytime it starts up.
basically my compuer does not have the registry problem because it does not give me the error anymore. it just needs that file and i dont know how to get it to it because it wont read the cd drive, so i just want to reinstall pro. can i do that?
thanks

Hi again.

I've just done some searching and found record of a few more instances of the exact same problem as you're experiencing. From the reports, it appears that your problem could be amongst the following:

Dirty CD
Scratched CD
Poorly burnt Cd
Malfunctioning CD drive.

I think you should contact Dell again, and have them work you through the problem

been on hold with dell for the last 45 minutes...........

Pick Up!! Pick Up!! Pick Up!! Pick Up!! Pick Up!!

just keeping you informed


currently i have deleted the ntfs particion and am formatting a new one to reinstall xp pro. hopefully this will work and not erase everything i had on there. which right now would not make me that mad, i really just want the thing to turn on. cross your fingers.
#tbone

Just letting you know. If that NTFS partition is the one your information is stored on, then deleting the partition has already made everything on there disappear, which is why I never advised you to take that course of action.

Damn eh?

i know it sucks for me and it is all gone but i needed the damn thing to work. i can get everything back it will just take a little bit of time. thanks for all the help. you guys know your stuff. ill be back here if i need anything esle.

#tbone