[mkana]

It is a 40 GB hard drive that has approx one-half to at least one-third of that space remaining. If a reinstall is in order, please advise what steps to take. The computer is still at the BSoD screen.

[mphenterprises]

Restart the computer by holding down the power button until the computer shuts off. Once you do that, the entire process will start again. You will be prompted to press any key, etc. Now, if you get the same error STOP Error Message again, we can investigate further but you have adequate space to complete this reinstall.

[mkana]

Hi mph: Restarted the computer,followed the prompts as before to do a repair, and when it was completed - got the same BSoD message including all the same numbers. Will leave computer on in BSoD until I return later this afternoon. Thank you again for your help.

[mphenterprises]

With Pleasure. I know this must be frustrating but anything we can do to help you out is the least we can do.




Now, unfortunately, I do not foresee any other ending other than a reinstallation; however, let's press forward. According to the Knowledge Base Article, there are five main reasons why this STOP Error Message should appear:

# Insufficient Disk Space (Already Eliminated)
# Outdated BIOS (Not likely - and no way to reverse)
# Outdated drivers
# Unsigned drivers
# Third Party Drivers


I would like to look at the third option, outdated drivers. The only way, that I know of, that you can update anything when not actually within the normal operation of Windows is to access the Recovery Console. However, I am not proficient enough within the Recovery Console to give you any assistance on that without actually being in front of that computer.

What I would suggest is to disconnect any USB devices that are currently connected to your computer. This includes:

- Printer
- Fax
- Camera
- Scanner
- etc.


Anything that is currently connected to your computer should be disconnected. Try the repair one more time and see if you get the same STOP Error Message.

[mkana]

I disconected all USB devices and ran repair again - got the same Stop error message.

[mphenterprises]

As much as I am trying to avoid this, I believe all options have been exhausted. I just looked back through this Discussion and every option that I thought we may have missed has been addressed. I believe it is time to reinstall Windows XP.

The process to begin a reinstallation is the same as it is to do a repair. However, when the list of all your available partitions are listed, select the Windows XP partition and click D to delete the Windows XP partition. You will be prompted to confirm this request at least once, maybe twice. Once you confirm this, Windows will delete the existing Windows XP partition and leave an unallocated partition in its place.

At this point, you will be prompted to choose the partition in which you want to install Windows XP. Choose the unallocated partition. Once selected, you will be prompted if you want to select a quick format or a full format. I would advise doing a full format (longer but thorough). Once the process begins, it may take 10-15 minutes to complete. During this time, the Windows XP Setup files are installing Windows XP into the unallocated partition. Once complete, the computer will automatically restart in 15 seconds.

Once the computer restarts, do not press any key when prompted. Allow the computer to access the Windows XP partition of the hard drive. Once the Windows XP splash screen comes up, the remainder of the Windows XP installation will continue. From here, just follow the prompts provided on screen.





I am doing this from memory so please stop and provide your progress if you have any questions.

[mphenterprises]

I am finding that I do my best thinking on the road. As I was leaving one of my client's I had a thought of one more option that we did not try: remove the hard drive from the original computer and install it in the computer that you are using to respond to this Discussion.

At the very least, you can do a thorough scanning and cleaning of the hard drive while connected to the second computer. I do not believe any of this is based on a viral infection but it is definitely not going to hurt you to try.

The negative:

- You will not be able to remove the Spyware Blaster application. You will be able to remove the Programs Files folder but that will not remove the application itself.



At the very most, you can do the format within the second computer, take the drive out and then reinstall it in the original computer to install Windows.



This is not the best option but it is an option. Other than that, I would still suggest to do the reinstall.

[mkana]

The problem computer is a desktop and the one I'm using now is a laptop (employer provided). Assuming the desktop HD could make a happy union with the laptop, I 'd be reluctant to do so as it probably wouldn't make me a star at work if something were to go south. One suggestion I heard was to buy and install a new HD in the problem computer and extract important files / data from the bad HD using another, or the newly hard-drived desktop computer. Would this work? I'm concerned about what gremlins could be left on the problem HD should it be reinstalled after a cleaning vs formatting it with a new OS install.

[mphenterprises]

mkana said:

>

Quote

The problem computer is a desktop and the one I'm using now is a laptop (employer provided). Assuming the desktop HD could make a happy union
with the laptop, I 'd be reluctant to do so as it probably wouldn't make me a star at work if something were to go south.

>
>



Well, technically, you could buy an enclosure, take out the problem hard drive, install it in the enclosure, and connect the enclosure to the laptop. This would be the same thing as if you connected the problem hard drive into another desktop. Granted, this is your work laptop so unless your work guidelines are rather liberal, you may want to check with your IT department first.

mkana said:

>

Quote

One suggestion I heard was to buy and install a new HD in the problem computer and extract important files / data from the bad HD using another, or the
newly hard-drived desktop computer.

>
>

This is basically the reverse of my suggestion...there is only one problem. How would you access the files in the problem hard drive to copy them into the new hard drive? Essentially, you would have to install Windows onto the new hard drive and then copy the files from one hard drive to another using Windows Explorer.

Your other problem would be, as you mentioned, any current issues flowing over into the new hard drive. If you only pull files, you can scan those files first and then move them over.