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XP-iso for reinstall after crash ? Dell Precision 380
Steven Avery:
Hi Folks,
Bear with me through a wordy one. Or move on :) .
My main system crashed with a lsass.exe message, something like "end of format is invalid". This is a real tacky crash -- technically it is a reboot cycle in the early stages of booting XP. (I have some some conjectures about possible culprits, later I will try to look at my MJ Registry Watch and event viewer logs.) On the net this problem is pretty frequent .. sometimes folks attach that message to a user account mashup corruption, other times pagefile-related confusions, other times this and that, lsass.exe is fundamental and resists, for some reason, simple replacement .. from what I could tell. This also resists sfc /scannow and registry fixes and deleting the page file and lots of other tries. And often effects safe mode, so that it has a reboot-cycle just like regular mode, you never make it to safe mode, and you can't get to where you could try the "last successful boot" (or whatever that wording is). Even when folks on the Net get this semi-resolved, it seems like it is often a temporary fix and the problem recurs.
Thus .. it is format and reinstall XP time. I like to do that occasionally anyway on a busy system -- well when needed. Granted .. if I had a recent image I could try format and image reinstall, in the future I plan to design my systems for dual restore. This is a Dell system, Precision 380 -- I was able to get into some special tool-testing section that Dell has .. went through their whole "OS not booting" test phase without a difficulty :) . And I was able to boot with UBCD4Windows (and Parted Magic if I want) for lots of tools.
And, using the Dell CDs, which I have, I am able to get into "Windows XP Professional Setup" which allows a deletion of a partition followed by an XP restore (all solidly registered with Dell and MS). Even when the support time is officially over Dell is pretty good on answering things like -- what should I do ? -- do you have a CD ? etc).
For backing up the most recent data I simply did an essentially full file-by-file Free Commander (!) backup from UBCD to a removable drive connected by USB that is one of those 150 Gigabyte or more thingies. I got a chuckle seeing that with the dozens of tools that they have there on UBCD, the one that I trusted for simple file backup was copy files in Free Commander ! (Perhaps the DriveImageXML has that as a sub-feature, however it gave me no confidence .. I would use that for images, which you do not create on crippled machines and expect much.)
I also used Double Driver, nicely in UBCD, to be sure the drivers were backed up nicely, although I likely had some backup on the disk already.
Now Dell does not give you an XP CD, they give you a "reinstallation" CD with the service pack, also separate CDs for drivers and an application CD are with this. And the reinstallation CD pretty clearly is not a fresh install .. I'm pretty sure of that.
Important change-note. I may well have been wrong on that. The wording on the CD was unclear, it may well be a fresh install, so that would make the rest of the following moot for my XP. In fact I think I did use it that way once before a year or more ago ! After a Vundo infection and some other difficulties if I remember. Although even if so the questions below may still remain for future reference on other systems.
So I wonder .. should I look for a generic XP-iso on the net to burn (on another puter) ? Should I see what Dell has officially that I may have to purchase ? Or should I try to create a special CD on another puter using some of those strange build-your-XP utilities .. however those I think they want the same hardware. Or maybe at work where they have a dozen Dell XPs there is actually a full XP OS and if so I should get that in the AM and use it ? Or should I bring it over to the techie guy (who just sold me another decent Lenovo XP system for $100) who installs XP in his sleep in 15 minutes and then types it from the numbers of the box-side. He is busy tomorrow -- he picks up the one generation old machines from Port Authority by the dozens which is why I was able to get a decent system cheap and, with patience, watch XP in the making .. watching XP is a bit like sauerkraut or frankfurters or whatever has that adage .. oh yeah .. sausage .. hmmm.. Hebrew National may be better. Well I had to find the Ethernet driver and he ended up giving me two XP-OS in one partition - Windows and Windows.0 -- yet one was trivial to delete, surprisingly. Anyway, he can't help till Tuesday so should I try one of the other methods ? Does an XP-iso work ? Is it doable without going to crackerjacker sites ?
Any thought on the variety pack of choices appreciated.
Shalom,
Steven Avery
PS.
This system downloads my email, so if it is down for more than a day or two some stuff starts bouncing, or I have to download unto another system, which is awkward with my Eudora filters. Thus I like to get it up fairly quickly even if I have another puter doing all my essential stuff. The system, although a couple of years old, is still very nice, especially after I upgraded the memory. (Oh, yeah, taking out some memory sticks was another try that I found unappetizing.)
Carol Haynes:
If you use a generic XP ISO you will need to enter a license code and activate it. There should be an XP code on the case but they don't always work.
You can always use a utility to backup the current activation state of your XP (and read the current registration code - which won't be the one on the outside of the case).
There is a link in these forums for the official ISO files of Windows XP SP3 (both Home and Pro editions) from the MS website. I don't know if they still work.
Here is the link I was looking for: Download XP SP3 ISO files. Not all the links work now (but some do).
If the links don't work there you can download an XP ISO from http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_XP_Service_Pack_3_Final_d4323.html (click on 'The Author's Site' link near the top)
Unfortunately I am not sure if that one is Home or Pro.
4wd:
Important change-note. I may well have been wrong on that. The wording on the CD was unclear, it may well be a fresh install, so that would make the rest of the following moot for my XP. In fact I think I did use it that way once before a year or more ago ! After a Vundo infection and some other difficulties if I remember. Although even if so the questions below may still remain for future reference on other systems.
-Steven Avery (April 12, 2009, 07:07 PM)
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Just have a look at the CD structure, if it's the same as a normal XP install CD then the chances are it is.
In which case you can do a repair install over the top of the existing installation.
If the i386 directory exists on the HDD then you can recreate a install disk as shown here: Create XP Install Disc
Borrow someone else's XP Home/Pro, (depends on your version), and do a repair install - or a full install using your CD key, (usually on a sticker on the PC).
Download a XP iso and use your CD key.
40hz:
I'd just use the supplied Dell Reinstallation CD. It's the easiest and fastest way to get your machine back if that's all you have to work with.
The reinstallion CD contains the licensed copy of Windows you paid for. You shouldn't need to buy anything else from Dell to get your PC working again.
The Dell Reinstallation CD will give you a fresh install of your OS in whatever version and at whatever Service Pack it was on when you originally bought it. You will also most likely need to reinstall some device drivers once you complete the OS install.
Before you do this, you might want to consider removing the modem card (if you have one) unless you still use dial-up - or send faxes directly from your PC. For most of us, modems do little more than waste power and tie up a slot.
The recommended reinstallation procedure (per Dell) is to redo your original OS installation using the recovery disk; then download and install all relevant Microsoft updates starting with the most current service pack; then reinstall your drivers using the supplied disk.
In practice, this sequence doesn't always work. Especially if the OS installation doesn't recognize your NIC because it's missing the driver.
Having restored my share of Dells, I've found the best approach is to get your machine back to the original factory configuration first (i.e. OS & drivers); then install any Microsoft updates; then install your antivirus tool of choice; and then see if any hardware drivers need updating.
I'd also run PC Decrapifier to get rid of any 'affiliate' product garbage that came along for the ride.
Super important point: minimize your use of the web until you completely update Windows and get a decent antivirus app installed. I've found an installation of Avira's AntiVir Personal and PCTools ThreatFire to be an exceptionally effective combination. Both are free for personal use. AntiVir and ThreatFire also play very nicely with each other, which is an important consideration if you're running multiple anti-malware apps.
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If you don't have a copy of XP's Service Pack 3, I'd download that using your working machine and burn it to a CD while you are reinstalling XP on your Dell. By the time you've reformatted the Dell drive and reinstalled Windows, SP3 will be ready and waiting for you. That's a big time saver, better for security, and gives you an archive copy for the next time you need to repeat this exercise.
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It is usually possible to get Windows XP off a manufacturer's recovery disk so that it can be used with nLite or the RVM Integrator. Doing the same for a Vista recovery disk gets a bit more complicated. But that's a topic for it's own thread.
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Hope this was helpful.
P.S. IMHO Hebrew National is better - although Ball Park All-Beef Franks will do in a pinch. Especially if you can score some SilverFloss Sauerkraut :-* to go with them.
steeladept:
Not that it helps now, but for the future I would also use something like Acronis or Ghost and make a full image copy of your OS fully updated to today (whichever day you do this) and use it as a replacement for your Dell discs. You will want to install all drivers and updates before you do this, but no programs. NONE. This becomes a base restore disk. Next time you refresh your machine you can update this disk, so for this reason I use RW disks.
Once this is done, I install all the software I consider critical, including Antivirus software, Email programs (unless you use the one that comes with the OS), alternative browsers (if appropriate), critical utilities (for me this includes JKDefrag, ScreenshotCaptor, Process Tamer, and several others), and maybe other software that I rarely, if ever, change. Then I repeat the process with RW disks for a base WORKING image. The key here is if I need to recover, then it is all preloaded, but if I don't plan on using all this software anymore, I go to the base image.
Lastly, I take occasional differential images so there is little if any recovery required.
Just my two cents.
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