XP repair

[squiggle]

I'm trying to do a repair installation of Windows XP, but I've come up against some problems. XP came preinstalled on my computer, so I don't have an installation disc. I have the master cds that I made when I first got the pc, but they are not bootable, and don't appear to be much use at all. The recovery floppy disk I got, will not start - It keeps giving me an error message.

The following file is missing or corrupted: COMMAND.COM
Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g C:WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM

I've been working on this for 5 hours. Please can someone help me?

[Tritan]

hey squiggle - this is always a pain when it happens! go to this webpage and download the XP boot-disk. This should get the ball rolling on those CD's you made

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Best of luck!

[squiggle]

Hello Tritan. Thanks for the link, I'll try doing that when I'm back on my home pc.

Things haven't progressed much since my last thread. I did actually manage to reinstall COM+ and get it started. It didn't fix my problem, although I don't get the VSS errors anymore. MS never came back to me again, so I thought I'd take your advice and do a repair. I'll let you know how I get on :0)

[Tritan]

Thanks for the update Squiggle, please do keep me informed, I am interested to know how this pans out...

Shame MS never got back to you!

[boobesque]

where did you get your pc from? if you contact the helpdesk you can purchase a reload cd. this does a low level format whoch makes your hard drive exactly as you got it when you bought it. all of your files will be deleted though. you can use a linux live cd to access all of your files and maybe save them to discs before you reinstall xp.(ps. this low level format will also delete any partitions you have)

[squiggle]

I now have a boot disk, but it still won't boot the Master cds. There has to be some kind of error on the discs, although I know the disks were checked when they were made. The recovery console seems to be useless aswell.
Things would be so much easier if I just had a proper XP disc. I now have someone from work on the case aswell, so hopefully he can come up with something. I still welcome any suggestions though.

It's a Packard Bell pc from PC World, Boobesque. I may have to contact PB. I wouldn't be happy about having to pay for a reload cd, as it's their dodgy equipment that's put me in this position, but It may be my only option. Thanks for the tip.

[squiggle]

Will keep you updated, Tritan.

[squiggle]

Nothing much happening, Tritan. Just waiting to hear from Packard Bell about a reload cd.

MS came back to me a couple of days ago. They provided me with a VSS hotfix, although it hasn't helped, maybe because I'd already fixed COM+. They are still trying to help, so I'll let you know what they come back with.