Windows XP forum: Reinstall/repair Windows XP Pro instalation

First, how's your maintenance? Defragmentation done recently? How about anti-virus? Do you have a maintenance program/optimizer? I would suggest Iolo, System Mechanic 7.

Second, have you reconsidered reinstalling some of the programs you've added instead? You could have some corrupted software running on your machine. These also would include Dial up/DSL drivers, Internet browsers, etc..

Are your hardware drivers up too date? These can be mostly up dated from: start>control panel>system>Hardware>device manager>open all>right click on each>up date driver>run wizard. If a driver is available a new one will be downloaded. All drivers "cannot" be updated this way. You may have to visit your hardware vendors web site and search for some. This is especially true with older computers were it is necessary to search for previous versions.

All of this is time consuming, of course. You'll have to weigh the time considerations of doing a this as opposed to a operating system reboot.

I don't believe you can pick and choose what parts of your OS that you can reinstall (I'll track this tread to see if I'm wrong).

I would get a lot more input before pulling the plug on your OS. Patience is needed here, stall, you may find a solution. Only reboot if you have too. I just did and it took 2 and one half days and I'm still not done. That's 12+ hour days by-the-way.

It may be possible to use a friends CD. Since there are more than one WindowsXP Pro version, it may not accept the version your friend has as a source. If your install is still working, let us know. There are ways to solve this, but you can always ask the manufacturer for the reinstall CD for XP ( depends on the manufacturer if you will get it)