XP Boot Error

Got it.

Ok, It has taken me to the old Welcome screen (after auto-adjusting the screen resolution), and it is asking me to "setup .net passport" ... what should I do, please? Do i "NEED" a .net passport?

 

If you have an option to cancel then try to close the window.

********
Did you get through setting up the time zone and creating a username already?

 

Ok, closed-out .net passport prompt, and also "XP Tour" prompt...just seems to be sitting now...waiting on me to do something?

******* yes, set-up time zone, etc., and a name...

 

Ok. Now we need the CD marked drivers and utilities (the one that also says Resource CD).

You will put that in the tray and it should be recognized and autorun. It will install some Dell utility which you should let it do.

We want to figure out how to get the broadband driver installed.

 

Ok, I have D's & U's/ResourceCD --- FYI, there is another drivers & utilities CD, but it's for "Conexant 56K Data/Fax Modem... -- will I need to install that (I'm thinking; "not"), please?

I will change-out the first CD for the 2nd one now -- Drivers & Utilities-Resource CD...

 

Of course, I am having internet problems. I'll try again in half an hour. Sorry for the delay.

Basically after you install the utility. You will be on a screen that lists your system components. Under Network (nic) Drivers you will see a name for your Network card (ignore the wireless). Remember the name of the Network card. Then at the top of the window select drivers. In the new window double click the Name of the Network Card you found in the first part. It should give you an option to Extract. Do it and it should begin the install of your Network card.

 

Sorry to hear of your web/net problems (I mean I am REALLY sorry under my circumstance - ha!).

Yes, it is detecting my hardware now, I will do as per your instructions (I trust this means it will take care of my router, etc., because that PC is hooked directly to a router...this PC I am typing to you from is networked off of it).

Will look for you in about a 1/2 hour-or-so - thanks......

 

Ok, the files (NIC) extracted, now it's giving me instructions for it (further):

"R-click My Computer (icon)>Properties>Hardware>Device Mgr>etc., etc., etc.>>> ..."

should I proceed with all of this, please?

 

Ok, don't know if this is a "problem", or merely an "issue", but in any event...

I had chosen (for NIC) "GVC Realtek Ethernet 10/100 PCI Network Adapter" from the list presented to me in the Hardware Update list ...now I'm being presented (in Device Mgr) with "Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast PCI Fast Ethernet NIC" ... ?

Though not a HUGE difference, it is a difference.

Can you advise please?

 

Explain again what is going on.

In Dell you extracted the file but it did not run automatically?

You opened device Manager and see the Realtek fast Ethernet is there a yellow mark there? Is it asking for the driver?

 

I think pictures will be better - please bear with me, I will take them and attach them here immediately............

 

These are the last four screens I got...in order - .2, 2.2, 3.2, 4.2

********** forgot to mention in this post as I did in my last post, when I expand "Network Adapters" it is the "Realtek RTL8139..." listed as opposed to the "GVC-Realtek..."

 

Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast PCI Fast Ethernet NIC this is your NIC Card.

I haven't seen the pictures yet. But check if you have a folder C:\Dell\Drivers\R35845

Edit: In Device Manager click on the (+) sign next to Network Adapters is the Realtek RTL8139 listed there?

 

Expanded.........

 

It looks like it is installed to me. Open Internet Explorer and see if you can get to google or other site.

 

Yes, the Realtek RTL8139 is listed there, but previously it said "GVC-Realtek Ethernet 10/100PCI Adapter" - is this the same thing as Realtek RTL8139, please?

 

Yes. I looked at the GVC installer and it contains only the driver for the RTL8139 so they must be the same thing..

 

yes, it had previously told me I was connected to the net...and I hope I didn't make much ado of nothing...I was simply concerned that one place (originally) it told me it was named "GVC-Realtek..." and then it said Realtek RTL8139" - just differences that i was concerned might cause problem(s)...that's all - and yes, I got to google.com and yahoo.com - I am reaching the web.

 

Great! thanks - and I apologize, I just get hammered ALL THE TIME about "specifics" and "exactness" etc., etc., etc........

So what's next, please?

 

Now, when I was playing around with this yesterday on an old DELL. I had a lot of problems with getting the graphic driver. Using Dell's driver messed up two installs of XP. I do not know why. Since we had a problem last time we used dell's graphics driver I think we should avoid that.

Although it will be rather time consuming I think we should do Windows Updates on this installation. [There should be a link to Windows Update in Start>All Programs>windows Update should be pinned to the top of the list]It will install a few hardware drivers and get rid of a few of the yellow marks. It will also take you up to SP3 so that we can try to fix the other installation with a new hal.dll once we get up to SP3.

From what I saw yesterday. You will first have to update to SP2 separately. So that will be one update to download and install. Then after the reboot if you go back to Windows Update you will have to install SP3 separately. Then after the download and install and reboot you can go back to Windows update and choose the updates related to Hardware on the left hand side.

*******
Oh, you close out all those open windows like Device Manager and the Dell utility. And eject the Dell CD.

 

Great! Thank you very much...am going to update to SP2 now - then reboot and sp3 then reboot and the updates related to Hardware on the left hand side.

Will be back when all that is done............

 

Oh, sorry, meant to ask: Eject the Drivers and Utilities ResourceCD now, correct?

The do updates, yes?

 

Good Luck! It takes quite a while to update from SP1. After installing Sp2 and SP3 I had 88 additional software updates.

I think after you get SP3 installed and go back to WUpdate it will automatically select the additional software updates but you will have to manually add the hardware updates because they are considered optional.

I believe what I did was install SP2 and Sp3. Then when I went back to WinUpdate I deselected the additional software updates. I manually added the hardware updates and just installed those two updates. Then after I had the hardware updates installed I went back and got the last of the software updates.
***
Yes go ahead and eject the Cd and close all the windows that are cluttering your desktop. You can still use the web browser while it is downloading and installing updates.

 

Yes, all is going well, new MS updating tool (or some such downloaded) and SP2 almost done now too.

I realize this will take most of the evening, and I should be good from this point (I think???) - anyway - enJoy your evening please - thank you so much, and if I need help, well, I suppose you'll be hearing from me haha

Thanks again and Take care !

 

Hello again - mostly just a quick update for now - though a few questions also...

I won't be able to do much of anything with the machine again until late (or later) this evening, but for now, it is up and running...seemingly with a few quirks (the "Stand-by" feature "acting-up" a bit, for one), but certainly a WHOLE LOT better than it was 24 hours ago.

I suppose the thing I'm wondering about next is: Do I need to (or should I) run any of the other install disks? One is a 2nd "Drivers & Utilities" disk, but that one is for "Reinstalling Conexant 56K data/Fax Modem Software..." - do I really need that? Isn't that for Dial-up connections?

Anyway, I also have an "Apps/DellTools" CD - not sure if that is really needed either?

There is a disk for the Monitor, but as that is working, i can't imagine needing to use it here.

Of course, I have the CD's for Works Suite (2002) - there are five (5) of those, and they include the software/setup for Word (among other apps/software), so I understand to use those programs I will need to apply (run/setup) those disks.

That's it (and that's ENOUGH!) for now - thanks again and in advance,
glenn...

 

Hi,

I wouldn't worry too much about using the extra CDs from Dell. If you don't need particular software then you should just skip installing it. The modem and the monitor realy aren't necessary but if the yellow marks in Device Manager bother you then it would be fine to install them the drivers are very small.

Your old installation is still there and we could try to fix that by copying over your new hal.dll from this installation (which was my plan). I'm not sure that it will work at this point but it may be worth a try.

A couple of issues that should be addressed. Your boot.ini is a mess and should be cleaned up. The OS selection timeout should be changed to at least 5 seconds so you have the option of going into the old install.

You should go through your old user account files and get any documents and photos and put them somewhere that you have easy access to them. Such as a new folder on the C: drive.

Your email may not be set up on the new installation so that should get done if you are going to continue using it.

Think about what you want to do and let me know.

 

Hope you don't mind the delay in getting-back to you...I've been download/installing & setting-up all the security (mostly), downloading a few favorite programs (ccleaner, My Defrag, and a few others) some configurations/preferences - display settings and what not - and besides, I figured you wouldn't mind a nice BREAK from all my silly/incessant questions - ha!

Would love to leave-out anything we don't "need" here...this PC (though it will probably be mothballed [packed in a closet] in a few months anyway) has a very small hard-drive (20GB), and since the parallel install, seems I've lost a bit more than half of the free space we had (down to 4-5 gigs from 9-10). The yellow marks in Device Mgr. don't really bother me (...much - haha) - one of them ("PCI Simple Communications Controller) had been indicating yellow for the past few years - and all seemed to work well-enough, so......

I can tell that the old OS/format is still "there" - some things seem to have been "remembered" (for lack of a better word - maybe "stored" is the better word?), when I visit some sites, etc., I can just tell, plus, I can tell that SOMETHING is "a mess"... the performance seemed slower than usual, so I did a defrag, and that's when I noticed the amount of free space that has been "lost".

I think the OS selection screen is set at 30 seconds (by default, it seems?) - which reminds me: upon start-up, it gives me that screen with 5 or 6 different choices - is there anyway to eliminate all but one or two of those choices, please?. Anyway, I usually set my time-outs to the longest duration possible, for several reasons, which I'll spare you from, unless you want or need to know for some reason. Basically I just do it so that I'll have the longest time possible to make decisions in case I'm not sure of the answer to whatever the prompt may be (especially useful if I happened to have walked-away from the machine, as I often do).

THIS, will be the biggest challenge for me, I think, as I am not sure "where" to go/what to look for. Well, I mean, I think I'll know the data (files/photos) if I see them, but getting to the place where they are, and then putting them into a new folder (that I'll easily be able to access) is the challenge.

Do you mean the email that pops-up from, say, when I click on an "email us" type of link on a web-page, and then the program that appears, such as "Outlook" (which I think no longer exists, right?), or, such as is on my computer, Thunderbird? I suppose it's called the "Default, OS email client"? My mom has long used Yahoo mail for her email (and has not used Outlook in years), but yes, I do think it should be set-up, so that it's as it's meant to be, and in case Yahoo is down, she will have another quick, alternative...

Quick list of the issues I've encountered so far (and hopefully will be all that I have trouble with):

1. "Logging-off" a user account to Shut the machine Down (or Restart) had seemed to be (or 'was") a problem, though I "think" I've fixed it somehow ... in other words, it kept telling me, when I wanted to shut-down or restart, that 'other users were logged-on, and shutting-down/restating could cause a loss of their data'. Again, I think I have repaired that - somehow.

2. I mentioned the OS selection screen, and, well, I can't think of anything else at the moment...even though I had made a written list, those two things were all I had put on the list...? Oh well, that sounds like Good news!

No rush...nothing major-wrong here, so, whenever you have some time, we can work on the few things that we both mentioned - thanks again - see ya soon !

glenn............

 

Ok, as I mentioned in the PM, I've "lost" the admin User Account.

It is named other than "Administrator" (I simply shortened/abbreviated it).

The names on the Welcome screen are:

1. Admin

2. June

I'm not exactly following you on the 2nd paragraph in the PM ("So unless you created a second user account and gave it administrator privileges then you shouldn't have any administrator account showing on the welcome screen."), but I DID, temporarily, have BOTH UA's as administrators (for the ease/simplicity of initial setup).

So, in any event, I do not have an Administrator account that I am aware of, and as you can image, that creates a TREMENDOUSLY HUGE problem...

I am so afraid that I have now COMPLETELY ruined this machine! I don't know what's gotten into me lately to make these gargantuan errors, but I have made them (maybe, in part, it's because I'm going between my machine, which is running Vista, and the machine in question here, running XP?)......

 

Try restarting in safe mode (f8 at startup and choose regular safe mode).
In safe mode which usernames show on the Welcome screen? Can you sign into Admin?

 

Will check right now...be back in two minutes......

 

Ok, yes, interestingly, in Safe Mode, it shows two (2) UA'S - the one "Admin" that I just created yesterday, and an actual "Administrator".

I can perform Administrative operations with the Administrator account in Safe Mode.

I can not do so with the Admin that I created.

******EDIT - I had also checked the "June" UA (before, when I was in Normal startup mode), and it also did not have any Administrator privileges.

 

In safe mode sign on to the Administrator account. Go to Control Panel>User Accounts and then Change an Account>Pick the Admin account>Change Account Type>see if it is Administrator or Limited and if you can change it.

 

Shocked that I didn't think of that, but now also shocked that - no, it will not allow me to do that...I'm in "Administrator", but when I go to UA'S, not only does it show the "Admin" that I just created as a "Password Protected-Administrator" account, it will not allow me to change it ... at all. "Limited" user is shaded, like things are when you have no control over them, and they can't be changed.

 

The plot thickens (and sickens).

When I select (in Safe Mode still) "Admin", from the Welcome screen (the account I just created, or actually, "renamed", originally yesterday, I suppose), where only two UA'S are displayed (Administrator & Admin), when I go to Control Panel>User Accounts, it pulls-up "June", which is; 1. NOT displayed on the safe mode welcome screen, and; 2. not what I clicked-on/selected from the welcome screen.

I wish I found this intriguing - but I do not...not after the past few days with this machine...

 

I will illustrate this all with photos (attached) ... I think that will make it a great deal easier to understand......

1. Safe Mode Welcome Screen
2. Safe Mode Welcome Screen after selecting "Admin" (Prompt for Password)
3. Start Menu (for "Admin") after entering password
4. UA for user "Admin" (which as you can see, changes its name to "June" once inside of/past the Welcome screen).

 

This is getting WEIRDER AND WEIRDER!!!

I wanted to change photo #2 to look like the one I have attached here (below), with the encrypted password entered-in before I would hit <enter> - and low and behold, it NOW, when I go into this UA, it says "Admin" - just as it's supposed to!!! These machines absolutely MUST have "minds of their OWN!!

*******EDIT - I'm going back to check to see if I can actually use it as an actual administrator account..............

***EDIT II - no, I don't seem to be able to use this account as an actual Administrator account.

 

This is confusing. The Admin account, did you create it from scratch? Or did you rename an account from Administrator to Admin? [There is a problem in renaming accounts in XP. The name you see changes but the actual folders for the account keep the original name.]

This whole situation is complicated by the parallel install. Meaning there could have been two hidden Administrator accounts I'm not sure.

Let me know if you created the Admin account from scratch and the order of any renaming you did on it.

 

Yes...I am afraid it is getting way too complicated.

I have never (for some years now) allowed accounts to be named (meaning, I have never left them named as) "Administrator". I think I started this, thinking that it "might" make my machines that much more secure, if they were hacked. The hacker would not know (could not plainly see) which was the Administrator account, and therefore (in my naive mind) could not do damage...at least not as quickly.

I am sitting here trying to recall what I was presented with after the parallel install was complete, and I was setting up an extra account (setting-up a limited user account for my mother, so that she would not access the web as an Administrator).

I don't recall (at least not at this moment). I "suppose" it presented to me whatever Windows always presents with a new OS install (as I think I may recall if it had been anything other than that).

I apologize for pulling you into this madness (paranoia/net insecurity) of mine...

*****EDIT - I am 99.9% sure that I renamed the Administrator to "Admin".

*****EDIT II - NO, I am 100% sure, because I had named it something COMPLETELY different to begin with, but then changed it to Admin for my own convenience.

 

Try Start>Run>type in control userpasswords2
What names do you see there besides ASPNET?
Is Admin set up as an administrator?

 

Run (Start>Run) does not seem to work ... I typed in "user passwords2" <enter>, and nothing happened. I then tried again, but clicked on "Ok" (rather than hitting enter), and nothing still.

I mean, I heard the machine working for a moment, but nothing came up.

*****I just see that I did it WRONG - stand-by please if you can.............

 

Okay - we seem to be getting somewhere now.

There is no "ASPNET" mentioned, listed, etc.

There are three User Names listed (and by-the-way, the original administrator name, after the parallel install we did, was "Owner" - I see it listed):

User Names

Administrator, June, Owner

Group

Administrator = Administrators ... June = Administrators; Users ... Owner = Users

*EDIT June is listed in two (2) Groups - Administrators, and Users.

 

OK, you can close that window. Go to My Computer>C: drive>Documents and Settings What username folders are there?

 

Good GRIEF! There are NINE!!! I will start typing them while you read to this point......

 

1. Administrator

2. Administrator.HEVENER1

2. All Users.WINDOWS2

4. June

5. Owner.DIMENSION4500S

6. Administrator.DIMENSION4500S

7. All Users

8. House

9. Owner

Some and/or parts of some seem to be left-over from the original install.

 

I think I had better read through this user problem tomorrow when I am fresher.

****
We really should try copying over the new hal.dll to the old Windows folder at some point to decide if that old installation is viable.

 

Very good - thanks again for the EXTRA help tonight - see you soon, and yes - I am all for "copying over the new hal.dll to the old Windows folder" - at your convenience ... sounds like the next order of business on this whole process - and when we're done I'm going to stay AWAY from her machine !

Thanks again, and g'nite !

 

If you want to do the hal.dll tonight I can do that. I just don't want to play with the users until I can think it through.

****Copying the hal should not be difficult it is just a matter of keeping straight which file is which.

I would go to the new C:\Windows2\System32 find the hal.dll right-click and select COPY. Then paste it to your desktop.

Then go to old C:\Windows\System32 find the hal.dll and rename it halbak.dll. Then paste the hal.dll into this folder.

 

I realize this is probably a very simple operation, but I can tell you I am going to have trouble with it...in the midst of doing it, 2nd-guessing myself, etc., etc., etc.

I don't want to keep you up, and frankly I am not fresh at this hour either, which would be a huge "block" for me (for US).

I will look at this...may attempt it, but would feel pressured thinking that you were waiting for me to reply here...

****EDIT - Yes. Just LOOKING at your instructions/directions here on this, I feel confused, and have several questions...I can only imagine trying to get into it, and then screwing something up when it's so late at night (early in the morning here).

I don't want to do that to myself at this hour, and I simply cannot do it to you or anyone else.

 

Don't worry about it we can do it tomorrow or whenever.

I'm going to consider the username thing. Did you use "DIMENSION4500S" as the computer name during the new install or is that left over from the first one? Same question for "HEVENER1".

 

DIMENSION4500S = New name.

HEVENER1 = Old name.