Lost Windows XP - file 'atms' needed

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

I'm at my wit's end trying to get my wife's XP Home System up and
running again, and would be very grateful for some urgent help please.

Not sure what caused it (possibly a glitch while using Windows Update
yesterday, and/or some spyware I found later - IEHacker??) but the
result is as follows:

On booting (from HD or the official original MS CD, in either of two
CD ROM drives) we get told that a Windows update is in progress, and
asking if we want to complete it. No real choice, so we proceed. But
we always end up getting the message:
'Files Needed asms'
and the path box offers the strange looking default
'GLOBALROOT\DEVICE\CDROM0\I386'
But clicking OK does nothing. Nor if I change the path to
E:\I386 or E:\I386\ or E:\I386\asms etc.

BTW, when I Explore the MS CD-ROM on my own PC, there *is* no file
called asms, only the folder E:\I386\asms

Google found me the MS 'solution' at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=311755
but it's not only dauntingly complex but also requires the use of a
W98 Second Edition CD ROM.

From other google hits, this appears to be a fairly widespread issue,
so I'm hoping there are by now some practical solutions we can try
please.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

sorry didnt read all your post - silly me - ignore my last post
--
Helpdesk Technician
Working towards MCDST


"JonWra" wrote:

> Hello Terry
>
> You may want to check out the following Microsoft KB article - hopefully
> this should help you solve your problem
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] US;Q311755
>
>
>
>
> Jon
> --
> Helpdesk Technician
> Working towards MCDST
>
>
> "Terry Pinnell" wrote:
>
> > I'm at my wit's end trying to get my wife's XP Home System up and
> > running again, and would be very grateful for some urgent help please.
> >
> > Not sure what caused it (possibly a glitch while using Windows Update
> > yesterday, and/or some spyware I found later - IEHacker??) but the
> > result is as follows:
> >
> > On booting (from HD or the official original MS CD, in either of two
> > CD ROM drives) we get told that a Windows update is in progress, and
> > asking if we want to complete it. No real choice, so we proceed. But
> > we always end up getting the message:
> > 'Files Needed asms'
> > and the path box offers the strange looking default
> > 'GLOBALROOT\DEVICE\CDROM0\I386'
> > But clicking OK does nothing. Nor if I change the path to
> > E:\I386 or E:\I386\ or E:\I386\asms etc.
> >
> > BTW, when I Explore the MS CD-ROM on my own PC, there *is* no file
> > called asms, only the folder E:\I386\asms
> >
> > Google found me the MS 'solution' at
> > http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=311755
> > but it's not only dauntingly complex but also requires the use of a
> > W98 Second Edition CD ROM.
> >
> > From other google hits, this appears to be a fairly widespread issue,
> > so I'm hoping there are by now some practical solutions we can try
> > please.
> >
> > --
> > Terry, West Sussex, UK
> >