xp home madness. regular reinstalls

[Guest]

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

in the last month I've had to reinstall xp because my pc would stop booting
and give the error message "windows cannot start due to missing or corrupt
system file confid.sys." I've done fdisk 4 times before being told I should
Format so the last time I had to reinstall I formatted. I have 2 problems
righ tnow. First, in my craziness I had xp install twice today and have 2
versions on NTSF so I don't know if I can uninstall as it doesn't allow thru
Add/remove Programs...Second problem. I'm told by some techs at work that I
must have a virus in my mbr. I used the command fixnbr without really having
more of a prayer than knowledge. I run antivurus multiple times a day because
of my probs. What prg do I need to find a problem in my MBR? This pc is less
than 5 months old and Dell is not very helpful on the phone.
Thanks for any help/guidance.
Barry

 

[Guest]

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

Dell has a download to 'flash the BIOS' which might remove your virus. (I doubt you have MBR problems any longer)

Downloading and running the BIOS flash stuff isn't too hard if you can get windows to start. Then restart by booting to XP Setup CD,
and run an install, accepting the option to remove then re-create the partition.

Removing a Dual boot setup is a matter of editing Boot.INI, and restarting to remove the old files.,

HOW TO Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289022


--
Mark L. Ferguson
FAQ for Windows Antispy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm
"Barry who is ready to go back to abacas" <Barry who is ready to go back to abacas@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AD636FDC-3674-4196-A62C-C958588F2FC5@microsoft.com...
> in the last month I've had to reinstall xp because my pc would stop booting
> and give the error message "windows cannot start due to missing or corrupt
> system file confid.sys." I've done fdisk 4 times before being told I should
> Format so the last time I had to reinstall I formatted. I have 2 problems
> righ tnow. First, in my craziness I had xp install twice today and have 2
> versions on NTSF so I don't know if I can uninstall as it doesn't allow thru
> Add/remove Programs...Second problem. I'm told by some techs at work that I
> must have a virus in my mbr. I used the command fixnbr without really having
> more of a prayer than knowledge. I run antivurus multiple times a day because
> of my probs. What prg do I need to find a problem in my MBR? This pc is less
> than 5 months old and Dell is not very helpful on the phone.
> Thanks for any help/guidance.
> Barry