I've done it now (PC won't boot)

[BobSch]

I've tried Open Office, and it's a great replacement for MS Office. And the price is certainly right!

[Nilt]

I've tried Open Office, and it's a great replacement for MS Office. And the price is certainly right!

Very true. There are a few things it can't do but I use it on several systems. I also have MS Office but then again, I don't pay full price for MS programs since I used to work there.

[RichW]

Dewi,

Once you have the XP disk, try the repair before doing a whole install. The repair might fix the problems your Windows install had and allow you to boot into the machine as you did before. I know I have done this before. Once you can boot like before you can archive or plan for upgrading to a new harddrive with a fresh XP install at your leisure.

When the machine boots to the XP disk, it will ask you if it is a repair or install and you just choose 'R' to try the repair option.

But don't get too lazy about it leaving it the way it is. The problems could be caused by lots of fragmentation of the files on the disk. When a disk is really loaded, the defrag sometimes won't have enough room to run and swap files and empty space. Or after six years, the HD might be getting corrupt or just be failing. So if you do get it working, start planning to save all of your important stuff. And I would suggest a new install of Windows on a new larger hard drive. It probably won't take too long to reinstall the stuff you had on the old one. But while you are doing that, it is nice to have the ability to boot to the old one, just so you can look at it and remember what you had on there in the first place.

Good luck,

[dewi1219]

Ken,
No, I had not considered Open Office. I have heard of it somewhere before but had forgotten about it. Thanks. I think I have a source for MS Office now, but if it falls through I will definitely keep this in mind.

Rich,
Great advice, thanks. I have been trying to decide whether to:
1) Do the XP repair from the CD, let it ride if it works, and get a new larger drive for the external enclosure to use for backup and storage.
2) Wipe the current drive, reinstall XP, and get a new larger drive for the external enclosure.
3) Get a new larger drive, install it in the desktop, install XP, and forget about the external enclosure.

I guess it's more a matter of personal preference, but I like the idea of 1) or 2) because this would leave a backup in case one of the drives ever failed.

BTW, I tried the "correct" version of the winsrv file that Pelligrini sent me, and as we suspected it did not fix the problem. Thanks again for everyone's help.

[Nilt]

Hey, dewi ... clear some space in your PMs. I tried to send you one but it says you're full. Hehe.

[gordons]

It continuously reboots now. I tried safe mode and last known good configuration, but the rebooting just continues.

One of the dumbest settings ever "created" by Microsoft IMHO is the one found here:
Go to Control Panel and select System.
Next, click on the Advanced Tab, then click on Settings under the Startup and Recovery section at the bottom of this screen.
Now look at this section of the screen............



Notice anything that screams DUMB, STUPID, IDIOTIC...... Why on earth would anyone want their computer to Automatically restart and get into a loop every time there is a system failure??? Hello Microsoft... "Can you hear me now??"

Everyone who hasn't already done so should immediately take out the check mark here so that you do not encounter this problem as well. Continual rebooting...... I don't think so.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help now dewi, but I've always managed to hit one of the F keys, usually F4 or F8, continuously at start up and at least be able to read the error messages properly, or even get into Safe Mode where I could turn off this infernal setting.

As for buying a new hard drive and all manner of other computer components, I have found Newegg to be very competitive in price and excellent service and return policy. Also have a section of user reviews for each product that can swing your decision.

Hope this helps.