Hi all,
I tried installing a Winfast PVR capture card yesterday without success. Now when I try rebooting windows XP, it freezes on logo screen.
At first I could still use safe mode - I attempted to uninstall program, delete driver, disable card, etc. Still wouldn't load windows. So I went into Windows setup, and tried repairing installation. Now safe mode won't work, as it's still trying to complete setup.
I installed a fresh copy of XP elsewhere on my system, and this works. So I guess hardware is okay now (I can do without the TV capture card - I wish I'd never started!!) But I'm back to the beginning as far as my programs and network settings are concerned.
I haven't erased original installation. I would like to repair it and thus save setting up everything again. I thought if I knew the key files that could be causing the problem, I could try copying them over one by one, from new to old installation, and therefore work out by a process of elimination what one is causing the problem.
What are the key files? When you create a backup of XP, what are you actually saving?
Sorry if I sound totally naive when it comes to these things. I would appreciate any tips you may be able to offer.

Regards,
Kaz

Hi Kaz,

Welcome to PCHF. We have a wonderful team of techs on site and I am sure we will be abel to get you back up and running.

First of all I would like to apologize for the tardiness in replying to your post. Response time is something we pride ourselves on, this will not happen again.

I would like to start by clarifying a few things. You say that you installed another version of XP onto your system, was that on the same harddrive?

You also said that the second installation of XP works, does it recognize any of your installed programs, settings, etc?

When you go to repair the original installation, what if any is the error message that you are getting, or exactly what happens on the screen?

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Sorry for not replying sooner! I have been busy reloading programs, so I guess that answers one of your questions, LGW!

Yes, I loaded the second working version of XP on the same drive, albeit a different partition.

When I attempted to repair the original installation, it didn't give me an error message as such, but when I tried to reboot, it would hang again loading windows.

After looking for some clues in the Creative forums, I started with a fresh copy of XP, installed the TV card first, and have just this minute finally got the sound card to work. Literally music to my ears! Hopefully it will still work next time I reboot! Thanks for listening. Sites like these can be a big help.

Should you always as a matter of procedure load programs logged on as administrator?
Is there any way of making administrator accessible without going into safe mode? PS I'm running XP Professional, if that makes a difference.

Thanks again!

You can log into the Administrator account (if you use the "Welcome" login screen) by hitting ctrl-alt-del at that screen - that will bring up another login box that will allow you to enter the Admin credentials. You will need to install software as an "Admin" usually and all you need to do is add you current user into the "Admin" group. To do this - go into Control Panel - users and change the group from there.