BleepingComputer.com: Clean install now drivers won't load

A buddy of mine brought his computer to me yesterday because it was blue screening. After backing up all of his personal files I formatted the drive and re-installed XP pro. I actually still had a copy of all the drivers the mobo needed from the last install I'd done for him (he loves his online poker!) so I loaded them on to my USB flash drive and tried installing from there.

The ethhernet gave me an error saying there was a file that couldn't be found (at work and don't have the exact error on hand sorry)
and then when I tried installing the audio it gets to 94% complete and then just stops. I copied all the files to the computer's desktop but still get the same results. I can't update the SP without internet and I can' t get internet with no drivers. Help?

Would it be possible to update the service pack by downloading it on another computer, burning it to CD and installing from that CD?

Can you give us some specifics about the computer: Manufacturer, model, what hardware?

These would help us help you.

I am not at home to get the specs but it's not a package system, it's a custom build. I'll be able to get exact specs tonight when I get home. I have never downloaded a SP update and burned it to a CD. How do I do that?

Go here and download the Windows XP SP3 file to your desktop. Copy the file to CD and take it with you.

You can now use this to install service pack 3 on the computer.

But, if your initial install of Windows XP has no service pack whatsoever you will need to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 first. Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from here.

You should be able to burn both of these to one CD.

Hope this helps,

This post has been edited by techextreme: 16 November 2009 - 03:23 PM

Sweet! I think it's SP1 right now so I will burn both SP2 and SP3 to a disk and install them that way. It's really ticking me of with the drivers though. He was supposed to pick the machine up tonight but it's not done yet. People act like backing up their 150 gigs of data and then re-installing their OS and drivers should only take an hour. GEEZE! LOL

There was a saying on the wall in my high-school shop class. I say it to people when they want things done "quick".

"Why is there never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it over".

Take your time and do the job properly. They'll thank you for it in the end.

Let me and the rest of us know how you make out.

If you have SP1 already installed...no need to install SP2 as a separate. It's included in SP3.

Louis

It ended up being something really stupid; a bad file LOL Got it all fixed and it's running great! Thanks all!

Did you install SP3?

just a note for others who look in here.

a few really old oem recovery disks and XP disks can be service pack NONE.

Neither sp2 or sp3 will install. MS no longer has sp1 online but sp1a express is still there.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en
The microsoft dispute with Sun over Java VM seems to be why.

The fly in that ointment is that the sp1a express is a stub which then downloads the sp1a files. Each time I have used it was on a system the recovery cd loaded network drivers for so it worked.

I am looking for a full install file of sp1a for my archives. If not I will have to try uglier methods to extract it from the express setup files.
Has anyone spotted it in their travels? I want a reputable site not the warez sites I see in google.

For the record, MS guidance for service pack installs, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389

Louis

Glad to hear you got it up and running.

Realtek drivers hmm could be a problem to, no updates and conflicts with after sp2 and sp3 windows mem space.
Reboots after sound card settings and so on.
Is some on MS support for this but lot of work if you already installed in wrong order. (you have to disable uninstall sound drivers and card at some points update then and there is a fix but don''t know where look for reboot xp realtek in google )
I myself disabled the onboard sound and put some if needed usb soundcards for those.

Yes updates are sometimes or mostly ;) when doing new installs from the old original xp install CD's a .. in the ...
Therefore yes hmm unofficial is wide spread on the internet with also other riscs of trojans/spyware

This post has been edited by yesyep: 21 November 2009 - 01:50 PM