I think ive messed up my system

frantic_mel

To all technical guys out there,

Yesterday i did a scan and cleaned out my computer, i deleted lots of unwanted files and i think ive deleted some i wasnt supposed to.

I had paint shop pro on my system before i did this, when i went to open it, it started opening again as if it was installing itself again, but then half way through the installation a grey message box comes up saying i need an IIS 4.0 of higher to perfom. I havent got a clue what this mean. I tried system restore but that doesnt seem to help. I tried downloading some kind of IIS but dont know what that was about. I also dont have our XP installation disk as it was lost while cleaning. What can i do in order to get my computer back to the way it was (like as if it was from the shop)

Mel

frantic_mel

How do you do a clean up

KlodaX

are you using windows nt? do you have a copy of the operating system you want to use on a cd? do you have a cd with motherboard on it? do you have all the software you use on cds? have you backed up any files you do not wish to loose?

quarryman

In future

Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup

If the only problem is with PSP then why not try installing it again? Try to uninstall it first. Have you got a copy of the CD to install it from by the way? If you bought it from a shop with everything pre-installed, you should.

If you want to do a real cleanup and get things back to the way they were a full format might be the best bet but you'd have to be sure everything is backed up and you'd NEED to get a copy of XP again.

If you contact Microsoft they can arrange the send you a replacement disk since you have it installed legally already.

edit: any way you can take a screenshot of the error you get PSP is installing. hit 'print screen' and paste it into paint. Save it as a jpg and then upload the attachment in a new post.

frantic_mel

quarryman wrote:

In future

Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup

If the only problem is with PSP then why not try installing it again? Try to uninstall it first. Have you got a copy of the CD to install it from by the way?
If you bought it from a shop with everything pre-installed, you should.

It was only the trial version that you get from there official website. I tried it again and same thing - its looking for that IIS 4.0 or higher.

If you want to do a real cleanup and get things back to the way they were a full format might be the best bet but you'd have to be sure everything is backed up and you'd NEED to get a copy of XP again.

If you contact Microsoft they can arrange the send you a replacement disk since you have it installed legally already.

Is it necessary to get the disk in order to do a full format, I have the official authentification sticker on the side of the hard drive - would this work??

KlodaX

some computers have a hidden partition with the operating system already loaded on to it.

frantic_mel

KlodaX wrote:

are you using windows nt? do you have a copy of the operating system you want to use on a cd? do you have a cd with motherboard on it? do you have all the software you use on cds? have you backed up any files you do not wish to loose?

Im using Windows XP Home Edition. I have some mother board cds, I just cant find the windows xp cd. This computer was given to us by the council of the blind with everything on it.

frantic_mel

KlodaX wrote:

some computers have a hidden partition with the operating system already loaded on to it.

I wouldnt have a clue what this means though

quarryman

to be honest a full format is a pretty drastic step that you prob won't need.

if you're having trouble opening a PSP you should pin this down first. you should only consider installing windows again if you went deleting important system files.
do you think you did?

1. uninstall PSP
2. re-install it (with the cd)
3. if you get the error again post it up here.

NOW, if you do need to install windows again give Microsoft a call and tell them the situation. chances are they will send you out a replacement and re-activate it.

KlodaX

If you have a motherboard cd you probably don't have the hidden partition
you could try restoring the system to a previous date, when did all the trouble start?

frantic_mel

KlodaX wrote:

If you have a motherboard cd you probably don't have the hidden partition
you could try restoring the system to a previous date, when did all the trouble start?

I downloaded a program called advanced system optimizer - a free trial version, it was supposed to clean unessesary files, like do a clean up etc. I did that and when i went to open the painst shop pro it had to re-install itself again but this time during the process a message came up that i need to have a file or thingy called IIS 4.0 or highter to perform some virtual thing. The psp was only a trial version - so i uninstalled it and try installing it again but still the same thing.

This all happened yesterday. Everything else is ok. Apart from Internet Explorer not letting me access certain websites ie msn when i enter username and password it goes onto the next screen saying page could not be found all internet settings are on default etc but it wont work.

Sherifu

If youve messed up your explorer settings aswell your best bet is to try get an xp disc and do a repair install. And reinstall psp as mentioned.
I think this would be the ideal way to restore your system, before you try a fresh install.

RKM.

frantic_mel

got through to microsoft,

They said they cant help me and cant send out a replacement disc because the computer has an OEM whatever that means.

Ugh

frantic_mel

rmulryan wrote:

If youve messed up your explorer settings aswell your best bet is to try get an xp disc and do a repair install. And reinstall psp as mentioned.
I think this would be the ideal way to restore your system, before you try a fresh install.

RKM.

I dont have a disc to re-install it with.
and microsoft wont send me one.

The Paint Shop Pro was only a downloadable trial version.

The Muppet

Is there a licence sticker on the machine ?

KlodaX

you could restore the system to 2 days ago... worth a try anyway.

KlodaX

xp disk shouldn't be hard to come by ... do you know anyone else with a pc? what make is your pc? a disk should have come with it.

GreeBo

go to control panel and the add/remove programs:
I'd remove PSP and then reinstall from wherever you got it.
Same for Internet Explorer, just download the newest version and install it over the old one..
Actually, download FireFox, much better and you wont get the spyware you end up with on IE.

Sherifu

frantic_mel wrote:

I dont have a disc to re-install it with.
and microsoft wont send me one.

Beg, borrow or steal......
Or get on to the council to give you the oem disk.
Its handy to have the disk for problems like this...... :rolleyes:

frantic_mel

Ok guys,

I tried re-installing the trial version of Paint Shop Pro. This is the message that comes up during installation.....

Error 1933: This Setup requires Internet Information Server 4.0 or higher for configuring IIS Virtual Roots. Please make sure you have IIS 4.0 or higher.


What does this mean, is there a way i can fix this

Please help....

Sherifu

IIS = Internet Information Services or something like that.
Its something you can optionally install on your machine to make it a server.
Without the disk i don't think ya can install it.....

RKM.

frantic_mel

im doomed

Sherifu

frantic_mel wrote:

im doomed

That may be, but don't let THEM know.
Keeping acting normally. Don't call me here again.

You really could do with an xp disk.
Do you have an office disk with Frontpage?

frantic_mel

I never had frontpage

:mad: :rolleyes:

Sherifu

I never had frontpage

Thats a pity, it comes with IIS i believe.
No more ideas at the mo :rolleyes:

frantic_mel

thanks for you help anyway,

mmm i wonder if i can get a trial version of front page....would it come with that????

frantic_mel

Hi have decided to save for a few weeks and get a new computer. As the one we have was only given to us.

At the moment it had 1.7GHz with 96MB or RAM, not sure if this was good or bad - i think bad knowing how awfully slow it was with programs and games like championship manager & rollercoaster tycoon etc.

So does anyone know what would be the best specifications of a computer to get if you like fast speed and easy game play etc - now dont get too technincal on me lol

Mel

GreeBo

frantic_mel wrote:

Hi have decided to save for a few weeks and get a new computer. As the one we have was only given to us.

At the moment it had 1.7GHz with 96MB or RAM, not sure if this was good or bad - i think bad knowing how awfully slow it was with programs and games like championship manager & rollercoaster tycoon etc.

So does anyone know what would be the best specifications of a computer to get if you like fast speed and easy game play etc - now dont get too technincal on me lol

Mel

whats your budget?
Your question is really whats the best I can get for €x...

frantic_mel

GreeBo wrote:

whats your budget?
Your question is really whats the best I can get for €x...

mmm possibly 1,000 not sure on how much these things cost. Saw dell had some nice ones for € 860, but that only means from

GreeBo

well personally I'd avoid Dell, they are cheap and cheerful anf usually out obselete in a year.
If you buy stuff yourself and put it together you will get a system that will initially probably be more expensive, but you will be able to keep and reuse a lot of the components. Dell is a bit of a false economy IMO.
Look at somewhere like komplett.ie or hitide.ie for parts.

frantic_mel

Im not really looking for parts.

Im looking to buy the package thing.

bringitdown

Dude...

1.7Ghz sounds like a half decent machine, the RAM is a bit on the small side but you can correct that in a jiffy.... and for cheap compared to shelling out for a D$LL.

I think you are throwing in the towel too early.... you have an XP license sticker so if you could 'obtain' a copy of XP from someone, a mate, someone out there will have one (in fairness you should have one) use the license on the sticker and re-install the system.... AFAIK this is completely legal.

It ain't unusable at the moment so you can back-up valuable things first, and you can always download a trial version of PSP again...

If you have managed to get this far, then see what type of components are in it, what motherboard, disk etc using tools like Sisoft Sandra (free) and get some upgrades for it at komplett or similar. We will help with gusto at this stage - just post up the motherboard name / version and we'll help you out.

Anyone with me [GIVES THUMBS UP SIGN]!!

frantic_mel

bringitdown wrote:

Dude...

1.7Ghz sounds like a half decent machine, the RAM is a bit on the small side but you can correct that in a jiffy.... and for cheap compared to shelling out for a D$LL.

I think you are throwing in the towel too early.... you have an XP license sticker so if you could 'obtain' a copy of XP from someone, a mate, someone out there will have one (in fairness you should have one) use the license on the sticker and re-install the system.... AFAIK this is completely legal.

It ain't unusable at the moment so you can back-up valuable things first, and you can always download a trial version of PSP again...

If you have managed to get this far, then see what type of components are in it, what motherboard, disk etc using tools like Sisoft Sandra (free) and get some upgrades for it at komplett or similar. We will help with gusto at this stage - just post up the motherboard name / version and we'll help you out.

Anyone with me [GIVES THUMBS UP SIGN]!!

Ok I have asked my boss for a copy of his disk. The only thing is that he has XP Professional, My computer is installed with XP Home Edition. Will this matter. Also how do i increase my RAM. Its also telling me that im running very low on virtual memory. When the computer was fine i couldnt even have PSP opened with any other program otherwise it would not perform the tasks etc.

quarryman

*thumbs up*

going off buying a new computer because you can't fix this one is a little unecessary

At this stage your best solution is to get a copy of WinXP and re-install it. What about Windows 2000? Considering the amount of RAM you are using it might be a better bet.

If you do want to stick with XP then buy a bit more RAM. A 256MB stick shouldn't set you back too much here www.shop4memory.com.

Someone on boards might be able to sell you XP or 2000. Remember though you can't use someone else's copy of XP if they have activated and are currently using it.

hshortt

Paint Shop Pro does not require the use of IIS Virtual Roots, there is something else amiss here.

Click Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove the programs that you no longer use or need.

Then click on the add/remove windows components tab, and scroll your way to Internet Information Services (iis), make sure you de-select the box. [I would suspect that you don't want to be sharing files or your entire system to other internet users!] Click next and allow the computer to gather the files and sort them out. When it's finished restart your computer.

When you computer is back up, do the following two things.
1. Update your Anti-virus software!
2. Update your system with all available critical patches - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Be aware that some of the patches from Microsoft will be large and may take quite some time to download. When both these have been completed, restart again.

Now attempt to use your computer normally, if it's ok, then grand. You can download and install a new trial of PSP, although I'm sure that it will eventually time out and not run anymore because that is the essence of a trial.

Also, you may already have the entire recovery information on your computer or on one of the discs you got with it. If you open explorer and find the C: drive you might see a folder called i386. This folder contains all the necessary files you need to recover your pc. (I'll give you the information later if needed)

Finally, a 1.7Ghz computer is absolutely fine for most things except playing the latest games. The memory is low at 96MB, and I would recommend that you install 256MB minimum or 512MB ideally. You will find that this increases the performance of the computer and will probably delay your need for a new one.

Cheerio
Howard

frantic_mel

quarryman wrote:

Remember though you can't use someone else's copy of XP if they have activated and are currently using it.

Not even if I use my registry details thats on the sticker to the side of the hard drive.

frantic_mel

hshortt wrote:

Paint Shop Pro does not require the use of IIS Virtual Roots, there is something else amiss here.

Click Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove the programs that you no longer use or need.

Then click on the add/remove windows components tab, and scroll your way to Internet Information Services (iis), make sure you de-select the box. [I would suspect that you don't want to be sharing files or your entire system to other internet users!] Click next and allow the computer to gather the files and sort them out. When it's finished restart your computer.

When you computer is back up, do the following two things.
1. Update your Anti-virus software!
2. Update your system with all available critical patches - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Be aware that some of the patches from Microsoft will be large and may take quite some time to download. When both these have been completed, restart again.

Now attempt to use your computer normally, if it's ok, then grand. You can download and install a new trial of PSP, although I'm sure that it will eventually time out and not run anymore because that is the essence of a trial.

Also, you may already have the entire recovery information on your computer or on one of the discs you got with it. If you open explorer and find the C: drive you might see a folder called i386. This folder contains all the necessary files you need to recover your pc. (I'll give you the information later if needed)

Finally, a 1.7Ghz computer is absolutely fine for most things except playing the latest games. The memory is low at 96MB, and I would recommend that you install 256MB minimum or 512MB ideally. You will find that this increases the performance of the computer and will probably delay your need for a new one.

Cheerio
Howard

How do you put in new RAM

quarryman

frantic_mel wrote:

Ok I have asked my boss for a copy of his disk. The only thing is that he has XP Professional, My computer is installed with XP Home Edition. Will this matter. Also how do i increase my RAM. Its also telling me that im running very low on virtual memory. When the computer was fine i couldnt even have PSP opened with any other program otherwise it would not perform the tasks etc.

The XP Pro thing shouldn't be an issue. You're almost there

Bung in the CD. You might want to back up anything very important just in case but since its a reinstall nothing should be deleted.

If the CD is set to autorun you should see the setup starting. Choose the option to upgrade/reinstall. Let it do its thing and get some coffee.

While you're drinking your coffee get onto someone else's coffee and buy some RAM here: www.shop4memory.com.

The virtual memory thing is caused by the fact that you have very little available RAM (memory) for it to work with. WinXP needs more to work properly.

Post your progress back here.

quarryman

frantic_mel wrote:

How do you put in new RAM

here

quarryman

frantic_mel wrote:

Not even if I use my registry details thats on the sticker to the side of the hard drive.

Each CD is designed for only one user (as long as its not a corporate version).

AFAIK your registry details are specific to the XP cd it was installed with.

Since its OEM you should have got a CD with the computer so whoever gave the computer to you prob has it.

frantic_mel

[QUOTE=quarryman www.shop4memory.com. [/QUOTE]


There are different types of RAM like DDR etc not sure what i can get. How do i install RAM

quarryman

frantic_mel wrote:

There are different types of RAM like DDR etc not sure what i can get. How do i install RAM

install it with the tutorial that i linked to you.

you need to find out what memory your motherboard supports. google the model or open up the computer and have a look what the memory already installed is.

edit: try emailing shop4memory and see what they recommend. They're pretty good at replying to emails quickly.

frantic_mel

Thanks everyone for your help.

I will try do some of your suggestions, if all else fails I dont know what to do. Maybe buy a new computer lol

frantic_mel

hey guys,

I fixed it all by myself without the need for a disk. Its not back to factory settings and still have all my files there. I downloaded that psp and it works fine now. Even Internet Explorer is now leaving me access sites i couldnt before. But im still going to use Opera because im so used to that now. Or Slim Browser etc.

frantic_mel

hshortt wrote:

Also, you may already have the entire recovery information on your computer or on one of the discs you got with it. If you open explorer and find the C: drive you might see a folder called i386. This folder contains all the necessary files you need to recover your pc. (I'll give you the information later if needed)

I got it working again. I opened that folder you told me about and the windows setup was there so i was able to do a complete installation again plus i didnt lose any work or files i had already. Everything is working perfectly again now. However, I will look around for some memory. What is the best memory you can get. I have championship manager, rollercoaster tycoon - getting the third one soon and lots of other games. Such as super nintendo, mastersystem etc.

quarryman

try this memory configurator

frantic_mel

frantic_mel wrote:

hey guys,

I fixed it all by myself without the need for a disk. Its not back to factory settings and still have all my files there. I downloaded that psp and it works fine now. Even Internet Explorer is now leaving me access sites i couldnt before. But im still going to use Opera because im so used to that now. Or Slim Browser etc.

sorry was meant to say it was back to factory settings.