[lynx]

I'm having a bit of a mare. A couple of weeks back i ran system file checker and long story short I ended up with an unbootable instal. A mate tried to help but was unable so put windows 7 alongside my old xp. Not getting on well with W7, my motherboard doesn't support it apparently and grahics drivers continually crash/ stop responding.

Q. Can i get away with reinstalling XP over the existing corupt copy - i really wish to keep installed programs and access to files etc.

Is there an easy route for me to take that doesn't involve formating?

[colmmcc]

If was me, I would do it parrell install.
During the install off cdrom near the start (DOS looking screen)
option were want it install usually c:\XP change this to c:\NEWXP (or something).
After installs all the driver already on the OLD XP and can copy important files over.
I think fresh install is better idea just..

[maf1970]

Wipe drive first with the likes of DBAN.
Then do a clean fresh install of XP.
This is the correct way to do it to avoid any problems associated with previous installs.

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by lynx

Q. Can i get away with reinstalling XP over the existing corupt copy - i really wish to keep installed programs and access to files etc.

You'd have the same ability to access files and programs from a parallel install as you do from Windows 7 now so I'm guessing that's not a solution.

Installing over the top is possible but wouldn't be a solution. If nothing changed on a windows install then nothing would go wrong (files essentially don't 'decay' on their own), it's the changes that cause it to go wrong and those changes are the ones that have been made by you and your programs so if you replace all the files with the originals from disk you'll wipe out a lot of things like program settings that you want to keep.

Windows does come with a utility called the system file checker to check for more obvious errors and on files less likely to be changed. There's some basic information here but you should be able to find a detailed guide if that's not sufficient.

But basically, if windows has got itself in a knot then it's time to spend a few hours backing up and reinstalling.

EDIT: No point in using DBAN unless you have it handy, that's for secure erase. Just delete the partition in the windows installer. Deleted files won't affect the operating system, you only need to completely clean the disk to prevent human attempts at reading it.