[AcaCandy]

And you've been working on this for how long now? 3 months?

Yes as a matter of fact, I am serious. But, feel free to spend another 3 months on it if you'd like.

Sometimes that IS the easiest way to fix something that has not worked for that long

[Rivera42]

It wasn't what id been expecting to hear is all. I also have reservations about my OS CD they shipped with the machine; it's supposed to be the XP disc but UBCD and Windows' own SFC utility both disdain it, iow I think it's incomplete in some way.

You can see the trrouble I've had with the XP disc here:
http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-...ive-using.html

[AcaCandy]

The Dell restore cd should be sufficient to reinstall the operating system. I don't know why it wouldn't work. In that thread, it appears that you want to make the disk something that it isn't.

[Rivera42]

In that thread I was trying to build UBCDforWin and when the program prompts for the Windows disc, I put that one in because it's the only one I have. The program returns the errors I posted.
With sfc /scannow, it also prompts for the disc. When I reboot the system appears to be installing whatever files sfc drew from the disc, yet this happens every time I run sfc.

Do you know of any options that may exist that may save me from having to do a reinstall? I know it's something every "computer person" has had or will have to do at some point, but I never have and it seems a shame to have to do this after less than 6 months of cautious use.

[AcaCandy]

I assume you've tried uninstalling the stuff you mentioned in the first post?

Also, have you tried a system restore point?

[Rivera42]

If only I could use my System Restore feature. I've tried but it always seems to return the same error message that the computer could not be restored.

What confuses me is that I first noticed the CD-drive issue after using the burner progs, except that I used the "portable" versions - thinking it wopuld help to avoid these kind of problems. They aren't installed per se, so I'm not sure how I'd uninstall them.

What I'm thinking, and I admit this is completely blue-skying it, is that maybe I could try SpywareBlaster's saved "System Snapshot" from the day I got the computer. I've never utilized that feature for a restoration, so of course I'd be somewhat cautious to try.

[AcaCandy]

Not familiar with that snapshot option in SpywareBlaster, so, can't offer any suggestions as to try it or not.

[Rivera42]

I'll definitely want to back up the C drive before I try anything serious.

I was thinking I should try giving Dell a call to see what they have to say about all this, I mean the PC is under warranty isn't it?

Would you recommend I remove programs that deal with any aspect of multimedia, like CodecInstaller, as well as the burning progs? And does that include PowerISO?

I also ought to mention I haven't actually used the Autoplay Repair Wizard yet, in part because I didn't want to make things worse.

My confidence in my ability to run even the simplest programs is beginning to take a nose dive =[ I've tried to be cautious and careful, yet look where it's gotten me.

[AcaCandy]

I would try uninstalling stuff, for sure. And yes, if the PC is under warranty, you might try Dell. They will probably blame it on the 3rd party software anyway, and tell you that they can't help.

But, do figure out what the problem (or perceived problem) is with your restore CD.

[Rivera42]

Are you at all familiar with something called the "nondestructive repair install?"

(when I get to a PC I'll post the link but I'm pretty sure that's a usable search term FTTB. )

What really has me worried is that if my Dell-supplied XP disc isn't "good enough" to use with SFC or to build a UBCD, that the repair or reinstall of the OS could "brick" my machine. IDK if I'm just being a "nervous old woman" but the idea crossed my mind and I wanted to see what you guys think about that possibility.

[AcaCandy]

Non-destructive repair install should ONLY repair the Windows installation, so if that is an option with that disk, that would be the safest way to proceed.

[Rivera42]

I notice you qualify by saying "if that's an option with this disc." Precisely my issue - I haven't any idea how limited this CD is or whether I can use it for that purpose. Is there some way to figure this out? What I do know is that the disc has the expected standard items like the 386 folder or whatever it's called, but I've no idea if it's missing anything - although I have to assume that it is.

idk if this is even relevant, but when I open the Volume Control (right-click volume systray icon) the CD player volume slider is all the way up and I was wondering if that's normal. I only noticed it recently because I hadn't had any reason to open it before.

AcaCandy, I want to thank you for taking the time to work with me on this. I know there are a lot of people asking for help here and I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you.

[AcaCandy]

You're welcome

Can the volume level be changed? Not that it has to do with anything, but, if it can't be changed, there may be a problem with the audio program you have installed. I have a Realteck sound card, and they install their own program to control the sound settings.

Back to the restore cd, yes, you can put it in the drive and boot with it, you should be able to see what options it is going to give you, and then you can cancel back out.

[Rivera42]

I can decrease the volume but since I wasn't sure what the proper setting was, I left it at 100%.

If I put the Windows disc in the D drive and restart the computer, A. Do I need to go into the bios and change the boot drive order? and B. since the drive doesn't autorun when I'm in Windows, isn't there a chance that problem may persist outside of Windows?

I tried to update the drivers, but apparently the "best match" is already installed. Subsequently I put a DVD in the drive to test drive function.
Dell's "MediaDirect" feature is _supposed to_ automatically play the disc, but it doesn't. The volume label doesn't display in Explorer like it's supposed to do, either.
I can open the movie with menus using VLC (my go-to tester for media files) and skip around through chapters. Also, I can physically eject the disc using the command in Windows Explorer. I can successfully "populate" the volume in Properties but only by doing it manually.

the flash drives with U3 are supposed to display as two drives in Windows Explorer, one of which is always a read-only CD drive for U3 system files, and although the flash drives work fine, that CD partition (if that's what it is) displays as a generic CD drive, not "U3 System Files" like it ought. IOW the issue with D drive carries over to that as well.

Interestingly, any .iso disc image I mount in a PowerISO virtual drive auto-runs properly, including my Dell XP restore disc and driver CD.

If I have multiple versions of a program, e.g. Spybot SD, the .NET Framework (versions 1, 2 and 3), and Firefox (two different FF2.0.0.x as well as the 3.0.1), listed in my add/remove, am I supposed to remove all but the most current version like we do with Java?

[AcaCandy]

Not sure about .NET Framework, but, the others, yes, I would remove all older versions.

As for the boot order, you may have to change the bios, but, that is easily enough to figure out. If it doesn't take over on bootup, then change order in bios.

As a side note, the autorun inside of Windows is completely different from booting to the CD disk upon restarting the computer. The only thing that would affect that, would be defective hardware (bad drive).