Reinstalling XP, IE dead right away

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Our family room computer (a tower) was acting odd, firewall wouldn’t turn on, a few other issues. I decided to reinstall WIn XP from scratch. I backed up my wife’s pst file and backed up everybody’s My Documents. Then I put the Win XP CD in the drive, booted, formatted the hard drive (standard, not quick). It just got done. First thing was to create accounts since it does that as part of finishing the Windows install. Second thing I did was install the drivers for my wireless card since it will have no internet access otherwise. I got connected to the home network. Then I opened IE to get either some updates or to get MSE right away, but IE says it has to close…no choice. This is a pre SP1 copy of Win XP…really old stuff.
I’m at wits end. Without a browser I can’t even get a newer browser. I tried Windows Update…it installed the program to check for updates, when I clicked on Express, it failed and said it couldn’t display the web page. So I seem to be hosed right from the get go. Do I try installing it again? Do I go buy a copy of Win 7 while I still can?
Any ideas?
Thanks. Can’t afford a new PC right now but I guess we’ll take the hit if we have to.

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Download SP1, then SP2 and SP3. Probably after that IE will work properly. Of course, you will need to do this in another computer and carry it to the problematic one, or use a local network, if you have one.

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It looks like something was amiss in your Windows XP clean installation.
I would not use IE in Windows XP at all period, especially any pre SP3 IE installation.
Switch to FF or some other compatible browser, after you follow Rui’s service pack update advice.

I also recommend slipstreaming your windows XP disk to include a full SP3 installation, you may have to include SP1 or 2 in the mix.
A simple Google search will yield many articles on various approaches to slipstreaming your original installation disk.

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OK, working better since I did SP1 thru 3 and a crapton of updates. I still have one nagging issue…sound drivers won’t install from the ASUS disk that came with the box. So I have no sound and no idea why. Can’t go and install drivers any way I try. Any ideas? I’m getting to the point of giving in to the family’s requests and buying a new computer with Win 7. Thanks.

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Have you tried visiting Asus site and downloading the latest XP drivers from there?

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Actually, Windows Update had a hardware update for it. I tried to do that one…it failed…no reason. So I’m at Realtek’s website now doing the install of their driver installer. It was Realtek High Definition Audio. We’ll see how this goes. I spent an awful lot of time on this so far. At my usual rates a new PC would have been cheaper. May still do that but need to get this one going so everybody isn’t trying to use my laptop at once. Thanks for all the help folks. Keep it coming.

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I tried the drivers from ASUS, I tried the drivers straight from Realtek, I tried the drivers from another web site (can’t remember the name). They all failed with some cryptic error code. I threw in the towel. new laptop is on the way (wife didn’t want another giant tower system and actually has been agitating for a new laptop for a while). It will do what they need it to. Thanks to all who offered sugestions.

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Sorry about that. Maybe the error could could allow us to see what was causing it, but it seems to be solved, anyway :).

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The following may fix the sound problem:

Go to Device Manager and check the right side of the window to see if there are any non-working devices. If there are, right click on them and choose Uninstall.

Do the same with hidden devices (At the top, choose View, then Show Hidden Devices.)

After doing that, right-click on the top item of the tree in the right side of the window and choose Scan for Hardware Changes. Windows will reinstall the drivers of all of the devices that you uninstalled.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I had already tried to uninstall…nothing worked. That’s usually one of the first things I try with hardware. Sorry I didn’t mention it. This was wierd as hell. On a related note, is there anything I should try to salvage from the wreck of the family room computer? The monitor will go to a local computer consignment place. ANything else I should tear out of it?

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The memory chips might bring a few dollars on eBay, and they’re light and thin enough for first class mail. The hard drive, unless it’s so small as to be useless, can be installed in an inexpensive external case (again, eBay is your friend) and used for back-up or archiving. (You don’t want it leaving the house in any event, unless you wipe it clean or destroy the platters.) The rest of the carcass is either too obsolete (processor and motherboard) or too heavy (power supply) to be sold online. Offer it on Craigslist, free to the first caller (likely a hobbyist or a scrapper), or wait for your municipal trash department’s next “e-waste day” and ditch it.

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One other possibility — around here I donate a lot of old computer equipment and accessories to the local East County Veterans. Do someone else some good and make a donation to a worthy cause. Best wishes.

Rob

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