XP Corruption

[captaindenial]

I'm up to my eyebrows and sinking fast on this one.
I have a Dell box running XP Home. The user told me it was running slow. I checked the Page file settings and got an error indicating the page file is corrupt. I selected "no page file" and rebooted, then set the page file at a correct size and rebooted. Still getting the same messsage.

I decided to try a system restore and found the "system tools" folder empty and no restore history. All the system tools are gone.

I tried to go online and look for help and found no network connections. I tried to create one but all the options are grayed out.

I decided to do a repair with the XP disk. The box locked so hard during the install I had to pull the plug. At power-up it picked up where it left off, but I rebooted and started the repair again. This time it made it all the way through.

Went back and checked to find I still have all the previous problems. I'm at the point of doing a format and clean install, but thought I would throw it out here to see if anybody has an idea I havn't tried.
Thanks

[scouse]

If you can afford to do a new format and install without worrying about losing and files you may have, then go for it mate..It sounds like you have problems that a good clean install wil fix.

I have just reinstalled my XP i do it twice a year as there is nothing better than a good clean install every few months..

The OS sounds like it is corrupted pretty bad considering a repair did not fix it..

[captaindenial]

Thanks Scouse, I agree a clean install would be called for. I'm just hoping to get the system stable enough to get the users data backed up first. So far I havn't had much success.

[Play_The_0dds]

being it is someone else's computer, i would pull the drive out, slave it to another system, scan it for virus, then copy all the files,emails, music,ie favs,and anything they have to another drive then secure erase the drive, format and reinstall. sounds harsh, but saves alot of time. if you have any trouble accessing the files....
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=810881

[scouse]

Good one PTO that would be much better.

[captaindenial]

I put the drive in another box and ran a virus scan. Found three occurrences of the Sasser worm.

Thanks for your help guys, this issue is resolved