You say you have done a dsk reboot...... Cannot remember what F keys do what now... lol. F1 2 8 11 12.... I Would just go through them all and keep on re booting until i found the system that i wanted...Cannot do any damage....

Ok then,that's me off to play for a while.Thankyou so much everyone for your help.:xmas-smiley-025: I'll let you know how i get on.

Any similarities to this Ronnie
Hi
My wifes laptop will not download some Windows updates, nor will it allow you to uninstall programs. I was also trying to update AVG 9.0 to AVG 11.0 and that fails too. There appears to be a problem with the windows installer software as I keep receiving a message that states "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed contact your support personnel for assistance". It also states that this can occur if Windows Installer is not correctly installed.

Hmm corrupted windows security, windows installer, default windows video drivers...sounds like you need to do a repair on the windows installation itself. If you've got the XP install CD put that in and try the repair utility on that. If it won't have that either I'd get everything off, wipe it, and start again.

Yes Mick,i keep getting contact support etc.

Yes, well if it is the same problem as I had like this with my missus laptop (although hers was vista), what you need to do first of all is get a good copy of msiserver. file What I mean by this is a copy of this file from someone running XP that has not got your problems.................as it happens that could be me for instance. Once you have got this file, which i can email you, I can let you know what to do with it.
Do you want me to copy and email the file to you?

If you wouldn't mind mate,that would be most helpful.At least i can't do any more harm:icon_smile: Funny thing is,i can access the web etc,as i am now,but windows installer is missing.I'll pm you my email

What about this if that does not work..?http://www.microsoft.com/download/en...s.aspx?id=8483

A time consuming process, but try an XP repair install......

Set your PC to boot from the CD drive (in the BIOS settings) and to boot from the CD as the first boot device, then put your WinXP CD in the CD drive. Reboot and it should then boot from the CD and offer a menu.

Ignore the Repair option, but choose the Install XP. It will now search your hard drive for Windows installations and list them. If you only have one installation there will only be one listed. Now choose the installation which you are complaining about and let it install into that.

It should rewrite all of the files Windows needs to operate normally, but not upset any software you already have installed - they should all work as before. All your drivers will be lost for things like printers, USB devices etc.. so they will need to be reinstalled. You will also be using a version of XP with none of the XP updates and Service Packs, so they will need to be downloaded and installed again.

That should get you back and working, with no data lost, no personal files and all of your installed software working exactly as it was working before, but the penality of a lengthy process of downloading XP's updates again and several reboots in between.

Once you get it working again, run a good anti-virus over the entire hard disk space.

I can recommend the free Chinese - Rising anti-virus.

Okay Ronnie I have emailed you the file and instructions. I think this will solve your problems :icon_rolleyes: Try my solution first!