Reformat?

[Xiode]

Ok. There's a problem with one of my family member's computers, and I get deemed "the fixer of all problems" I guess you might call it. Long story short, my mom's computer is having some problems, and my dad bought a new hard drive that I was suppose to install and copy all the files onto. Well, I installed the hard drive, but I didn't want to try using the software included to partition and copy data because the computer is having stability issues - and I think I can deduce it to one problem: Microsoft Office.

It keeps prompting for installation of something, giving the error message: "The feature that you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available." I googled that exact message and that's how I was able to figure out it was Microsoft Office causing the problem. According to my mom, this has been going on for some time. Basically a window keeps popping up trying to install, saying it can't, and doing it all over. It's an endless loop and you can't get out of it. Additionally, you can't log out or shut down normally - I'm having to hold down the power button to turn it off.

So I tried to delete Office all together right? You can't add/remove programs because it thinks you're trying to install something else and you can only do one thing at a time. Then, I tried in safe mode... that stopped the frequent prompt, but I couldn't add/remove programs in it.

So my question is this: Is there anything else I can do to solve the problem somehow or another, or should I just reformat? If you think the latter is a better option, what is a good boot-disk program to use to do so?

God, I hate being the go-to guy. I'm 16... >.<
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[alzan]

You didn't say what OS: have you tried running "msconfig" from the Run command off the Start menu; the program trying to install might be running from there, uncheck the checkmarked box for MS Office line item, then try Add/Remove.

If that doesn't work, then a reformat/reinstall will solve that and any other stability issues. A good way to wipe the drive is the manufacturer's utilities easily gotten from their respective websites. Or you can download Killdisk (the free version only allows one pass, but you could run it twice by rebooting after the first pass. Formatting could be accomplished with the mfr's utilities, or by downloading a boot floppy image from bootdisk.com.

Don't know how familiar you are with proper install, but if you're not do it this way. After wiping/formatting the drive:

Install OS
Install motherboard chipset drivers (reboot after each driver install, even if it doesn't ask you to)
Install video drivers (reboot)
Install any other device drivers (sound, if seperate card; scanner, printer, etc...) (reboot)
Install software (reboot after each application installed)

Or if the computer in question was a prebuilt (Dell, HP, IBM, etc.)

Wipe/format drive
Insert System Recovery disk and let it go: careful with this step, this may be where the misbehaving MS Office app is getting installed; watch the install and see are given the option of Custom installation, if so, only install programs that your folks actually use.

Once the computer has all drivers/software installed, if the OS is WinXP, go to System Restore and set a restore point so that you can restore to a stable system state.

Hope that helped.

alzan

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Xiode
Ok. There's a problem with one of my family member's computers, and I get deemed "the fixer of all problems" I guess you might call it. Long story short, my mom's computer is having some problems, and my dad bought a new hard drive that I was suppose to install and copy all the files onto. Well, I installed the hard drive, but I didn't want to try using the software included to partition and copy data because the computer is having stability issues - and I think I can deduce it to one problem: Microsoft Office.

It keeps prompting for installation of something, giving the error message: "The feature that you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available." I googled that exact message and that's how I was able to figure out it was Microsoft Office causing the problem. According to my mom, this has been going on for some time. Basically a window keeps popping up trying to install, saying it can't, and doing it all over. It's an endless loop and you can't get out of it. Additionally, you can't log out or shut down normally - I'm having to hold down the power button to turn it off.

So I tried to delete Office all together right? You can't add/remove programs because it thinks you're trying to install something else and you can only do one thing at a time. Then, I tried in safe mode... that stopped the frequent prompt, but I couldn't add/remove programs in it.

So my question is this: Is there anything else I can do to solve the problem somehow or another, or should I just reformat? If you think the latter is a better option, what is a good boot-disk program to use to do so?

God, I hate being the go-to guy. I'm 16... >.<
Thanks in advance for the help.

Put in the Office CD that you bought and point the installer prompts to the CD. If necessary, it may be requiredto change, in the registry, the location of the Office source files.