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Reinstall of W2K - just system files or will it rewrite everything?

F

Felecha

Golden Member
I've never really known all the details of reinstalling, and remain nervous. In Windows 98se, a couple of times I just ran setup.exe and it apparently only rewrote all the files of 98 and left all my programs and settings as they were.

I recently formatted and clean installed Windows 2000 Pro, on the same machine (custom built at a local shop, ABIT KT7RAID, Athlon 900TBird, 256 RAM, twin IBM DeskStar 75GXP HD). I'm having a problem with the system hanging randomly (anywhere from none to 3 or 4 times a day) while moving the mouse (moving the cursor on the screen). It started a little while after the clean install, so I don't think it was present in the original, but must have started from something I did or something I installed.

I posted here about it a little while ago, and tried lots of things that people suggested, balking only at the idea of flashing the BIOS. Anyway, I thought I might just reinstall Windows as I have done with 98, but the W2K manual isn't so clear about one question - and a couple of sites covering "Reinstall of Windows" also leave me thinking that if I do the reinstall, everything will go back to the way it was on Day 1, which is not what I want. I don't want to reinstall all my programs or try to reset all my personal settings.

Can anyone tell me definitively?

Thanks
 
I recently fresh installed W2K Pro and had the same problem with the system hanging on moving the mouse. It went on for days but It did go away after numerous software updates, just not sure which one made the difference. Might have been SP2 for W2k. You should install that service pack in any case as it solves numerous glitches, and yes it may even create a few as well. My rig ran better after installing it.
 
I've done the SP2 thing, and as of 1 minute ago, Windows Update tells me there are no critical updates needed, I guess I'm upt to date with everything.

I went out a few days ago and found an updated driver for my monitor, something I hadn't tried before. Went 3 days without a hang, and wondered if all along it was as simple as that. Today I've had 4 hangs already, two of them within 5 minutes of each other. It truly is random, like walking in a minefield.
 
As far as my memory serves, choosing to upgrade your current installed version of Windows during setup *WILL* overwrite all your settings in Windows. I believe it creates a new registry.
 
mobogasm -

Ordinary Microsoft Intellimouse. I have an Optical on my laptop and I tried that at one point, and it too at some random point generated a freeze.

And last night I read that there's an option to do Manual or Fast Repair, Manual just does the files, Fast restores the day-1 registry. I went through it, and since so many steps took so forever, I turned to other things at my desk at times, expecting it to prompt me when needed. I got to the prompt confirming that I wanted to

*check the startup environment
*check system files
check partition boot sector

I clicked Yes, and turned to other things, and in a very short time I heard it start to reboot. I expected it would take a while to rewrite the system files, like in 98 it takes quite a few minutes, so I don't really know if it did or not. The whole 2000 manual leaves me uncertain. I'd like more help there.

Anyway, it's now several hours of use without a hang, but that doesn't mean much. Waiting to see ....
 
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