its an oddball one, for zinglebarb perhaps, or indeed anyone.
as you know these things dont better me usually,and im more than able to fix any HW or SW problem on any OS usually.
however, the lads just got given a new 'learning in manchester' laptop the other day for a year.
http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/A0234901
the thing is, they use a custom HD image with all their software on there and other bits and bobs (plus sp2 streamlined updates etc)and they dont supply a custom recovery disk.
not a problem, as i was going to make an Image of the machines HD first thing anyway.
however, the lad powered the Laptop up before i got to it, and guess what &^&^%%%....
the first time windows xp pre-install ran and
locked up half way through the /windows/system23/config population.
to make matters werse, theres no /windows/repair/ backup files at this first run...
so no custom image to re-install, No hidden partition with an image on (as a shop Tosh would have), and the machines currently going round in circles, setup not compleate, run setup again.
and i cant delete the old /config dir and copy a new one...
i can OC boot a Live UBCD4win and read the original files and dir, but no backup files to replace it with.
anyone know of a quick way to reset the first time powerup pre-install, so i can get it going, without returning it to the school and waiting at least a week before they put their custom image back on there.
its really bugging me, and all for the lack of a simple drive image backup on hand.
id put a generic XP on there, but they have their set apps and whatnot, and i dont happen to have an SP2 XP CD handy, just generic XP (not even SP1'ed).