"Twayne" <nobody@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:O1VXqpqsIHA.4544@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Judicsious troubleshooting and analysis. What is your expertise level and
> what tools do you have? If you're a neophyte, you may not be able to do
> it.

If I was able to boot in any way at all I'd probably find a way through
inhibiting drivers & processes. But I can't get past the briefest glimpse of
the splash screen (

Are you certain the recovery disk doesn't have a "repair"
> option in addition to installs?

100% certain
>
>> 2. If I buy a new XP disk will I be able to re-install windows and
>> keep all my software & settings.
>
> No. If the repair feature works, some might remain, but one should never,
> ever mess with repairs and installs to the OS without first having
> completed a full backup which apparently you haven't done.

Did have a backup but the USB HDD has been dropped. Never got round to
checking it till I needed it (

>You might have to kiss your data goodbye and all the XP updates will need
to
> be reapplied, along with the SP's. BTW SP3 is available now.

SP3 was already installed. Presumably if I try an upgrade from Home to Pro
it should retain the settings?
I've now cloned the drive using Acronis True Copy recovery disk, so I have a
spare non-booting disk to experiment on )

>
> If you will post some useful information, such as
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q555375 you ae a lot more likely to get
> responses that will be more helpful.
>
> What are the exact error messages and numbers you get, if any? Exactly
> where/how does the failure occur?

No error message - it just keeps crashing as soon as it starts to load XP
>
>Once you get going again, make your next move be to learn to backup and
>then do so often.

I back up all my data files, music, photos etc automatically using NT
shadow, so none of these are lost.
The real hassle is all my Adobe CS3 progs and the numerous add-ons I've
accumulated.
It's a massive collection. Re-installing that lot will take ages.
And Adobe can be very sniffy about reactivating if you haven't de-activated
existing copies.
Much better if I can find out what the Netgear uninstall has corrupted.

> HTH

It has Many thanks )

> Twayne
>
>
>