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November 1st, 2003 18:00
Fatal Error when attempting Repair/Reinstall of XP Home Edition
Having run the "Repair" option (apparently successfully?) from the Dell-supplied "Reinstallation CD MS Windows XP Home Edition Including Service Pack 1", the system reboots and resumes the Windows Installation process at the "Installing Windows" phase. This runs for about 5 minutes before putting up a "Fatal Error" box: "An error has been encountered that prevents Setup from continuing. Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error. The setup log files should contain more information."
On clicking ok, the logfile shows "Error. The signature for Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade is invalid. The error code is fffffb40."
This is on my son's PC. I have run through the Repair cycle about seven times now (plus one or two false starts, trying to find Repair as opposed to Reinstall"!). As I say, it gives the impression of working (deleting and later re-copying various files from the CD), but always fails with the above errors.
Do I have to try a fresh install, I wonder? We don't want to lose any data/settings etc.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Message Edited by davidb92 on 11-01-2003 08:39 PM
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maxd
2 Intern
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2.4K Posts
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November 1st, 2003 19:00
If you don't get a definitive answer from one who knows you could try this link.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=307153
gryjhnhpe
2 Intern
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2K Posts
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November 1st, 2003 19:00
Looks like you need to Clean install
Use this link for Clean Install of XP , if you click on Pictures they Expand for easy view
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
or use this link & 1st Delete existing partition at step 5 for Clean instal
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
or this link & select XP Home or PRO
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/
davidb92
3 Posts
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November 1st, 2003 20:00
Thanks to both of you who have made suggestions so far. maxd, I'm considering following up this suggestion (though I'll probably wait until the morning to try it!).
One thing I forgot to mention in the original posting: the PC in question has only ever had XP Home Edition on it, i.e. we are not upgrading an older OS. The only reason we are in this mess is because my son followed up a suggestion from some persistent error messages (wish I'd seen them myself) that said he should load his XP disc and re-install. He said he answered "yes" to go online to the MS site and download a patch (which was surprisingly small).
Thanks again,
David
davidb92
3 Posts
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November 1st, 2003 21:00
Problem resolved - please close the call. Pleased to report that we have our old desktop back again with all files/settings still intact.
Thanks again. Free help from the other side of the world, and within the hour - very impressed!
For future reference if anyone else has this problem, I did as per the Microsoft advice from the link provided by maxd whic was to rename the catroot2 folder.
Goodnight, all!