Hey guys. Got a computer problem. Recently got (gift) an older dell dimension with xp home. She (previous owner) couldn't find the os disks. This computer was just used as a jukebox/music player at a business, and I think the last person to re-install the OS just did a barebones install (leaving out a lot of drivers/.dll's), with just the minimum needed to run. For the most part everything runs fine. But a few problems I'm finding with it are annoying. The windows search companion window is completely blank. Doesn't even have the dog in the left hand pane. After a google search I tried to run "regsvr32 jscript.dll" but got "module not found". Windows media player won't run. Tried wmp8, and get the error message "instruction at %location% referenced memory. memory could not be read". Wmp6.4 gets the error "msdxm.ocx not found". I installed a portable media player (that I know works because I just installed it on another computer I just bought), but here after I double-click the .exe it tries to load for a second, or two, and then stops. My screenshot tool gives the error message "could not register all hot keys", but still works. I don't care about WMP as I use my own media player, but I want to be able to use all my portable apps correctly, and I need to have my windows search companion working also. Plus there's no telling what else I may run into later that was left out. My question is are these .dll's or drivers that I'm missing ones that I can download/install from the web, or do they have to be specifically from my particular xp copy? I have another computer (refurbished) I just bought with a fresh install of xp professional. Don't have the os disks for it either, but I obviously have access to all the files. Thanks in advance.
Sounds like the install is basically useless for what you need. You would need the OS discs to install that many modules: to copy them over manually, from one system to another, would be a long and arduous process, if it's even possible. Save yourself some headaches: just scrub the system and start over.
You find the os disks online. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=xp+pro+dell&x=0&y=0 But I agree wit hthe poster above, wipe and reinstall xp.
BetterThanI, wreck, Thanks for replying guys. Sorry my return reply took so long. Been checking some things out. Man, re-install the OS for just those little problems. Sounds awful extreme. Question. I see a lot of different xp discs there on amazon. Some of them with repair consoles, but no full re-install capabilities. But even the ones that do, I mean, will they(generic ones) work okay? I thought you had to go to(Dell in my case) to get a xp disc specifically for my exact computer. I'm not sure because I've never installed an OS before. Till recently I've only had 1 computer which I bought at the start of this millenium(almost 12 years ago), and that was an OEM HP from Bestbuy with no OS discs(recovery partition instead). So I have no experience in the matter. Anyway, I've solved pretty much all of my original problems. Found a portable file explorer, and a screenshot tool from portableapps.com that both work great. And though my media player of choice(Potplayer portable) doesn't work, I installed the non-portable version which works fine. Just told me my directx was outdated. And SMPlayer/MPlayer portable works fine also. In addition to Media Player Classic. I'm just on a "portable" kick since I had to get a new desktop, trying to get everything I can in portable installs to keep the registry lean, mean, and clutter free.
Get into the Device Manager (IIRC you can right click My Computer and hit "manage") here are some ways here: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/f/opendmxp.htm Anything that has a question mark or other flag is a device that does not have the correct drivers loaded. That isn't really a 'minor' problem, as it'll screw with the entire system and cause you all sorts of issues from here on out. You can look up the model of Dell compuer on Dell's website under 'support' and 'downloads and drivers'. Just put in what computer you have and it'll give you free downloads for all the drivers that shipped with that model. Dell's support site: http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs Once you get them all installed, it might help with getting everything functioning correctly. I would then go to Windows update (Start Menu - All Programs - Windows Update OR update.windows.com) and run everything to get your install of XP back up to speed. This will include all relevant free programs like Windows Media Player and the updated Windows Search. Then you can look at getting a malware scanner, something like malwarebytes.org and a good free antivirus like Microsoft Security Essentials. Be sure you uninstall any old antiviirus programs that may be expired before installing the new stuff. Then, scan with Malwarebytes to make sure there are no bugs. Then install MSE to protect your system. That's about all you can do to try and get it working, provided there are no major software issues or hardware issues. Beyond that, you have to do a reload.
