invisible

Hi folks.

I have a pretty big situation here... To cut a *very* long story short, I
have some software that stopped working. So I tried to reinstall - but the
process crashed. So I turned off the computer and went home. (Why it is
always the middle of the night? 8^/ )

Next day, came back, and the software is toast. If you run it, nothing
happens. If you look in Add/Remove Programs, it's listed twice (slightly
differently). If you select it and hit "change", it gives you the standard
"modify/repair/remove" options. But none of them work; you get a progress
bar that goes from 0% to 100% in 0.2 seconds, and afterwards, nothing is
different. Running the install CD now only brings up the same window, with
the same effect.

Presumably the uninstall / product registration information used by
InstallShield (or Uninstall Wizzard or whichever program it is in this
instance - I forget exactly) is messed up somehow (probably because of the
failed install attempt). Am I likely to be able to fix this?

I suppose the most obvious thing to do would be to reinstall Windows and
then reload the software... which would be simple, but... well, I can't.

(Why? Simple... The PC came preloaded with everything. It has SQL Server 7,
which the software needs, but I don't have a CD for. (It doesn't *appear* to
be on the product CD, although I might be wrong...) Also, the software works
only on Windows 2000, which I also don't have a CD for...)

So anyway, if anyone has any more bright ideas...?

(I had hoped that since the PC is a Dell, there might be a CD to put
everything back to how it was; no such luck! It seems the *only* CD we have
for it is the one with the application program we're trying to fix; no OS,
no SQL7. Oh dear...)

invisible

7,

to

works


For a moment there, I thought maybe I'd cracked this...

I noticed that the PC has an I386 directory on it, and I thought maybe if I
copied that to a CD I could "make" a Windows 2000 install CD... Alas, no; it
complains about not being able to find various INI files. *sigh*

I also found an installer file (MSDEx86.EXE), which seems to install SQL
Server 7... (It took me ages to figure out that you need command-line
arguments to make it work, and you HAVE to put the path name in quotes, and
it HAS to be a full path...)

So if I can just figure out how to reinstall Windows 2000 from the files I
can get at, I'm home free... any ideas?

Thanks.