blank device manager - XP problems

[green3500]

I have had a few problems with XP booting lately. It would hang after the XP initial screen for sometimes up to 20 minutes before the login screen, and then a long time to actually logon after that. It happened last week, so I ran AV, ad-aware, spybot, and a trojan cleaner. I was able to get back to normal with a sytem restore.

It happened again yesterday after I removed an eAcceleration product, but it was very difficult just even logging in, would not even load into safe mode, and I could do very little once I got on. I could not run anything. After I removed a flash drive, the system picked up. However, it still was hanging for long periods of time.

Eventually I put in the windows CD, and booted it from there. At that point, it loaded its files and let me log on, but told me I had to reactivate windows because my system hardware changed from my original configuration (it hasn't!). Once this happened, all of my old restore points were wiped out.

I reactivated XP by phone, but now nothing is coming up in the device manager. I do not have access to my network/dsl, my printer, my device manager, and my sound card (onboard). I cannot get system information because my system manager cannot be accessed. I cannot access many of my system administrative tools because I get an eorror reading "The Plug and Play service or another required service is not available."

I tried to do a Windows repair but it took me to a DOS environment and I wasn't sure what to do there. I have disconnected all of my non-critical peripherals and tried rebooting with just the bare minimum - still no help. I did not put the flash drive back on to the USB again. No hardware popped up as "new hardware found" when I put it back in.

Help! Where do I go from here?
Thanks so much.
-Patti

System info, to the best of my recollection (can't get it from my pc!)
Running Windows XP 2002 SP1 on
AMD Athlon XP 1800
Seagate 120G HD
Gigabyte k7Tritan w/768 MB DDR, USB2.0, onboard sound & LAN
NVidia 128MB GeForce
Sony 52X CDRW

[Statica]

You seem to have a number of files that are possibly corrupt, at this stage I would recommend that you backup your documents; then nuke the contents of your hard drive. This way you can guarantee a clean system. While you're at it, I would recommend that you use SP2.

[green3500]

Originally Posted by Statica You seem to have a number of files that are possibly corrupt, at this stage I would recommend that you backup your documents; then nuke the contents of your hard drive. This way you can guarantee a clean system. While you're at it, I would recommend that you use SP2.

Thanks. I was hoping for something less drastic, but since nothing else is working, I am all out of options!

Thanks again.
-Patti