XP control panel woes

[Mad Machinist]

Got a new one here......Amd 64 Gateway had bloatware and Media center edition......formatted the hard drive a couple of months ago and did a clean install of XP Pro and all functioned flawlessly........owner called me last week because it was "going insane"...lots of horizontal lines after she turned it on.

Got it to my bench...turns out the northbridge heatsink had fallen off......soldered a new loop on for it to clip to and viola....all is well...comp runs cool and stable. EXCEPT.....

I tried to going into internet options to change the home page as requested but it won't open.......in fact none of the control functions (classic control panel in xp, icons like system, Internet options, sound, display) will allow me acess...I get an error message

"Windows cannot find 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\rundl32.exe.' Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To Search for a file , Click the Start button, and then click Search."

Any suggestions on a simple fix?????? I'd really rather not do a format and install as that will result in hours stuck at the owners house reinstalling her palm and printer and fax and scanned and answering hours of basic computer operation questions.....:wall::wall::wall::DHellllllllp..... ....

[Mad Machinist]

No Ideas????

Ok....try from another angle.....can you load XP pro over the top without messing up everything like you used to be able to do with Win98?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

You could do a repair install.

[burebista]

Put XP CD in optical unit.
Start->Run->cmd <Enter>
Type: expand <CD-ROM>:\i386\rundll32.ex_ %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe (<CD-ROM:> is letter of your optical unit)
Reboot.
Good to go. :)

[mpilchfamily]

May want to do a full repair install. Just in case that isn't the only missing or curropt file on the drive. The overheating chip set might have corrupted parts of the drive.

[mp666]

One of the symptoms of infected computers. Make sure it's clean. Run AV/AS/AT etc. If it's clean run SFC. Also backup and run an offline checkdisk.

Good luck.

[IAmATeaf]

Is this file even there? Would be surprised if it wasn't as a lot apps/drivers use it to run, if it's not there then copy it off the CD as suggested above or do a repair to get it back.

EDIT: The clip falling off was a problem with the Abit mobos of old, first thing I used to do was resolder the U clips using some good quality silver solder.

[PedroDaGr8]

One of the symptoms of infected computers. Make sure it's clean. Run AV/AS/AT etc. If it's clean run SFC. Also backup and run an offline checkdisk.

Good luck.

This is true, newer infection love to lockout IE homepage section, control panel, and even occasionally run and the ability to change the desktop or access the system section.