How to Repair Vista like XP

Did you make sure the 'Remote Procedure Call (RPC)' service is started? You need that service to be started in order to start the System Event Notification service.
 
lawson_jl said:
I always thought that a repair install was a cheap and half ass way to fix a PC. Not something a real computer tech should be doing. Something like what a 14 yr old kid would do. I also find that reapair installs don't always fix the problem either or fix all of the problems.

I would just back the data up and reinstall the OS if I coudln't find a solution to the problem with a reasonable amount of googling.
Click to expand...

I think any idiot can reformat a computer and then leave the customer spinning in the wind to reinstall years of applications and reconfigure everything to their liking.

The donkeys at Geek Squad are great at it, they call it an "Advanced Diagnostic," charge $200 for it, then extort the customer for more money to backup their data beforehand!

If I was a total jackass, I'd do the same thing.

Repair installations serve a purpose, and in the situations where they work, they're bloody fantastic. If I can spend 3 hours fixing a problem and finish up with a repair install, and can give the client their computer back just like it was working when they last remembered, then I'm going to have a much happier client than if I spend 2 hours backing up their data, wiping their drive, reinstalling Windows, then dumping all their files back onto the computer in no order and calling it a day.

The trick is knowing when to keep troubleshooting a problem and when to take off and nuke from orbit. Knowing that moment when it hits is what separates the geeks from the pros.
 
RyanMeray said:
I think any idiot can reformat a computer and then leave the customer spinning in the wind to reinstall years of applications and reconfigure everything to their liking.

The donkeys at Geek Squad are great at it, they call it an "Advanced Diagnostic," charge $200 for it, then extort the customer for more money to backup their data beforehand!

If I was a total jackass, I'd do the same thing.

Repair installations serve a purpose, and in the situations where they work, they're bloody fantastic. If I can spend 3 hours fixing a problem and finish up with a repair install, and can give the client their computer back just like it was working when they last remembered, then I'm going to have a much happier client than if I spend 2 hours backing up their data, wiping their drive, reinstalling Windows, then dumping all their files back onto the computer in no order and calling it a day.

The trick is knowing when to keep troubleshooting a problem and when to take off and nuke from orbit. Knowing that moment when it hits is what separates the geeks from the pros.
Click to expand...

I totally agree.

Customers sometimes even don't have their installation CD's for the programs they have, or they came pre installed.

If there is an option to give the customer their PC back working as it was Id chose that.

Aaron
 
Azz said:
If there is an option to give the customer their PC back working as it was Id chose that.
Click to expand...

It's absolutely the right thing to do if possible. I've seen too many people destroyed, computer-wise, by the nuke and pave approach.
 
It's nice to see some like-minded individuals around. I've had so many new clients come to me burned by techs with a "destroy the village to save it" mentality I was beginning to wonder if I was the last sane man on the planet.

Cheers, guys.
 
RyanMeray said:
I'm trying not to be snarky here, but perhaps if a few people hadn't gotten sidetracked criticizing my logo you might have noticed that my post got you as close to an answer as I could get without copying and pasting from their site.
Click to expand...

That was inexcusably rude in a public forum, from my perspective. PMs are for this sort of thing if someone really wanted to help.

You should have received an apology.
 
Thanks guys for helping me out. My learning curve for vista just got smaller =). Clients computer is up and running fully functional. All her programs , files etc stayed and the problem is eradicated.

I did not want to re-install from scratch as it was not needed in this situation. She had no viruses, no spyware, no adaware no nothing just some services in windows that did not function. Yes I could have charged her more for the re-install but I am not that guy. I aim to provide customer satisfaction and a long term customer relationship. Providing unnecessary solutions is a waste of my clients money and I can't morally/ethically deal with that.
 
stevenamills said:
That was inexcusably rude in a public forum, from my perspective. PMs are for this sort of thing if someone really wanted to help.

You should have received an apology.
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Their rudeness didn't even register on my flamometer, but then I've got thick skin. Nonetheless, I wasn't going to let them off the hook without calling them out. PCfixedright did in fact miss my post because of their thread derail, so I feel worse for him than anything.

I'm extremely happy with my logo and branding, and my clients pay me compliments for them frequently, so the naysayers can bugger off for all I care.
 
When I sent my two boys out into the world I gave them one bit of advice:

"Assume that the person you are talking to has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. You will seldom be disappointed"

This has served me well over the years and I find it increasingly accurate.

Steve

PS I like your slogan nearly as well as mine! ;)
 
good words to live by

stevenamills said:
When I sent my two boys out into the world I gave them one bit of advice:

"Assume that the person you are talking to has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. You will seldom be disappointed"

This has served me well over the years and I find it increasingly accurate.

Steve

PS I like your slogan nearly as well as mine! ;)
Click to expand...

I assume the same and am rarely presently surprised
 
Once again, back on topic:

This is something that I just thought of...
Since Vista can boot up to a repair menu on the DVD, that allows for a command prompt, wouldn't running
Code: 
sfc /scannow /offdir=c:\windows /offbootdir=c:\
essentially repair Vista?

I've never thought about it, but does SFC also work in XP's recovery console? I guess, technically, with SFC you could even run it on a slave drive.

I'm curious to know if this would work the way I think it would...
 
Hypothetically...maybe? I've run into numerous problems with XP that couldn't be fixed by SFC /scannow, but could be fixed by repair installs, so I question whether the Vista sfc function is improved enough that it could replace the repair install option.
 
Code: 
sfc /scannow /offdir=c:\windows /offbootdir=c:\
essentially repair Vista?


I will have to try this on the next machine.
 
I just got Vista laptop with BSOD, simply ran installation DVD and then repair this computer after couple restarts, machine is ready to go. I don't know why everybody hate Vista?
 
14049752 said:
Once again, back on topic:

This is something that I just thought of...
Since Vista can boot up to a repair menu on the DVD, that allows for a command prompt, wouldn't running
Code: 
sfc /scannow /offdir=c:\windows /offbootdir=c:\
essentially repair Vista?

I've never thought about it, but does SFC also work in XP's recovery console? I guess, technically, with SFC you could even run it on a slave drive.

I'm curious to know if this would work the way I think it would...
Click to expand...

The way that SFC works, it doesn't actually replace files unless they doen't match the source provided. It performs repairs on a file-to-file basis, whereas the repair install method goes through and rewrites the registry and system files in relation to a basic install and (mostly) avoids touching installed programs and files. There are a few programs that get tied to installation IDs, etc (AVG 7.5 was one of them); there is some clean-up work to be done after a repair (updates, checking drivers, checking programs that sometimes don't last through a repair install), but in the end, there is little to no critical data loss and overall less work than the "cycle the crops" method of burning down the old install to create a "better and more alive" install.
 
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