Repairing Windows XP

OK, I haven't done this in a long time so my memory is failing me.
I need to do a repair to the OS. Several things in Windows have gone missing and now my hardware isn't working.
Here's a list of things that disappeared:
calculator
volume control
Win games like solitaire, ect.

And yesterday I completely lost sound, that is to say, I cannot get sound out of my speakers or my headphones and I've checked both with my mp3 player so its not the speakers themselves. I simply cannot get any sound from them when plugged into my computer and that includes system sounds(alerts, asterisk, ect.)

So, could someone please walk me through a repair/restore/reinstallation?

Thanks in advance

Fry

 

as long as you have a windows xp disc just pop that into your drive and go through the installation step.
another thing i like doing before reinstallation is going into computer management and formatting the hd. or using a program like killdisk, but that's just me.
if you need more detail let us know.

 

yeah, using the disc would be the easy way, unfortunately I don't have one for this computer.
Normally I would blank the HDD and reinstall Windows, however, this is not my personal computer therefore I cannot do so.
My options are to repair or reinstall certain components of Windows only.
Here's the OS info:
WinXP MediaCenter Version 2002 Service Pack 3

 

Hardware info?

Also, sounds like a virus of some sort... stuff like that just doesn't happen by itself, even in XP.

 

Well you can do a repair windows installation thing.

Basically, boot from the CD, enter recovery console.

Use "sfc /scannow" and it will go through your Windows files and replace any that have gone missing or have been corrupted

 

He doesn't have the disc.

 

You cannot do a repair without a windows disk

Are the missing programs really missing or just the icons?
search for sol.exe in c:\windows

check device manager--anything with a yellow ! ?

Right click your soundcard, choose uninstall, reboot. Does windows reinstall it?

 

OK, solitaire was just missing an icon, but the whole games file under accessories is missing, so is the calculator.
It appears that the games and calculator are just missing not gone.
The real problem is the sound not working:
1. no sound system or media will play through my speakers
2. I cannot find the volume control Icon, no can I access it through the control panel.

So, if anyone knows how to fix this I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks

Fry

 

Do you have sound drivers installed on there? Even if you do, you should uninstall them and then reinstall new ones on.

 

OK, time to update:
sound is now working, had to uninstall/reinstall the driver a few times but it's working now.
I still don't have access to the volume control and I still haven't found a way to restore the missing items from the accessories tab.

 

start --control panel --sound and audio devices --check the box that says "place volume icon in task bar"

for the icons, navigate to the folder where the executable is (ex: c:\windows
calc.exe, and drag the item to your START BUTTON, wait for the start menu to appear, drag it into the all programs area, wait for the menu to cascade, drag it into accessories.

Let go, when asked say CREATE SHORTCUT

 

Did you try searching for sol.exe as he suggested? And even if it's gone, you should be able to replace it from someone else's installation. I think you'll need that and cards.dll.

 

Perhaps the other games and Calculator got turned off in the Windows components. You can check that they are turned on in the Windows settings by going to Start->Set Program Access and Defaults->Add/Remove Windows Components (in the window that will have popped up)->, and then making sure they are enabled under Accessories (if there's a check on a white background for Accessories, then Windows thinks they are enabled). I don't think you'll need the disk to re-enable the Accessories (some of the other components you can turn on and off you may, however).

Not sure quite what to do about the sound.