Sorry about the length of this post, but this is a complex problem (at least, to me!).

I have two Thinkpads, an A31p and a T42. I can't boot the A31p -- in safe mode the boot process hangs just after or during the load of the agp440.sys driver (this is the last line displayed). I need to retrieve Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail so I need to get the system repaired (it's WinXP Pro, probably prior to SP1 since it was purchased in the fall of 2002?). To retrieve other files I removed the HD, bought an IDE-USB cable so I can access the HD from the T42. However, last week a friend put me onto UCB4Win and I thought it would be my salvation.

I downloaded the 133MB .exe to the A31p HD, which is now my usb-based F: drive, and extracted it. I then fired up the build.exe to create an iso on the F: drive. Since I have no recovery CDs (and can't seem to make one from my T42 system with XP-iso-builder -- it says it can't determine the Windows version) I thought I'd point the UCB4Win builder to the root on the A31p drive and be good to go. The build program said there was a mismatch in Windows releases or builds and couldn't proceed. I then pointed the UCB4Win builder to the C:\ drive on my T42 hoping it might at least allow me to create an iso for short-term use. I did no customization and changed none of the plugins, fired it up and all seemed to go well.

However, the project build terminated with 1 warning (a caution about using an OEM source) and 1 error, and said it couldn't create the iso. Here's the pertinent error report from the log:

Copying file "C:\I386\USBEHCI.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBEHCI.SY_"
Copying file "C:\I386\USBHUB.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBHUB.SY_"
Error: CopyFile() "C:\I386\USBHUB.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBHUB.SY_" returned error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.
Copying file "C:\I386\USBOHCI.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBOHCI.SY_"
Copying file "C:\I386\USBPORT.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBPORT.SY_"
Copying file "C:\I386\USBSTOR.SY_" to "F:\UBCD4Win\BartPE\CMDC\USBSTOR.SY_"

As a last resort I tried to use a WinXP Home Edition CD (installed on my wife's computer) to boot the A31p, hoping I might be able to install the Home Edition, get access to the files I need and then upgrade it to XP Pro with a purchased CD. No joy with that approach -- it hangs while "searching for a prev verions of Windows." And, the same problem with the repair option. Thinking there might be something awry with the HD I ran PC Doctor's "short" HD test on it and all is good.

So, three basic questions:

1) How would I go about locating the "missing file" so I can build a good UCB4Win iso?
2) Even if I can find the file and create an iso, will I be able to use it to repair or rebuild the corrupted system on my A31p? Or, is the fact that Home Edition installer and the XP-iso-builder can't determine the version, etc. going to kill my use of the project as well?
3) Is there any other alternative, or should I just admit defeat and reinstall fresh from a purchased version of XP Pro or use IBM's built-in recovery disk to reinstall?

Thanks for any advice.

Does the laptop still work ( ie boot Windows ) or is this a recovery attempt?

A recovery attempt. As I described in my post, the system will boot to the screen that gives the choice of various versions of Safe mode but when any are selected it hangs just after loading the agp440.sys driver. At least that's the last line displayed. The only recourse at that point is to power off the laptop.

In the example above you have a non-critical error that can be overlooked so you can build the project by simply pressing F5 from the main builder window, this forces the builder to create the iso.



The error is generated by the multiboot-cmdc plugin. (Windows Recovery Console), so you might want to disable it as it may have problems with usb devices, but I think just pressing F5 will allow you to complete a build that should work for what you are doing.



The right choice as to what needs to be done with the failing system is going to be a tough call without seeing it first hand, so be carefull what you do if there is data on the drive that you need to recover.



GOOD LUCK.