Ok, now I'm home, and have nothing better/more exciting to do, a full "field report" (if you like), of what I did, the lessons learned, and what I'd do differently.
During the day, got all the cd's together, and got all the files I needed backed up in one folder (<-saving a lot of time, headache and reducing the opp for forgotten files).
8:30pm Start, after the till and PC communicated.
The PC didn't recognise my iPod, so I thought installing iTunes might help, but in fact the problem that required the PC to be re-installed was what was causing this, so about 30mins wasted.
9pm, frustrated, I opened the case, to find a SATA drive, which I wasn't prepared for, and which kinda threw me, so I closed the case and decided I'd try cross-over cables with the laptop, or my USB MSD.
The cross over idea didn't work, at least I was a bit stressy and couldn't be bothered to get it to work, and the USB MSD was going to take a stupid amount of time, when I realised that I was being a total idiot and I could use my IDE HDD on the IDE chain off the DVD RAM. So I re-opened the case, and changed the jumpers on the DVD, and on my IDE (I don't know why either, I could've just left the HDD a slave, and the DVD a master, but go figure, I was on my own and felling rather n00bish). So my secondary IDE is in, and I'm backing up to it.
Back-up done, I pop the windows disk in, while still in windows I begin the install. <- Mistake. It tried to set it up on my (OS-less) secondary HDD, leaving temp setup files on the main one. After scratching my head, and phoning my drunken mate (who is a tech-head), and trying to delete the partition or create a new one (both to no avail) I decided to give putting it on the existing partition a go. It screamed that two OS's on one partition is a bad idea, but I got brave and carried on. Turns out, it will over write the old OS (well...windows) if you do it in this manner.
Had I not been a n00b, and used my HDD (in the slave) and put the windows disc in and then rebooted to it, it now would not have been 10:30.
Anyways, Windows overwrites itself, and the install goes just peachy.
No hiccups at all. I installed one device at a time. As soon as I got it inet connected, I updated windows (a massive 80odd updates from out-of-the-box (it was an SP2 disc as well!!!)), installed AVG, and ZoneLabs. And then I registered the copy of windows.
Earlier today the tech from our stock control software firm came out and installed the software we need, restored my data, and we're all good. So I get to leave that place on Monday (I handed my (one week) notice in on Wed (after "breaking" the computer on Sunday (<- not why I quit, I got another job))) without any worries!
Then, if the driver software hadn't done it, I was going to create a restore point. I might do that tomorrow morning, when I go in...seeing as everything is fine and dandy.
So my lessons learned:
If it works, it doesn't need fixing.
If it went on the PC with a CD, it comes off the PC with a CD.
Boot from the windows CD, don't launch while in windows.
Don't get stressy, you'll loose time, think clearly.
My advice to someone else attempting the same:
Don't worry, it's actually quite easy. If you've spent more than 2 hours trying to troubleshoot something, and you've got
all the CD's, it's probably going to take you less time to re-install than it already has to fail to find out what's wrong.
Plan it thoroughly.
Get all the CD's you'll need.
Get all your back-up files in one folder, as it's easier to drag one folder across than it is a million files from a million different places.
Use the fastest media available to back-up on to, because the less time you're sat there doing nothing, the less junk-food you'll end up eating. IDE = 66MB/s, USB = 11MB/s, burning on to CD = ages. As part of your plan, see if you'll need to mess around with jumpers, take something out of the case, and what not.
Once Windows is on, start by installing devices, most important first, and
then applications, again, most important first.
As soon as the PC is connected to the internet, update Windows, and then install anti-virus (and/or firewall).
Make sure System Restore is enabled, and create a restore point.
What I think the problem was:
I think when I tried to un-install the printer through the device manager (hence "on with cd, off with cd") I took something else out that the USB drivers relied on, as nothing would install via USB, it wouldn't even allow me to use my iPod, which Windows XP should see without extra effort, as a USB Mass Storage Device (yes, "use as disk space" was enabled) due to inbuilt drivers, and MSD protocols.
Everything is working picture perfectly now. Ok, I realise I didn't format the partition, but Windows over-wrote itself, and it all works. But I won't be re-doing this again, mainly because it works, and I don't want to hassle the Stock Control fellows any more. And it wasn't an issue with bad sectors, or viruses, it was just me being stupid.
