Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Other OSes on the Mac How to reinstall WinXP Pro service pack 3?

I'm plowing new ground here because I know many of you are expert PC operators as well as Mac gurus. Things seem a little quiet around here (my Snow Leopard is now smooth as silk), so I hope you won't be upset if I ask this one: In addition to my Macs, I have an older Dell XPS. I've received some strange messages lately that an app, WMI (Windows Media Indexer), is corrupt or damaged. Using Acronis, I restored a full system backup from a FireWire external Seagate drive, but the damage message persists. I tried to download a fresh copy of Service Pack 3, but the Windows Update website won't show it, presumably because it's already installed on my machine. My installation disk for Win XP Pro includes Service Pack 1a. Is there some way to trick the Microsoft web site into downloading and reinstalling Service Pack 3 or is it possible to reinstall the whole system from my installation disk without destroying my documents so that the web site would then allow me to download SP3? I realize it's possible that SP3 won't solve the problem, so I'm hoping that I can do a full system install without messing up my data. I have three Acronis full system backups on the external drive, but it is very likely that they all contain the corrupted file(s). I suppose I can take a few chances, but I'm not a sophisticated XP operator. The message about WMI's corruption comes up when I run Acronis to do a backup. The backup succeeds, but the verification app that runs following the backup fails just a few seconds after beginning its job. An assist would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: When I didn't get a quick response, I decided to delete the hard drive and do a clean system install followed by recovering specific files from the Acronis backup. The deletion and disk reformatting went well, but the system would not install. I found a diagnostic disk among the Dell CDs and immediately found an "uncorrectable" media error. The test is still running, but it looks like the problem is really a dying five year old SATA drive. I'll buy one tomorrow and replace the old one. Hopefully, the result will be better. Too bad Windows 7 won't be out until Oct 22. I'm tempted to wait so I don't have to go through this twice. Mossberg gave Win 7 good marks in the Wall Street Journal today.

SECOND UPDATE: After finding media errors, I tested the RAM and found multiple errors there. Apparently, my Dell is falling apart. I've decided to get rid of it and buy a new iMac to replace it. I'm keeping the Acronis backups so I can install the data files in the new machine. VMware and Windows 7 should be an interesting combination and may generate some traffic in this forum. Since this subject attracted no viewers at all, feel free to delete it if you wish.

Glad you were able to diagnose the problem, even if the diagnosis is catastrophic failure...

It's kind of an exercise in dark humor, but knowing the truth is very helpful. It's uncertainty of outcome that begets stress. Fortunately, I had three backups on and external drive. I can use them to populate the Windows part of the iMac I plan to buy when the rumored new versions become reality. In the meantime, my wife will make do with an old laptop and I'll keep bread on the table with my Mac Pro.