hey guys,
i'm running on winxp+sp2 professional.
two days back, due to a power failure my pc shut down, and ever since i have not been able able to boot xp b'cos system32\config\system file was missing or corrupted.
so i repaired the damn thing.and then an error with HP image zone came up, which i solved using one of the threads in techspot.
the problem now is that i'm not able to run windows update.
it says that the following components are not installed:
microsoft software installer 3.0

any suggestions as to what might be the problem
regards
phoenix

that will have to be installed again but there should be an option to install it there. look close on the page that comes up when it says that.

i have narrowed down the cause.
it seems there is a problem in the windows update directory.
i got this extract from microsoft:-

Clear the contents of the WindowsUpdate folder
1. Click Start, click Programs, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. In the left pane, double-click the Program Files folder.
3. In the left pane, double-click the WindowsUpdate folder.
4. In the right pane, click the V4 folder, click Edit, and then click Invert Selection.
5. Press DELETE, and then click Yes to confirm.
6. Open the V4 folder, then in the right pane, click to select the IUHIST.XML file, click Edit, and then click Invert Selection.
7. Press DELETE, and then click Yes to confirm.
Note When you delete the IUHIST.XML file from the WindowsUpdate folder, you clear the whole Windows Update installation history. Microsoft does not recommend that you do this because you lose your record of previous downloads. The steps in this section delete all your files except the IUHIST.XML file.

but in step 4, there is no file or directory inside windows update!!!!
what shud i do????
i'm sure there is a problem with active X