Update Interrupted

The problem reported : Interrupted Microsoft Update due to power failure and the consequences.

C0nfiguration : P III, on SiS chipset based motherboard, 384 MB SD RAM, 40GB Seagate HDD, 52x Samsung CDROM Drive running Windows XP.

The system was configured to download Windows updates and install later. One day it showed updates are ready for installation. As the user was busy with some urgent work, he postponed the installation. Then the power supply went off. When he almost completed his work, the UPS started giving low battery indication. He saved his work and tried to shutdown the system. Then as usual he has selected the option to install updates before shutting down. As it may take more time, he put off the monitor and assuming that everything will go on as usual just went to attend to some other work.

After the power resumed he started the system. It indicated an improper shut down and the scandisk started. When the system was starting up there was a message showing Yahoo messenger could not start as some DLL files were missing or currupted. He tried to start MSN messenger, that too did not start. His MS Office Shortcut bar also was missing from the desktop. Thinking that it may be a temporary problem, he tried to start MS Word from the start menu shortcut. He got an error message saying that the system is not configured to run the program. He tried Excel and got the same error message. Then he tried to run the respective exe files and got the same error message. He started Outlook Express to send some urgent mail. Though it received and displayed mail, while trying to create a new mail message it gave error message saying RICHED20.DLL corrupted or missing and terminated. He tried to start Wordpad and got the same message again. In short most of the programs he use regularly stopped working. He wanted to reinstall MS office, but the Program CDs were locked in his boss's cupboard and the boss was out of station on a tour. Then he called me for suggestions.

I wanted to try the repair option of MS Office. In Control Panel > Add Remove Programs we selected MS Office XP and clicked on the change option to get Repair Installation option. Again there was an error message showing 'the computer is not configured to run this progam'.

As his 40GB HDD was almost full with lots of presentations and official video clippings, he had alotted only minimum space for 'System Restore'. So only one restore point created just before the update was available. Then we Restored the sytem to that point, Restarted and again tried the Repair Option of MS Office. This time it worked and did the repairs to the registry and other required settings. When it asked for the Office CD we had to click cancel as the CDs were not immediately available and restarted the system again.

We got the Office shortcut bar and other MS Office programs working after this. Then we uninstalled and tried to reinstall the Yahoo messenger. After two three screens asking about the installation options, it just terminated complaining about missing DLL files. We extracted the two files RICHED32.DLL and RICHED20.DLL from the Windows Restore CD and things started working. We could reinstall Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger started working and even the Outlook Express and Wordpad Started working. The probem was clearly that of a currupted RICHED20.DLL file and incomplete MS Office Update.