Dear moderator!
Thanx a lot for your specific answer. I immediately tried to put your suggested scheme into practice but failed again.
As you already suspected, the IE7 was not visible for normal uninstall and so I tried Start/Run, but it did not work since the path was not existent.
Using the Windows search option on C:\Windows I got only 2 hits. The first hit was the program file "spuninst.exe" located in the folder
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\a3dcbe5c7e23b2d2fe6484c7d20a7395\
This folder contains the subfolders "SP2GDR", "SP2QFE", and "update".
The first two folders in turn contain several DLLs as well as the program files ie4uinit.exe , ieudinit.exe , and iexplore.exe.
The last folder contains the program file update.exe from Microsoft version 6.2.0029.0 and, besides some other files, the file KB947864-IE7.CAT whose file name contains a KBxxxxx code identical that one of the failed update.
The second hit of the search was the file "spuninst.exe.ref" located in the folder
C:\Windows\System32\PreInstall\WinSE\wxp_x86_0407_v1\
At that point I contacted my local dealer who installed all of this stuff after the hardware defect and the outcome from this talk was:
He used the product key attached to my PC to do a complete new installation of windows XP from a special customized CD containing Windows XP with integrated SP3 release candidate v.3264.
After explaining my problem to him he stated that some other customers have the some problem and he argued that this is the liability of Microsoft due to some bugs in the SP. There is no fix right at hand but they try to find a solution.
Well, this reminds me fatally of a game of "ping pong" with the dealer on one side of the table and Microsoft on the other side. and me, of course, as the ball bashed to and fro
Seemingly, I'm deeper in the brown mass than ever before.
Thinking about my options I'd like to ask the following questions:
(1) Since my XP installation is not the normal one with de-installable components in system/sofware I still need a recipe to get rid off this obviously buggy pre-release version of XP without the need to make a complete re-install of XP loosing all my programm installations and having to install all hardware drivers again which is a dangerous business for a layman. Is there some sort of electronic first aid kit for cases like this and can I have it?
(2) Should I start "spuninst.exe" not caring about the folder where it is located and try to de-install IE7 or other components?
(3) I just downloded the official SP3 (313.1 megabytes) directly from MS. Is it a good idea to install it without de-installing the release candidate before? And will this solve my problems?
Thanks again for the support so far.
I'll go down to the river now, forget about my troubles here for some time and enjoy the nice weather. All windows users should do so from time to time ; lets you life longer
Best wishes to all
eastriverman