Did you install the System Update Readiness tool as requested by Richard? According to what I see, he's been awaiting you to tell him that so you could proceed to the next step for two weeks - and no doubt has since placed the thread on hold waiting for your reply (as I would have done as well) and with no reply, it got lost/forgotten.
This happens sometimes as there aren't a lot of us left answering questions here (most are now in the SF Forum since W7 got released) and so we who are still here and answering get busy and use shortcuts to manage the threads we're working on. Now that you've posted, it will remind him, but it will help if you also answer the question he asked as well. I'm sorry I can't assist you much with this, but Richard is our side-by-side specialist and it would be best to work with him as he knows more about this sort of thing than I do. I can to some degree, and will if necessary, but it really is best to continue to work with him.
After so much effort, please don't jump the gun and re-install Windows at this point until Richard has had a chance to reply - I'm not sure when that will be given he's in the UK and most likely asleep at the moment (and has a lot on his plate besides all he does in these forums) - but he does tend to logon every day several times so I suspect he'll see this tomorrow. Try to answer the question he's been waiting for for 2 weeks by his return so you can proceed and not have to continue to wait. It's unfortunate, but forums work a lot different from chat rooms and responses aren't immediate and sometimes a thread gets overlooked as we all deal with so many and depend on replies when requested to remind us they exist and not replying that it was installed probably unintentionally caused this delay.
Please install it if you haven't and then post that it is done and you are awaiting intructions on what to do next. I'm sorry this delay occurred (as I'm sure he will be as well), but you can pick up where you left off. I know you're impatient to get things fixed, but at this point waiting a little bit longer isn't going to make much difference and his proposal is better than starting over from scratch. You can always do that after he's replied to you if you decide that's what you'd now prefer (and we can help you with that if that's your choice), but please do give him a chance to at least reply and maybe explain his proposal a bit more so you know where things are heading if you continue to follow his instructions.
Again, I'm sorry this got overlooked by everyone for so long. And please don't take this the wrong way - I don't mean to be assigning blame or anything of the sort, but his last reply was a request for notification when it was installed and until this post (and even with this post), that question remains unanswered. Please install it and let him know ASAP.
Thank you and good luck!
P.S. If this ever happens to you again in any thread in any forum, post a reminder or send a message to whoever you're working with as a reminder so thing don't go so long because something was overlooked or assumed. Nobody will be upset with a reminder (and will actually appreciate one) if it has been longer than it should be (like occurred here).
