SRService, WMP, IE issues - request MVP help

This post is lengthly, but hopefully succint and inclusive. I do
appreciate your help.

I am having problems with System Restore, Windows Media Player, and IE,
all described below, which manifested as part of a major system crash.

This machine is XP-Home, SP1 with all system/security updates installed.
1GB memory & plenty of drive space. Norton AV and both Norton & Aluria
Anti-Spy/Ad are diligently used (and updated) - the machine is clean.

Machine suddenly froze a few days ago - Mouse and keyboard both dead,
hourglass cursor, HDD light on. Waited 30+ min for the system to finish
what is was doing, and eventually had to reboot using power switch.

Allowed disk check to run on reboot (no probs). System then took a very
long time to boot. Most of the desktop icons were replaced by the
default icon.

I attempted to use system restore for a rollback - from the "Help and
Support" path. The message was: "SR is not able to restore your
computer, restart and try again." Rebooted, received same message on
next attempt.

Attempted to run SR from Control Panel System. Message received was:
An execption occurred while trying to run "shell32.dll, control_run_dll
"c:\windows\system32\sysdn.cpl", system"

Attempted to boot into last good config, failed (got the "...could not
restore your computer to..." message after boot)

Booted into safe mode, received same failure messages when attempting to
launch SR. Rebooted in normal mode.

Many programs would not launch (hourglass & HDD light, but no load).
Eventually had to uninstall/reinstall most software - this was difficult
as the system alternately reported that the software I was attempting to
remove was not installed, was missing a component, etc. Required a full
day of work and extensive use of the Windows Install Cleanup Utility to
accomplish this.

Norton utilities was the first program I reinstalled - it reported 232
registry errors, which I told it to fix. Ran virus scan, ad/spy scans,
none found. Reinstalled remining uninstalled software without problem.
Most software is now running normally.


Regarding IE, WMP and SR:

- IE - After crash, all remembered passwords were gone, history was
cleared. Runs now, but current condition is: Opens in a window that is
approx 350 x 450 px. It's remembering history now, but passwords are
flushed after reboot. Popup windows do not open. Upon click of a wmv
file link on a web page, IE "encounters a problem and has to close,"
wants to send error report. (IE was not open when the initial mishap
occurred)

- Windows Media Player -If attempt to launch it from its desktop icon or
by clicking on a wmv file (as from windows explorer), I get two
consecutive error messages, both reading "The procedure entry point
GETIUMS could not be located in MSDART.dll." If I have attempted to
launch the player by clicking a wmv file -- later in the day, if I
happen to open some other software, usually WinZip or Adobe Photoshop,
wmv will sometimes launch (along with the intended software) and start
playing the file I selected earlier(!).

And SR will not launch in any case, it gives the error messages
described above.

I have reviewed and followed the instructions/methods for
diagnosing/solving system restore problems presented in this NG, on the
Microsoft KB, MVP Bert's site, etc. to the extent applicable, but I have
not found any procedures for resolving the reamining issues I've
described. Many of these resources suggest investigating in various
places on my machine for messages and status, which I have done.
(results reported at the end of this post). But first -


QUESTIONS: I was planning to upgrade to SP2, but am hesitant to do so
without having a good restore point first - am I wrong in this concern?
Would the installation of SP2 fix these issues? Or is installing SP2
out of the question until the issues are resolved? (BTW, I have SP2 on a
CD ordered from Microsoft).

Do you suggest a reapir install of XP-SP1? This is an OEM install; I do
not have an original install XP CD. I do have an (SP1) Upgrade CD I
bought for another machine. Can a repair install of SP run be done with
the upgrade CD?

In the error messages reported below, many are "cannot find path
specified" - where can I see what the specified path is; how could I use
that info to advantage?

Otherwise, your thoughts on getting these issues repaired/resolved?

I need this machine for work, and absolutely cannot have it go into a
dead and unrecoverable state.

TIA to all for your good help and advice.

Bruce


--------------------------
Results of investigations:
--------------------------

Run Net Start from the command prompt - System Restore is not on the
list of services, Task Scheduler is.

Run services.msc from command prompt, start System Restore. Fails.
Message is "Error 3, cannot find path specified"

Run sc query on srservice. Results:

Service Name: srservice
Type: 20Win32_share_process
State: Stopped
not_stoppable, not_pausable, ignores_shutdown
WIN32 Exit Code: 3 0x3
Service Exit Code: 0 0x0
Checkpoint: 0x0
Wait Hint: 0x0

Event viewer Error messages, following the initial event:

DCOM Event ID 10005 - DCOM got error "This service cannot be started in
Safe Mode " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments
"" in order to run the server: {1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

DCOM Event ID 10005 - same message as above, for server:
{BA126AE5-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}

SCM Event ID 7001 - The DHCP Client service depends on the NetBT service
which failed to start because of the following error: A device attached
to the system is not functioning.

(Note - all devices were actually functioning when these messages were
generated)

SCM Event ID 7001 - The DNS Client service depends on the TCP/IP
Protocol Driver service which failed to start because of the following
error: A device attached to the system is not functioning.

SCM Event ID 7001 - The Messenger service depends on the NetBIOS
Interface service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

SCM Event ID 7001 - The IPSEC Services service depends on the IPSEC
driver service which failed to start because of the following error: A
device attached to the system is not functioning.

SCM Event ID 7023 - The System Restore Service service terminated with
the following error:
The system cannot find the path specified.

SCM Event ID 7023 - The Application Management service terminated with
the following error:
The specified module could not be found.

SCM Event ID 7026 - The following boot-start or system-start driver(s)
failed to load:
AmdK7
DMICall
Fips
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
Rdbss
SYMTDI
Tcpip

SCM Event ID 7023 - The Application Management service terminated with
the following error:
The specified module could not be found.

SRS Event ID 104 - The System Restore initialization process failed.


There are dozens of SRS 104 and SCM 7023-"bad path" error messages
generated between the time of the initial mishap and today, along with
intermittent 7023-"App Mgmt service terminated" messages.