Tried everything to get Windows Installer working. Any options beyond?

Question

I am trying to fix a client's computer and the Windows installer is shot. I've tried EVERYTHING I can find on the internet. Nothing's worked yet.

I have tried:

System Restore — Failed, and even deleted the earlier points due to corruption
sfc /scannow — shows corrupted files, but does nothing to fix
Booted from the install CD to repair, and didn't find any issues
chkdsk /f — still nothing
net start msiservice — yields a cannot start, and no errors.
registered the service and unregistered and reregistered — still no help
I tried something via Microsoft's site having to do with attributes, permissions, I believe. But it was related to dllcache, which I saw doesn't exist in Windows 7, so that one's out.

Is there even anything else to do at this point?

Randolf Richardson · Answer 1 · 2011-08-09 05:27:26Z

(Before doing anything else, make sure all the data is backed up, and verify that you can restore from the backup.)

Here are a few things you can try:

Try a different installation CD to rule out corrupt media.
If it still fails, then run a fresh installation (sometimes a Windows environment can be so badly corrupted that a new installation is the faster and simpler solution).
If that fails, then you have a hardware problem.
Update the BIOS and try again as a last resort before swapping hardware (start with the hard drive).

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