Right. My computer crashed and when i started it back up i got a black screen saying 'system32 is corrupt or missing' or something similar to that, so we reformatted it,reinstalled xp off of our old recovery CDs, and now there are problems. -It refuses to update. It was reformatted early yesterday, but it hasn't run a single update. -i can't go to the Microsoft website and manually download the important updates, because after i hit download i get a 'page cannot be displayed' notice. -Internet explorer won't open. not a big deal for me because i use Firefox, but my dad uses IE. when i try to open it i get a 'IE has encountered a problem and needs to close' notice. No page pops up or anything. I've been trying to convince my dad to get a new computer for years, and he always said 'not until this one's completely dead' ...Maybe this will count as completely dead. But anyway, are there any solutions or is it time for a new computer? -i can't go to the Microsoft website and manually download the important updates, because after i hit download i get a 'page cannot be displayed' notice. -Internet explorer won't open. not a big deal for me because i use firefox, but my dad uses IE. when i try to open it i get a 'IE has encountered a problem and needs to close' notice. No page pops up or anything. Note: i don't know the model, because it just says 'personal computer' where it should tell me that. I know it's really old, if that helps.

Sounds to me like you need to properly setup your internet connection. Cable? DSL? Dial-up? Wireless?

i would check drivers first. He did reformat. Have you tried re-reformatting?

Check the device manager (right-click on My Computer and select manage. In the left pane, click on Device Manager. In the right pane, anything with an exclamation mark has a problem (most likely needs a driver loaded). Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.