Can't do XP mode with my version of W7, can't use a previous OS disk as they've all been upgrade disks and there's an issue with the files being older than the ones I'm trying to repair.
Think I'll ask Captain Sparrow for a copy but then there's the whole issue of hidden nasties. Going to have a go a deleting some hardware registry keys to see if that works, nothing to lose as everytings backed up and cloned so I can always get back to my current position.