I accidentally uninstalled the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and .NET SP1 Hotfix (KB886903). Upon restarting the computer, the ATI program suite (which sits in the system tray to control my ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series video card) halts with the message ‘Fatal Execution Engine Error (0×7927e03e)’. Attempting to access any of the ATI utilities produces the same message. Downloading the .NET Framework 1.1 from the Microsoft website returns a ‘Failed to Install’ message. While the error messages on startup can be clicked away, and the machine continues to function normally, I cannot access the ATI Control Panel. The computer is running Windows XP Professional SP2.

As you may have found, the reason the ATI Control Panel is no longer working is because it was written in a .NET language and thus requires the .NET Framework to function. Occasionally the .NET Framework installation or uninstallation does not cleanly execute, leaving portions of the program behind thus preventing a future reinstallation of the product. There is a good utility available for download which can fix failed installations or uninstallations of the .NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1, and can cleanup those remnants on the computer that are preventing the framework from being reinstalled. The tool can be downloaded for free at: blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/04/08/406671.aspx . Before running this tool, make sure you read the instructions and caveats on the website. Pay particular attention to the point about the utility removing references to shared files and registry entries. This means if you also have another version of the .NET Framework installed on the computer (e.g. .NET Framework 2.0) you will need to reinstall that version as well, since the utility will break the installation of this product. Therefore, I recommend that before running the utility to cleanup the uninstallation of .NET Framework 1.1 you check whether any other versions of the .NET Framework are installed on the computer. To do this, open the ‘Add or Remove Programs’ control panel and check for any entries pertaining to the .NET Framework. If other versions of the Framework are installed, those should be uninstalled. Then, you can run the cleanup utility and reinstall .NET Framework 1.1, followed by any other versions of the .NET Framework which were installed on the computer.

Should the problem continue after running the cleanup utility, and you are still unable to reinstall the .NET Framework 1.1, it may also be worthwhile reading through the user comments posted on the cleanup utility webpage. Many users have written in with questions about the utility, and the author has provided some good advice on other methods to resolve the problem. Even better, if you have an error code in the message that displays, try looking for posts referencing that error code. If you still cannot resolve the issue, please contact me again (including any more specifics on the issue) and I will try to investigate the problem further.