I have noticed on a few occasions that the CRM Laptop client can get horribly confused by something that happened to it.  Many times, it's rather difficult to determine the root cause, so we just go directly to the remove and reinstall procedure, since it will save time and money. ( Hopefully with little or no data loss. )

Being that laptop users are laptop users and have a tendency to be away from their office, it is now part of my standard CRM Laptop Client installation process to copy the Laptop Client Installation files to the user's local hard drive.

For CRM 3.0 Professional

Just copy CD #2 to a directory.

For CRM SBE

Locate the LaptopClient directory under the MSCRM directory found in the ClientApps share.

Scott, one of the guys at NetVision Consulting ( local MS partner ), suggested that we put the files in a directory called CRM INSTALLATION FILES - DO NOT DELETE since users sometimes have a fits of housecleaning that could render your careful preparation null and void.  Great tip Scott.