XP security update causes repeated hard reboot

[Guest]

I had a hard drive crash that requires installing XP on a "gently used" drive
Hitachi 160 GB Deskstar drive with a 8 GB primary partition defined. The OS
CD is a xp home 2001 upgrade version. I selected quick format and the
install went OK after validating ownership with my Win95 CD. I also
installled XPSP2 from a CD Microsoft sent me. It appears to be a beta
version because it puts a repoprt bugs icon on the desktop. I then install
Norton Internet Security and do live update. The system reboots after this
as part of the install and runs as expected after I log in. My next step was
to visit the MS Windows update site. I permit active-x and update the window
components to use this site. I selected express and allowed Windows to
install all 63 updates. I agreed to the IE7 license as well as the Malicious
tools agreement. Once this completed, there is a notice to permit reboot to
complete the process. I agreed to the reboot, and the system goes through a
hard reboot starts to load XP but never gets to the sign on screen.
The system loops this way repeatedly. I tried F8 at the appropiate time and
selected safe mode. The trace ends at .../mup and the system hard boots.
Suspecting the drive, I ran Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test and also ran a
temperature test on the drive. Both passed, so I booted from the XP CD and
tried to repair from the console unsucessfully (I never had sucess with the
console - it always rejects the administrators password. Even if I use ERD's
locksmith tool to reset the password, I still can't get into the repair
console with XP). I booted off the NIS CD and verified no viruses.
I tried a clean install of XP, allowing it to create one NTFS partition of
the entire drive and doing a full format. Instead of selecting express
updates. I selected custom so I could do one type of update at a time. I did
all 4 XP updates sucessfully. I then did all 50 XP security updates at once
and the repeated boot problem occured. I need help, reply with any advice of
what to do next.
Thans

 

[Rock]

I had a hard drive crash that requires installing XP on a "gently used"
drive
Hitachi 160 GB Deskstar drive with a 8 GB primary partition defined. The
OS
CD is a xp home 2001 upgrade version. I selected quick format and the
install went OK after validating ownership with my Win95 CD. I also
installled XPSP2 from a CD Microsoft sent me. It appears to be a beta
version because it puts a repoprt bugs icon on the desktop. I then
install
Norton Internet Security and do live update. The system reboots after
this
as part of the install and runs as expected after I log in. My next step
was
to visit the MS Windows update site. I permit active-x and update the
window
components to use this site. I selected express and allowed Windows to
install all 63 updates. I agreed to the IE7 license as well as the
Malicious
tools agreement. Once this completed, there is a notice to permit reboot
to
complete the process. I agreed to the reboot, and the system goes through
a
hard reboot starts to load XP but never gets to the sign on screen.
The system loops this way repeatedly. I tried F8 at the appropiate time
and
selected safe mode. The trace ends at .../mup and the system hard boots.
Suspecting the drive, I ran Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test and also ran a
temperature test on the drive. Both passed, so I booted from the XP CD
and
tried to repair from the console unsucessfully (I never had sucess with
the
console - it always rejects the administrators password. Even if I use
ERD's
locksmith tool to reset the password, I still can't get into the repair
console with XP). I booted off the NIS CD and verified no viruses.
I tried a clean install of XP, allowing it to create one NTFS partition of
the entire drive and doing a full format. Instead of selecting express
updates. I selected custom so I could do one type of update at a time. I
did
all 4 XP updates sucessfully. I then did all 50 XP security updates at
once
and the repeated boot problem occured. I need help, reply with any advice
of
what to do next.

Install the updates only a couple at a time. When you find the one that is
causing the problem, remove it with add/remove programs, then do a system
restore to the restore point created when that update was installed, and if
that fixes it, then bypass that update and do the others. Once all the
security updates are done but before installing IE7, try the problematic
update again.

 

[Rock]

I had a hard drive crash that requires installing XP on a "gently used"
drive
Hitachi 160 GB Deskstar drive with a 8 GB primary partition defined. The
OS
CD is a xp home 2001 upgrade version. I selected quick format and the
install went OK after validating ownership with my Win95 CD. I also
installled XPSP2 from a CD Microsoft sent me. It appears to be a beta
version because it puts a repoprt bugs icon on the desktop. I then
install
Norton Internet Security and do live update. The system reboots after
this
as part of the install and runs as expected after I log in. My next step
was
to visit the MS Windows update site. I permit active-x and update the
window
components to use this site. I selected express and allowed Windows to
install all 63 updates. I agreed to the IE7 license as well as the
Malicious
tools agreement. Once this completed, there is a notice to permit reboot
to
complete the process. I agreed to the reboot, and the system goes through
a
hard reboot starts to load XP but never gets to the sign on screen.
The system loops this way repeatedly. I tried F8 at the appropiate time
and
selected safe mode. The trace ends at .../mup and the system hard boots.
Suspecting the drive, I ran Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test and also ran a
temperature test on the drive. Both passed, so I booted from the XP CD
and
tried to repair from the console unsucessfully (I never had sucess with
the
console - it always rejects the administrators password. Even if I use
ERD's
locksmith tool to reset the password, I still can't get into the repair
console with XP). I booted off the NIS CD and verified no viruses.
I tried a clean install of XP, allowing it to create one NTFS partition of
the entire drive and doing a full format. Instead of selecting express
updates. I selected custom so I could do one type of update at a time. I
did
all 4 XP updates sucessfully. I then did all 50 XP security updates at
once
and the repeated boot problem occured. I need help, reply with any advice
of
what to do next.
Thans

One other thought, I was not in the SP2 beta so I don't know if they issued
SP2 beta releases on CD, but it's surprising that installing SP2 from the CD
installed a bug reporting icon on the desktop. I suggest you do clean
install of the OS, but this time create a slipstreamed installation CD that
has the release version of SP2 added to it. Download the full installation
version from here:

Download Windows Service Pack 2 Standalone Version
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

Use that with your XP Home CD to create the slipstreamed install CD. Here
are some links for how to do that. Autostreamer makes it easier.

Slipstream
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
http://unattended.msfn.org/beginner/slipstream.htm

Autostreamer
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1092632287/1
http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/using_autostreamer/using_autostreamer.html
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562

After installing XP w/SP2 install all the hardware drivers, and an AV
program. Update the AV definitions online (make sure the SP2 firewall is
running before connecting to the internet (in SP2 the firewall is turned on
by default).

One intermediate step you could take here is, assuming the system is running
well, is to image the system to an external USB drive using something like
Acronis True Image, so you have an image of the system in a working
condition. Then go to the windows update site. Install all the security
updates. If you still have the problem, restore the working image, then go
back to window update and do them just a few at a time.

Personally I don't let windows update install the updates. I use a custom
scan to see what's offered, download the individual updates that I want,
then turn off the AV, and install the updates one at a time from the
executables. This process is much less onerous when all you have to do is
install the couple of updates each month. Doing all at once as in your case
will take some time.

In lieu of that just install 2 or 3 at a time through the custom install on
windows update.