XP won't boot after online update

[Sebastian Kaps]

Hi!

A few days ago I updated my WinXP Pro SP1 with the latest updates using
the Windows Update Client. There were 12 or 13 application updates and
one security update. I installed every available update except the Media
Player 9 update and the DirectX 9.0b update (which would have needed to
be updated separately).
I had to reboot my machine and after that it wouldn't boot anymore. When
I hit F8 and choose to boot in safe mode, I see the following output:
,----
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\kdcom.dll
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\bootvid.dll
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\config\system
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\c_1252.nls
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\c_850.nls
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\system32\l_intl.nls
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\FONTS\vga850.fon
| multi(0)....\WINDOWS\AppPatch\drvmain.sdb
`----
After that, nothing happens. If I don't boot in safe mode, the screen
stays completely black.

I've performed the following actions to get my XP back working (not
necessarily in that order):
- I did a repair installation using the install CD
=> Problem unchanged

- I've created a boot floppy (containing NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and
Boot.ini)
=> Problem unchanged

- I've replaced the drvmain.sdb file with several different versions.
=> Problem unchanged

- I've disabled ACPI in BIOS. (I've found out that ACPI.sys would be the
next thing to load after drvmain.sdb)
=> Problem unchanged

- I overwrote the five Registry files in C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\
with the ones from C:\WINDOWS\Repair\
=> Problem unchanged

- I used a CD with Winternal's ERD Commander to boot, launched msconfig
from my harddisk XP installation and disabled everything that's not
essential to boot.
=> Problem unchanged

- I checked the NTFS partition (using ERD Commander). No Errors.
=> Problem unchanged

- I used ERD commander to roll back to a previous system restore point
which was dated way before the day the "fun" began.
=> Problem unchanged

So now I'm a little out of ideas here :-(
Does anybody have a clue what could be the problem? My XP was running
fine before the update (the installation was only about 2 weeks old).

 

[Guest]

I have had similar problems since going to win XP home on my home build . Some updates have had similar results as you have explained. To correct my problem I uninstalled the updates through the add remove programes in my computer.You cauld also try using system restore to an earlier date to remove them, however some updates cannot be removed and if these are the ones causing the problem then if still not corrected try a new reload after saving your files to disk.