Service pack 2 installation hangs

[Sam]

I have tried repeatedly to install service pack 2, using different
official update CDs (this PC is not connected to the Internet).

Every time I try the computer hangs whilst it is installing files,
although not always during installation of the same file.

The PC has never been connected to the Internet and should have no
viruses, adware etc. I will double check with some scanners later, but
in any case, I first tried updating with service pack 2 right after a
clean install of XP on a newly formatted hard drive but had the same
problem.

The PC works fine and there seems nothing wrong with the XP installation
so I am loathe to reinstall XP, unless anyone has any other ideas?

Note: when I did install Xp the computer did hang a couple of times, but
after restarting it continued and finished.

PC is an Emachine with a 1.4G Intel processor and 256 mb RAM.

 

[Rock]

I have tried repeatedly to install service pack 2, using different
official update CDs (this PC is not connected to the Internet).

Every time I try the computer hangs whilst it is installing files,
although not always during installation of the same file.

The PC has never been connected to the Internet and should have no
viruses, adware etc. I will double check with some scanners later, but
in any case, I first tried updating with service pack 2 right after a
clean install of XP on a newly formatted hard drive but had the same
problem.

The PC works fine and there seems nothing wrong with the XP installation
so I am loathe to reinstall XP, unless anyone has any other ideas?

Note: when I did install Xp the computer did hang a couple of times, but
after restarting it continued and finished.

PC is an Emachine with a 1.4G Intel processor and 256 mb RAM.

Test the ram using these two programs. Let each run run for a while,
not just a single pass.

Memtest86+
http://www.memtest.org/

Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Another troubleshooting step is try the installation with a different CD
ROM drive.

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Hello Sam,

Review the contents of the service pack log. C:\Windows\Svcpack.log or C:\WINNT\Svcpack.log
That should give a clue as to what happened during the run to install the service pack.

Following is for later (if you have to re-apply the service pack):
keep this page handy
http://aumha.org/win5/a/sp2faq.htm

The pre-install recommendations link is a good start. make sure you don't have malware or other gotchas.

The "Doing the Installation" section is the meat & potatoes "how to".

The "Tidying up after Installing SP2" will save you HD space.

 

[Plato]

I have tried repeatedly to install service pack 2, using different
official update CDs (this PC is not connected to the Internet).

http://www.bootdisk.com/xptop20.htm#1