SP2 unsuccessful cant boot up, looks for media center edition? Cantdo safe mode

[Vince]

I have XP Homeedition. I tried to upgrade to SP2 but the upgrade failed.
So I tried it again and it failed at several different stages
subsequently. Last time it falied in the download stage. It said
downloading and it finished downloading (the green bar went across all
the way but the system froze at that stage and had to be restarted.
Now the system will not boot up,it returns Fatal System Error
(c000021a). message:
The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated
unexpectedly with status of 0xc000026c (0x00000000 0x00000000).

So I tried to start the system in Safe mode (F8). In safe mode when it
comes up with the OS selection screen instead of XP Home Edition it
displays XP Media Center Edition. That is the only selection offered.
When selected the system boot goes up to the sreen where it displays the
Windows logo with the green progress bar but fails with the message
above and automatically restarts. So currently unless I go into 'safe'
mode with F8 the system keeps looping into restarts. But safe mode does
not go anywhere either...
Can someone help..........
Thank you

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please try the following link to Jim Eshelman's web site - left hand
column(21A and 26C):

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

 

[Vince]

Hi

Please try the following link to Jim Eshelman's web site - left hand
column(21A and 26C):

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

Thanks for the message. It says that the message 21c is for a Roxio
GoBack probelms. I dont have that software although I do have Roxio.
26c appears tobe due to a device driver problem but am not sure which
driver is causing problem since all I was doing was upgrading to SP2.
But in both cases, I have to get into the system to do something which I
am unable to do because the system is in a perpetual crash-restart loop.
And in safe mode why does it show me the OS as Media Center Edition?? It
should have been XP Home Edition. Any guesses?
Thank you agan.

 

[Will Denny]

Thanks for the message. It says that the message 21c is for a Roxio GoBack
probelms. I dont have that software although I do have Roxio.
26c appears tobe due to a device driver problem but am not sure which
driver is causing problem since all I was doing was upgrading to SP2.
But in both cases, I have to get into the system to do something which I
am unable to do because the system is in a perpetual crash-restart loop.
And in safe mode why does it show me the OS as Media Center Edition?? It
should have been XP Home Edition. Any guesses?
Thank you agan.

Hi

Have you installed MCE - perhaps version 2004? Have you tried the 'Last
Known Good Configuration' option? If you can't boot into Windows using that
option and the others don't work, you may have to look towards a 'Repair'
install of XP. However, I'm not sure where MCE is appearing from.

 

[Vince]

Hi

Have you installed MCE - perhaps version 2004? Have you tried the 'Last
Known Good Configuration' option? If you can't boot into Windows using that
option and the others don't work, you may have to look towards a 'Repair'
install of XP. However, I'm not sure where MCE is appearing from.

Funny part is I have never installed MCE.
I tried 'last good config' option but it still fails becuase it tries to
install MCE on the OS option screen which comes up next.
I will try 'Repair' install. How do I do that and will I loose all the
data? I don't mind re instaling XP Home Ed as a last resort but I dont
want to loose all the data. Is there a way to protect the data through
'repair' install or reinstall?

 

[Will Denny]

Funny part is I have never installed MCE.
I tried 'last good config' option but it still fails becuase it tries to
install MCE on the OS option screen which comes up next.
I will try 'Repair' install. How do I do that and will I loose all the
data? I don't mind re instaling XP Home Ed as a last resort but I dont
want to loose all the data. Is there a way to protect the data through
'repair' install or reinstall?

Hi

A 'Repair' install should keep all your programs, files and settings intact.
The following article by Michael Stevens will help you:

"How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Did someone else have the PC before you? I'm puzzled about MCE trying to be
installed. You may need to edit the boot.ini file when you get access to
Windows, to take that installation off the screen.

 

[Vince]

Hi

A 'Repair' install should keep all your programs, files and settings intact.
The following article by Michael Stevens will help you:

"How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Did someone else have the PC before you? I'm puzzled about MCE trying to be
installed. You may need to edit the boot.ini file when you get access to
Windows, to take that installation off the screen.

This is not a pre-owned PC. When I got the PC I installed the XP HEd
from scratch. So I am confused on the MCE as well. Intriguing part is,
MCE is the only installation it shows on the scren when tried in Safe mode.
I am doing the repair install now and will let you know how it goes
(Even in repair, it asked to repair MCE install on the screen, so I am a
little skeptical but we will see in 39 more minutes..)
Meanwhile, can you please let me know how to edit boot.ini file in case
I need to change it?
Thanks for all your help.