Win XP SP2 keeps telling me it has to restart - please help!

[Wayne L. Phares]

I have Windows XP Pro and I installed SP2.

Have had not problems other then the fact that ever since I installed it the
little picture of the shield in the tray with the exclamation point in it
has never gone away. When I point the mouse over it I get a popup that
says:
"You computer has not been restarted since your last installed updates.
Click here to complete the installation"

clicking there opens a dialog:
Title: Automatic Updates
Text: "Updating your computer is almost complete. You must restart your
computer for the updates to take effect. Do you want to restart your
computer now?"
Options: Restart Now OR Restart Later

I have rebooted 10-20 times and this message will not go away. When I click
Restart Later the dialog goes away only to appear again about every 10
minutes (in the foreground in the middle of my typing)!

Also when I go to Windows Update on the web it tells me that it cannot
continue since there is an installation pending and I must restart!

What can I do to get rid on this?

Please help!

-Wayne
(e-mail address removed)

 

[JAndrews]

"You computer has not been restarted since your last
installed updates.


Exactly. My home machines installed SP2 just fine but the
work machines I've installed it on have done exactly what
you've described. I've installed and uninstalled SP2 and
disabled/stopped/uninstalled possible conflicting
programs. MS seems to have no idea, but I'm getting it on
multiple machines.

Restart your PC and leave it at the logon. Does it
automatically restart periodically if left there? Mine do.

 

[Wayne L. Phares]

Thanks for letting me know I am not going crazy!

It is happening on two machines for me - have not tried the login screen
thing, will do.

-Wayne