Windows XP Home SP2 Creating Boot Problems??

[Ryan]

Hi,

I am lost as to a solution on this.

I have used XP Home on this PC since it came out. Recently, it updated
itself to SP2 and I never expected any issues.

Well, now the PC doesn't boot properly. If I start up the machine it
will partially boot and then freeze even before the "XP" startup
screen. If I turn off the machine and start it again it will then get
to the startup screen and then freeze. If I turn off the machine and
go one more time, it will get to afrer the screen and freeze, then
another off and on gets it to the desktop and one final off and on for
the machine to boot all the way until XP is usable.

SO, I have to turn my PC off and on 4-5 times to get it to boot all
the way. Each off/on gets it a little further in the process until it
freezes again. Once finally up, the machine runs fine.

What on Earth is causing this?? Never seen anything like this before
and a Norton scan of the hard drive claims it's fine so I assume this
is a problem with the update to XP.

Any ideas on how to resolve this? My XP Home CD is, of course, earlier
than SP2 so it won't let me reload or repair from it saying it is an
"earlier version than installed on this machine".

Help!

 

[jeffrey]

Hi,

Sounds like when you let SP2 install, your system wasn`t properly prepared.
What you needed to do was ensure your system is spyware/malware free, virus
free, empty out your cookies, temporary internet files, drivers are all
updated, important data all backed up, hard drives defraged, then allow SP2
install.

If you can boot into safe mode, use the add/remove programs to uninstall
SP2, then properly prepare your computer. You should download spyware
checkers like Lavasoft Ad-aware SE, Spybot Search & Destroy. It seems like
spyware is one of the major reasons SP2 does not install correctly. Several
of the MVP`s has websites that explains in better detail on how to prepare
your computer.

Jeff