XP SP2 install disaster

[thedirkhartog]

How do I recover from this?

8 year old Dell Dimension with XP Pro, SP 1 installed way back. I
figured I'd do SP2, via a dial-up connection. Downloaded overnight
with Update Manager -- I think I got it all. At any rate this AM there
was a 'ready to install SP2' wizard open.

Began install this morning. It seemed to hang within a few minutes.
After 8 hours of inactivity, with Task Manager showing no CPU activity
for Installer, I ended the process and rebooted. Desktop came up as
usual, now with warning that said "SP2 installation incomplete. System
is now unstable. Recommend you use Add/Remove control panel to
uninstall SP2." So I did.

Now on reboot nothing happens. The disk whirs but the screen stays
black. No Dell splash screen. No Win XP splash screen. No nothin.

I found the original Dell 'Reinstall OS' disk, and put it in the CD-
ROM drive, and cycled the power. No change.

Advice?

 

[Jerry]

The Dell 'reinstall OS' dsik failed because you did not go into the BIOS and
make the CD rom drive the first bootable device.

 

[thedirkhartog]

TheDell'reinstall OS' dsik failed because you did not go into the BIOS and
make the CD rom drive the first bootable device.

I can't get to the BIOS. When I push the power button, the disk
whirs, the light on the computer case comes on, but there's no splash
screen. No nothing. Pushing F8 makes no difference. Nothing happens.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

wrote:

How do I recover from this?

8 year old Dell Dimension with XP Pro, SP 1 installed way back. I
figured I'd do SP2, via a dial-up connection. Downloaded overnight
with Update Manager -- I think I got it all. At any rate this AM
there was a 'ready to install SP2' wizard open.

Began install this morning. It seemed to hang within a few minutes.
After 8 hours of inactivity, with Task Manager showing no CPU
activity for Installer, I ended the process and rebooted. Desktop
came up as usual, now with warning that said "SP2 installation
incomplete. System is now unstable. Recommend you use Add/Remove
control panel to uninstall SP2." So I did.

Now on reboot nothing happens. The disk whirs but the screen stays
black. No Dell splash screen. No Win XP splash screen. No nothin.

I found the original Dell 'Reinstall OS' disk, and put it in the CD-
ROM drive, and cycled the power. No change.

Advice?

TheDell'reinstall OS' dsik failed because you did not go into the
BIOS and make the CD rom drive the first bootable device.

I can't get to the BIOS. When I push the power button, the disk
whirs, the light on the computer case comes on, but there's no
splash screen. No nothing. Pushing F8 makes no difference. Nothing
happens.

You are recting too slowly.

- Turn off the power to the system.
- Turn on the power to the system.
- Immediately after turning on the power - heck - at the same time as
turning on the power - start tyapping the F2 key once per second.
- Given you have a Dell - you will either get into the system BIOS or it
will tell you there was a keyboard failure and ask if you want to continue
or enter system setup/the BIOS/etc.
- Change it so the CD is the first bootable device.

However - seems overkill to me.

- Can you boot into safe mode at all?
- Have you considered (or even know about) a repair installation (versus
wiping the system clean of everything you ever did and starting fresh)?

 

[thedirkhartog]

 wrote:








You are recting too slowly.

- Turn off the power to the system.
- Turn on the power to the system.
- Immediately after turning on the power - heck - at the same time as
turning on the power - start tyapping the F2 key once per second.
- Given you have a Dell - you will either get into the system BIOS or it
will tell you there was a keyboard failure and ask if you want to continue
or enter system setup/the BIOS/etc.
- Change it so the CD is the first bootable device.

However - seems overkill to me.

- Can you boot into safe mode at all?
- Have you considered (or even know about) a repair installation (versus
wiping the system clean of everything you ever did and starting fresh)?

Shenan,

No, I can't get to safe mode. I do know how that's done. Power up, F2
or F8 -- neither gets me in. The monitor is never anything but black
(it's power light does come on). I changed keyboards, with no change
in results.

 

[Ian D]

wrote:








You are recting too slowly.

- Turn off the power to the system.
- Turn on the power to the system.
- Immediately after turning on the power - heck - at the same time as
turning on the power - start tyapping the F2 key once per second.
- Given you have a Dell - you will either get into the system BIOS or it
will tell you there was a keyboard failure and ask if you want to continue
or enter system setup/the BIOS/etc.
- Change it so the CD is the first bootable device.

However - seems overkill to me.

- Can you boot into safe mode at all?
- Have you considered (or even know about) a repair installation (versus
wiping the system clean of everything you ever did and starting fresh)?

Shenan,

No, I can't get to safe mode. I do know how that's done. Power up, F2
or F8 -- neither gets me in. The monitor is never anything but black
(it's power light does come on). I changed keyboards, with no change
in results.

From those symptoms, what you have is most likely a hardware
failure. It could be the motherboard, CPU, power supply, or
video card. The CPU and video are the least likely to fail, with
the PSU being the most common component to fail. If your HDs
and fans stay spinning, and the LAN LEDs are on, the PSU's +12
and +5 volt lines are operational, so the PSU is probably okay.
Beyond that, hands-on troubleshooting is required, but the
progressive nature of the problem points to a failing motherboard.

 

[Bill Watt]

Shenan,

No, I can't get to safe mode. I do know how that's done. Power up, F2
or F8 -- neither gets me in. The monitor is never anything but black
(it's power light does come on). I changed keyboards, with no change
in results.

Can you boot with a Win98 Startup diskette?
Any screen display ?
If so can you get to C:\ ?

Regards,

Bill Watt
Win98 Computer Help & Other Information http://home.ptd.net/~bwatt/

 

[thedirkhartog]

Can you boot with a Win98 Startup diskette?
Any screen display ?
If so can you get to C:\  ?

Regards,

Bill Watt  
Win98 Computer Help & Other Information  http://home.ptd.net/~bwatt/

I don't think I kept a Win98 Startup diskette. I can't find one
around the house.

No no screen display.

In answer to Ian, I see what you mean. Can un-installing a SP could
screw up the motherboard? This happened exactly at the time of the
uninstall reboot.

 

[Don Phillipson]

How do I recover from this?

8 year old Dell Dimension with XP Pro, SP 1 installed way back. I
figured I'd do SP2, via a dial-up connection. Downloaded overnight
with Update Manager -- I think I got it all. At any rate this AM there
was a 'ready to install SP2' wizard open.

Began install this morning. It seemed to hang within a few minutes.
After 8 hours of inactivity, with Task Manager showing no CPU activity
for Installer, I ended the process and rebooted. Desktop came up as
usual, now with warning that said "SP2 installation incomplete. System
is now unstable. Recommend you use Add/Remove control panel to
uninstall SP2." So I did.

Now on reboot nothing happens. The disk whirs but the screen stays
black. No Dell splash screen. No Win XP splash screen. No nothin.

I found the original Dell 'Reinstall OS' disk, and put it in the CD-
ROM drive, and cycled the power. No change.

Advice?

The fastest route to recovery is SYSTEM RESTORE to
turn back the clock to the day before you DL SP2.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

How do I recover from this?

The short and sweet answer is that you're probably not going to get Windows
back on its feet without doing a reinstallation. You might get away with a
"repair" installation if you ever get your computer to start up.

I figured I'd do SP2, via a dial-up connection. Downloaded overnight
with Update Manager -- I think I got it all.

This is most likely a partial updater. Get the full ("network") installer
and use that instead. If you have SP1, I think you can go straight to SP3,
so you might want to just do that unless you have a good reason not to.

If you don't think you can do this, borrow someone's high speed Internet
connection to do the downloading and bring it to your computer on a CD or
something similar.

No Dell splash screen. No Win XP splash screen. No nothin.

What Dell system do you have?

Nearly all of them have a very, very nice set of LEDs that can be used for
diagnostics. Most of them are located on the back of the system, near where
your keyboard, mouse and screen plug in. They are labeled "A B C D". All of
them should be green after your system starts. Yellow ones indicate tests in
progress or failures.

What color does your power button or light glow? Yellow indicates a power or
internal fault.

If a yellow light is displayed anywhere, get the manual for your computer to
find out what is making it unhappy.

Or just unplug the power cord from the computer and leave it for a few
minutes. Perhaps the system's power-control or startup logic is confused.
Any halfway modern computer is never really off.

William