HELP!! Windows XP SP3 update has killed my PC!!

tom9980

rmg1 wrote: »

I'm set up as an admin user rather than a standard user.
I've downloaded the file(s) (it gives me a zero time download when going to the MS updates website).

Might not be anything but when you are an administrator and cant change files in this way or have permission its sometimes a sign of a potential virus/malware infection so might be an idea to check use the sticky for the correct steps to check.

BritBrat

u109230 wrote: »

Quick update, I booted from my cd originals & repaired the OS as best I could. I lost all my restore points before the repair. All the user profiles & settings were also corrupted/lost. Up to date my non OS files appear intact.

I'm not touching SP3 with a bargepole until I get 110% guarantee it won't wreck my OS again.

Get a copy of Norton Ghost, worth every penny it costs.

That along with a external USB hard drive and you will always have a restore point to your requirements, so no matter what happens you can be up and running again in less than a hour.

Mine is set to make a complete backup on the 1st of the month then incrementals on Mon, Wed and Fri of every week.

I am even thinking of fitting a new drive once a year and restoring the ghost image to it, because it is the "C" drive that gets all the hard work and tends to fail.

u109230

Thanks to all who made comments on my predicament.

Latest update - I think I'm back to how I was pre SP3 disaster recovery. The user profiles all came back (phew!) after I managed to get all the MS updates (incl IE7) back on the PC.

That process was not as simple as it sounds as I fell foul of the 'Windows won't update after a repair scenario'. Another key learning for me!!

I re-registered wups2.dll following this method http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=271163&messageID=2625924 & the 90 or so updates queued finally were accepted.

Brit - Thanks for your input, I will get Ghost now & I do already have a 300Gb Seagate external drive. Quick question - can I copy Windows restore points onto it?

PS: This Seagate came formatted as FAT32, so using the Windows backup util is a current no go as FAT32 file size support is a max of 4Gb.

I did try using Partition Magic on the Seagate to make a 100Gb NTFS partition ...............it failed & temporarily froze the PC on bootup. After yesterdays ordeals I've put a stop to that for now.

u109230

If anyone else is thinking of getting Ghost (speaking from experience it's highly recommended) take a look here for a good deal http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0012IKMQQ/pricerunner-21/ref=nosim

IamGeoff

I have used this to format to NTFS from FAT32 and found it to be excellent software.
http://www.compuapps.com/Download/swissknife/swissknife.asp

Geoff

Poppycat

Acronis true image as my preference for backup will back up image sequentially too and make images up to 4.3GB and span the rest. It was also archive files too

http://www.acronis.com

I use this on 4 pc's and one laptop. I have had no issue with sp3 on 3 computers and 1 laptop and I haven't done one pc yet (Dell) as its getting replaced soon for a barebones system

u109230

Poppycat wrote: »

Acronis true image as my preference for backup will back up image sequentially too and make images up to 4.3GB and span the rest. It was also archive files too

http://www.acronis.com

I use this on 4 pc's and one laptop. I have had no issue with sp3 on 3 computers and 1 laptop and I haven't done one pc yet (Dell) as its getting replaced soon for a barebones system

Hi Poppy, funny you should mention Acronis. I was surfing these forums a month or so ago & saw advice on how to get Acronis True Image 8.0 for free. I duly followed that advice & loaded it on my XP machine, made a boot CD & copied an image to the Seagate external drive. That was that I thought - great to have a complete backup - unfortunately it didn't work when I needed it.

Firstly, when booting from the Acronis boot CD, I had no keyboard & mouse activity (both USB). I double checked that the BIOS was not disabling any USB functionality - it wasn't. So that aspect of Acronis failed for me as I couldn't command it to restore an image.

Once I did get a semblence of OS back the PC (through the original OS CD) I did try to retrieve the image on the Seagate using the True Image application on the PC C:\ drive. It errored, saying it couldn't find any hard disk drives - a known issue I'm told. I emailed Acronis support & I'm awaiting a reply.

I've ordered Ghost 14 (which also isn't perfect according to reviews) & give it a bash.

Poppycat

I restored a PC last week using a wireless usb mini keyboard and it worked fine with Acronis (version 10). I ended up ditching some memory (Crucial) as it was that, that was causing the system to keep crashing XP Sp2. I then installed xp sp3 (slipstreamed)

I ain't a big fan of Norton, Acronis works flawless for me.

u109230

IamGeoff wrote: »

I have used this to format to NTFS from FAT32 and found it to be excellent software.
http://www.compuapps.com/Download/swissknife/swissknife.asp

Geoff

Thanks for this info Geoff, one small question. Does this s/w need to be driven by an OS on the external drive or can it be driven from a desktop to format/partition a 'dumb' external storage device via a USB cable?

The reason I ask is to do with my experience with Partition Magic that stalled the desktop OS boot when trying to execute the partition & format operations on the Seagate.

u109230

Poppycat wrote: »

I restored a PC last week using a wireless usb mini keyboard and it worked fine with Acronis (version 10). I ended up ditching some memory (Crucial) as it was that, that was causing the system to keep crashing XP Sp2. I then installed xp sp3 (slipstreamed)

I ain't a big fan of Norton, Acronis works flawless for me.

Maybe it's just a v8.0 issue & v10 (logically) is more up to date & de-bugged.

I'm neutral on Norton (apart from disliking their Internet Security stuff) - I'll give Ghost a chance before making my mind up.