flaco

Problem solved!. turned out to be the low noise PFC power supply (400 Watt and only six months old). It was a bit cheap for it's spec, there's a lesson there I suppose. The 300 W one I got with the computer is a bit noisy but OK for now. Before installing SP2, plugging the modem had caused the power to fail, that - but I thought that was due to a virus, according to my ISP. It still seems strange to me that plugging/installing the modem could have consistently caused the power supply to fail, but that seems to have been the case, as all is well now. thanks to everyone for their suggestions/comments

Having reinstalled XP slipstreamed with SP2, I'm now back to where I was two weeks ago just before my computer refused to boot after SP2. It now crashes every time I try to install the USB modem, or scanner. I've tried Updating the drivers, but just as the installation is completing, all power is lost, and can only be restarted once the power lead has been removed for about 20 seconds, and USB devices disconnected. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for reply. I'm pretty good at stooping adware/spyware normally, but after the problem with the USB scanner, having got SP2, I went to the Canon website for drivers and it told me I needed to turn off my firewall for the d/l, and I think I turned off all my antivirus, and had the problem within half an hour, so maybe something got in there pretty quick!

Thanks for reply - I got sp2 via windows update, already having sp1. If I have to reformat my C drive, I suppose that wont affect the other partitions D and G on the same HD? Still no response from recovery console BTW

Help! - I installed SP2, and now have a computer that wont boot. First problem was a USB powered scanner crashing it..Unable to start it in safe mode, it rebooted constantly during boot up process. Now having tried to re-install Windows XP,it just boots to a black screen. I have a dual boot system a can boot to the second system, but that now crashes when I plug the USB modem, despite reinstalling drivers. I 've only managed to get on the net by digging out an old computer. I've tried Recovery console getting two choices 1: C:windows or 2:G:windows Entering 1 does nothing , neither does any other key! I think I got further once but was asked for a supervisor /administrator password yet have no passwords set on my computer according to info in 'setup'!. tech spec: athlon xp2600 , Asrock m'board, sagem b'band usb modem