Computer wont boot after SP2!

[flaco]

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

[Dynamite]

Yeh, you have a real problem there. Did you do a clean install, an upgrade from sp1 to sp2, use a slipstreamed CD?

I don't think I'll be much help though, the same sort of thing happened to me. I got round it by formatting and starting from scratch.

But when you get that screen in recovery console that ask's for a password and you don't have an admin password set just press enter

By-the-bye when in recovery console your number keypad may not work, use the number along the top of your keyboard.

Good luck, keep us posted haw your doing.

[flaco]

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

[N1K]

It won't have effect on the other partitions

[DakotaSunRunner]

So far I have installed sp2 on 6 different computers from 6 different manufacturers and have had no installation or booting problems\ along with no broken programs. I guess I must be lucky.

I read these horror stories in here and it baffles me as to why others are having so much trouble.

One thing I think everyone should remember before even attempting to install sp2. Be very sure that there is no adware or spyware in your computer. It does and will hinder the installation process and cause all manner of havoc with you.

I am sorry you have not been having a good experience with sp2. Sounds to me like you have to reformat and start over, and with what is going on with your installation, that might not be a bad idea anyway.

I have been a computer technician for 12 years now and I have never read so many horror stories as I have with sp2 but yet, for me, it has not been a problem.

Good luck

Dakota SunRunner

[flaco]

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!

[DakotaSunRunner]

USB port, hmmmmm, I had that problem long before sp2 also and experienced the same problem I beleive your having now. It seems, that some motherboards do not like USB ports and some programs and parts do not conform to usb properly and windows ignore their existance. I remember this problem well and it was with soyo mother boards and a few others. Miy problem was with a philips camera and my scanner which is a cannon. Windows simply refused to see them and I simply could not get them to work. I put in a sis motherboad and whalllaaa it works fine now. Now I have no idea at all what the problem was but it seems to be cured now.

It is frightening sometimes how things work and do not work and simply put often times we cannot do a thing about it. There has to be a reason for this and perhaps sp2 simply will not conform with mother board specs or vice versa, it is simply too difficult to tell.

I wish you luck,

Dakota SunRunner

[CoffeeFiend]

I've seen sp2 make turn several perfectly working sp1a machines not make it to the desktop anymore after installing sp2 on them. Installing from a slipstreamed sp2 never caused issues. I'd much rather do it the 2nd way.

[flaco]

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?

[Jito463]

I've seen sp2 make turn several perfectly working sp1a machines not make it to the desktop anymore after installing sp2 on them. Installing from a slipstreamed sp2 never caused issues. I'd much rather do it the 2nd way.

A lot of it depends on the condition of the machines beforehand. Myself, I wiped and did a slipstreamed install of SP2 on my machine (but that was because a month prior I had installed from a slipstreamed SP2 RC2, heh. Bad idea since you have to uninstall RC2 to install the final build). However, all of the machines at work (5 at last count), plus all the customers machines that come in (after we clean up adware/spyware/viruses) were all upgraded to SP2 without incident.

[Jito463]

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?

Have you tried putting a USB PCI card in the machine? Perhaps there's something wrong with your onboard ports. If that works, then you're looking at some sort of hardware issue (motherboard would be the most likely culprit).

[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