PC locks up during bootup after SP2 install

Hi

I recently installed SP2 on a friends PC.

The process completed saying that it had been successfully installed and to
reboot the PC.

On rebooting we got the Windows XP splash screen with the green horizontal
progress bar (does that bar really indicate anything or is it just a passive
animation?)

Anyway within less than a minute the green bar stops at two segments and
there it stays! The PC freezes.

I've tried restarting in safe mode and again it gets so far but never
reaches the desktop.

SP2 was installed on a squeaky clean fresh install of XP Home from the
manufactures original recovery disc. (My friends system was infected with
numerous viruses/spyware - it was a plain vanilla install i.e. SP2 or any
other updates had never been installed and it was easier to reformat the
disc and start with a clean install.)

So...

How do I identify what's causing the machine to lockup? It was fine prior to
SP2.

Thanks for any info and your time.

Ian

Ian R <> wrote:

> I recently installed SP2 on a friends PC.
> The process completed saying that it had been successfully installed
> and to reboot the PC.
> On rebooting we got the Windows XP splash screen with the green
> horizontal progress bar
> Anyway within less than a minute the green bar stops at two segments
> and there it stays! The PC freezes.
>
> SP2 was installed on a squeaky clean fresh install of XP Home from the
> manufactures original recovery disc.

Check with the manufacturer's support web site about any necessary updates
to BIOS and/or system drivers *before* applying SP2.

The best strategy is:
- fresh install of Windows from recovery CD (preferable reformatting hard
disk if there was a previousl malware infection);
- apply BIOS and driver updates from manufacturer's support site;
- apply Service Pack 2;
- now visit Windows Update for all post-SP2 updates.

--
Robin Walker [MVP Networking]

Hi,
If you can't get in through Safe Mode, then you're probably going to have to
format again.
My experience with SP2 on one of my PCs, which caused lock-ups, was that SP2
installed MS's drivers for the motherboards VIA IDE chipset.
But I was able to change that in Safe Mode by reinstalling the latest VIA
4-in-1 set from the Web.
Unfortunately, if you can't get to Safe Mode, that might not be your problem
and I don't know how one would prevent the SP2 from altering those drivers
on installation.

The (under paid) cable guy.