How to un-do SP2 from the 'repair console'?

The customer has a Gateway desktop machine, running XP Home.
He downloaded and installed SP2, which ran to completions, he says.

Machine now won't boot. It displays the splash screen during bootup
for a few seconds and then appears to reboot itself. (My guess is that
some low-level driver is now crashing, but there is no blue-screen or
anything...just a silent reboot.)

So, I did an F8 into the special prestart menu and tried a bare-bones
'safe mode'. Same silent reboot cycle.

Again, I went into F8 and tried a 'last known good'. Same silent reboot
cycle.

Ok. Got out the original Win-XP cdrom, and booted that into 'repair
console'.

I can go out on hard-disk (in C:\windows) and see all the wonderful
files named '$NT<mumble>uninstall<mumble>$' and stuff like that.

So, my $64 questions becomes:

(1)What cmd-line cmd do I wanna issue that would kick off a complete 'un-do'
of the installation of SP2?

(and before I do that)

(2) Are there some other cmds I might do to get an inkling of what new
component
of SP2 is giving this system this problem symptom? [e.g. if some driver is
indeed
crashing, how do I get it's blue-screen of death to display, or whatever?]

Cheers...

Dave

I'll answer my OWN question (about how to un-do SP2 install when
the system will NOT boot up at all):

The answer is that you do NOT use the 'recovery console'.

Instead, you do what is called a 'repair install' of Win-XP, which requires
that you have a bootable Win-XP insallation-cdrom. (That's also explained
in
the writeup.)

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

(I just cut/pasted this link from another topic/msg that I finally found.)

Cheers...hope this helps others...

Dave



"David Cook" <(who wants to know?)> wrote in message
news:LoOdnfHdePwy8bLcRVn-...
> The customer has a Gateway desktop machine, running XP Home.
> He downloaded and installed SP2, which ran to completions, he says.
>
> Machine now won't boot. It displays the splash screen during bootup
> for a few seconds and then appears to reboot itself. (My guess is that
> some low-level driver is now crashing, but there is no blue-screen or
> anything...just a silent reboot.)
>
> So, I did an F8 into the special prestart menu and tried a bare-bones
> 'safe mode'. Same silent reboot cycle.
>
> Again, I went into F8 and tried a 'last known good'. Same silent reboot
> cycle.
>
> Ok. Got out the original Win-XP cdrom, and booted that into 'repair
> console'.
>
> I can go out on hard-disk (in C:\windows) and see all the wonderful
> files named '$NT<mumble>uninstall<mumble>$' and stuff like that.
>
> So, my $64 questions becomes:
>
> (1)What cmd-line cmd do I wanna issue that would kick off a complete
> 'un-do'
> of the installation of SP2?
>
> (and before I do that)
>
> (2) Are there some other cmds I might do to get an inkling of what new
> component
> of SP2 is giving this system this problem symptom? [e.g. if some driver
> is indeed
> crashing, how do I get it's blue-screen of death to display, or whatever?]
>
> Cheers...
>
> Dave
>

This is a followup to the base note:

I was able to do the 'repair install' to undo the SP2 installation.
That took the system back to ground-zero (no patches or service-packs
installed).

Also, tried once more (sigh) to install SP2 on his Gateway machine,
this time from the CDROM for SP2 (available free at Staples and other
outlets).

The BAD news is that it just broke everything again (machine would NOT boot
again). So, I did ONE MORE 'repair install' and now he is back again to
ground zero. To my knowledge, no solution from Microsoft has explained WHY
so many users are seeing this 'CANNOT BOOT AFTER SP2 INSTALLATION'
symptom, or how to get SP2 installed on machines with this symptom. All I
can
say is that it is a TIME-CONSUMING PAIN IN THE ASS and a WASTE OF
TIME.

Many others are reporting this same breakage with SP2, so I repeat my
warning
to people to consider DELAYING install of SP2 for a few more months.

Rather than leaving him unpatched at all, he will be installing 'SP1a",
which
is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...1/default.mspx

Hope this helps others...

Dave



"David Cook" <(who wants to know?)> wrote in message
news6GdnarNoL_aBa3cRVn-...
> I'll answer my OWN question (about how to un-do SP2 install when
> the system will NOT boot up at all):
>
> The answer is that you do NOT use the 'recovery console'.
>
> Instead, you do what is called a 'repair install' of Win-XP, which
> requires
> that you have a bootable Win-XP insallation-cdrom. (That's also explained
> in
> the writeup.)
>
> How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
>
> (I just cut/pasted this link from another topic/msg that I finally found.)
>
> Cheers...hope this helps others...
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> "David Cook" <(who wants to know?)> wrote in message
> news:LoOdnfHdePwy8bLcRVn-...
>> The customer has a Gateway desktop machine, running XP Home.
>> He downloaded and installed SP2, which ran to completions, he says.
>>
>> Machine now won't boot. It displays the splash screen during bootup
>> for a few seconds and then appears to reboot itself. (My guess is that
>> some low-level driver is now crashing, but there is no blue-screen or
>> anything...just a silent reboot.)
>>
>> So, I did an F8 into the special prestart menu and tried a bare-bones
>> 'safe mode'. Same silent reboot cycle.
>>
>> Again, I went into F8 and tried a 'last known good'. Same silent reboot
>> cycle.
>>
>> Ok. Got out the original Win-XP cdrom, and booted that into 'repair
>> console'.
>>
>> I can go out on hard-disk (in C:\windows) and see all the wonderful
>> files named '$NT<mumble>uninstall<mumble>$' and stuff like that.
>>
>> So, my $64 questions becomes:
>>
>> (1)What cmd-line cmd do I wanna issue that would kick off a complete
>> 'un-do'
>> of the installation of SP2?
>>
>> (and before I do that)
>>
>> (2) Are there some other cmds I might do to get an inkling of what new
>> component
>> of SP2 is giving this system this problem symptom? [e.g. if some driver
>> is indeed
>> crashing, how do I get it's blue-screen of death to display, or
>> whatever?]
>>
>> Cheers...
>>
>> Dave
>>
>
>