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XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

Locked

I made the colossal mistake of downloading Service Pack 2 on Saturday and now have no access to my desktop icons or start button. Oddly enough I can get to the internet through an error message that pops up on the wallpaper when I boot.

I can’t just uninstall the pack. The problem is that I have no start button and I have no program icons… the only reason I can use my cable modem at all is that when I boot, an error box comes up right after the welcome screen and, if I hit the “Report Error” button, it connects me with Microsoft via Explorer and then I can type various URLs onto the “go” line and navigate the web from there. But that’s ALL I can do right now.Is there any option besides a full recovery and losing everything on my hard drive? Any help would be appreciated. Is there a way to do it from DOS?

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Reply To: XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

In reply to XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

You should be able to uninstall sp2 if you boot up in safe mode. You then should do an extensive search for malware and virii.

Reply To: XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

In reply to XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

Plug in your HDD in another machine as slave to backup your crucial data, if your OS is corrupted in any way you will at least be able to retrieve all your data if you put your Hard Disk in a working machine, just make sure you put it as slave or just replace the CD-ROM with your Hard Disk (you might need to change the jumper from master to slave on your Hard Disk)
Hope this helps

Reply To: XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

In reply to XP Service Pack 2 Crashed system —

This site will tell you how to remove it.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875350

This process will give you a 99% chance of installing Service Pack 2 successfully. Most of the problems that have been reported seem to reflect on the computer having problems prior to the install of the Service Pack.

1.Check your computer vendors site to see if there are any patches for SP2. There are some.

2.Turn OFF System Restore. Right Click on My Computer and get Properties. Click on the System Restore Tab and check the box to turn it off.

3.Update your antivirus and do a full system scan.

4.Open a command window. (Start/Run Type cmd and press enter). Once the dos window opens type sfc /scannow and press return. This will scan all protected system files and replace those that are damaged or not correct.

5.Download, Update and run Ad-Aware. http://tinyurl.com/tek5

6.Download, Update and run Spybot. http://tinyurl.com/ziar

7.Download, and Run Stinger. http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger

8.Download and Run CWShredder. http://tinyurl.com/2bzef

9.Install all updates from Microsoft that are available Except Service Pack 2. This includes software and hardware.

10.Download HijackThis. http://mjc.com/mirror/hjt/ This program will scan your computer and provide you with a list of the programs and dll?s that load on startup. Go over this list and anything that is not easy to identify do a google search for the executable or dll. You can remove a questionable line entry by checking the box and clicking on fix.

11.Run the system defragmenter. Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter.

12.Turn on System Restore. See #1.

13.Create a Restore Point. Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore

14.Disable your AntiVirus

15.Install Service Pack 2

16.Reinable your Antivirus.

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