XP Home will not boot up

"tekrsq" wrote in message
...
SP2 is on the computer. It automatically downloaded SP3 last year, and
locked up the entire computer. I took it to someone, and they uninstalled
SP3 and it has worked fine since. The tech told me it had something to do
with SP3 not playing well with AMD processors. Obviously, I'm not a tech
guy, so I couldn't argue. What I do know is it cost me $200.

The installation CD I have is one of the original home versions. I don't
think it even has SP1 on it. So how would I download SP2 and merge it
with
my copy onto another CD?


I assume that by now you've seen my latest post re this thread.

You can run the Repair install of the XP OS along the lines I've previously
outlined regardless of the fact that your presently installed XP OS
installation contains SP2 while your XP OS installation CD either contains
an earlier SP or no SP at all.

Assuming the Repair install is successful you can then install SP2. While it
would be best - all things considered - to undertake the Repair install with
an XP OS installation CD containing SP2, it is not mandatory that you need
to do this. Assuming your installation CD does not contain SP2 you could
create another installation CD containing SP2 through the "slipstreaming"
process. But in your situation I would forgo that for the time being and
just use your present installation CD to undertake the Repair install.

If you are interested in that slipstreaming process I would recommend you
use the freely-available Autostreamer program. See...
Download AutoStreamer from:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/S...streamer.shtml

Download the SP2 file and save it to your Desktop or C:\ root directory.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Step-by-step instructions for using AutoStreamer can be found at
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm
and,
http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/u...streamer.shtml

(I'm assuming the above links are current).

The problem with certain AMD systems & SP3 has been well documented.
Assuming the Repair install is successful and you later install SP2 onto the
system you might want to do some research on this issue. See...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953356
Also do a Google search on "problem with XP SP3 and AMD processors" and
you'll come across a good deal of info on this issue.
Anna

On Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:59:01 -0800, tekrsq
wrote:

I'm running an older AMD 2400 with XP Home SP2. For some reason the computer
suddenly will not boot up. It was working fine yesterday, and I think it may
have automaticly done a Windows update last night. Not sure about the update,
but it would make sense because my daughters computer updated last night.
Anyway, as it's coming up, it gets to the page that tells you to start in
safe mode, normal mode, last known good configuration, etc. No matter which
I choose, it reboots back to this page in a continous loop. I tried to run
recovery through the XP CD, but when I run chkdsk, it tells me the drive
appears fine but if I still want to check it, then use "/p". What does this
mean ? When I put it in, it tells me it isn't a valid command. How would I
write this so the computer knows what I mean ? Now assuming, this doesn't
get me where I need to be, how do I fix this "loop mesage".

Thanks, Tommy

I had a very similar situation when my 2 sons went back to UK - AS users of
Mac's I let them use my system which I built myself. I therefore knew the setup
and gave it a few minutes to gel in what is left of the brain - no boot - what
then.
Well most of the disks in the computer are Western Digital and I do have a 'self
booting' test floppie downloaded from WD. Placed that in the drive and hit the
big 'off' button - there suddenly was the computer as good as new again.

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia