Serious XP Service pack 2 problems

[Dezolat0r]

Since I downloaded and installed XP SP2 as recommended by you guys in an earlier thread, my computer has been seriously screwy. Task Manager appears to have opened literally nearly a hundred times, at the moment it says I'm currently running 138 processes (2 minutes ago it was 90, before that 60). As a result I can barely use my computer, windows explorer has stopped working and only Firefox is running properly. I can't access anything else on my computer because of this, and Task Manager won't let me close any instances of it running. My wallpaper won't display and my windowblinds themes look all corrupted. What the hell is going on? Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

[killie99]

do all this:

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=65058

and then get back onto microsoft and gell ALL the updates.

[Dezolat0r]

I can't get onto the windows update site as it requires me to use Internet Explorer. And my explorer isn't working!

I'll try the antispyware stuff in that link, but I don't really know how it'd help. I'm pretty sure he problem isn't spyware related; it only started since I updated to SP2...

Edit: I tried to install a Windows update from the Microsoft website.. it just froze, like everything else on the computer. What else?

[sybrows]

backup onto cd/dvd in safe mode (pretty sure nero 6 works for this if you have it installed) and take out any usb devices and internet (ethernet especially) connections and format the HDD, install XP then drivers then SP2 in that order then wang all ur stuff back on.
Not a lot more options that I can see to get a healthy sytem again.
BrOw

*could be hours of fruitless tweaking otherwise

[maranatha]

i'd agree. sounds like you have some nasty programs lurking on your pc, be they viruses or spyware though viruses sounds more likely. Do a clean install and upgrade to SP2 before going on the internet. Try to have your computer secure by installing a virus scanner, AVG antivirus from Grisoft is free, before reconnecting to the internet. Then ensure you completley update windows from the update site.

[Max Tractor]

Tis a nasty thing sp2, looks like a format for you, dl sp2.exe, and any individual updates(dont think you can get them anymore though might get them here http://ryanvm.msfn.org/updatepack.html) before you format.

windows/sp2/updates/chipset drivers/graphics card drivers

[just_laze]

Safe mode with network connectivity, download avast! av, tell it to perform a scan at system start-up, this is before any processes begin and see if it identifies anything...

I wouldn't go formatting to be honest with you, windows is always recoverable.

[Dezolat0r]

Well, at the moment I've done a system restore and recovered my computer back to before I installed SP2. It's working fine, just like before. Surely a virus would 'carry over' (so to speak; excuse my lack of technical language ) through system restores?

I think it may just be some compatability problems with one of my drivers and SP2, although I couldn't imagine what it is that's causing the conflict. I have no way to back up my data at this time (no DVD burner, only 1 HDD, USB1.1 transfer speeds), so I really would only like to reformat as a last resort if possible. What else could I do?

[BEANFro Elite]

You should actually go onto Windows Update and get all the updates prior to upgrading to SP2 as a similar thing happened to me when I just forced SP2 on my system without going on Windows Update to download and install all those hotfixes and updates that will help iron out the transition for your PC.

SP2 is on there itself and the updater will only allow you to download and install it once you have all the updates beforehand downloaded and installed; but why Microsoft don't tout this information as much as they tout the importance of SP2 itself I don't know.

As for that Firefox over IE thing; eurgh! its to my understanding that Firefox is becoming a victim of its own popularity as more bugs are being reprted (thats to say its always had masses of bugs, but being more popular bugs are reported due to the larger userbase) after installing the hotfixes updates and SP2 and Spyware Blaster, Internet Explorer gets a whole lot more secure, plus you get unparalelled compatability on websites like Fileplanet etc.

The above relegates Firefox and Opera to mere eyecandy jobs until IE7 comes out which will have all the cosmetic hoohar perhaps minus the plugin and skin community but meh I want a browser that supports all the websites I throw at it not some numbnuts tellytubby job that seemingly picks the sites that IT wants to go on.

That said, I've used all major browsers and now only use Opera and IE

[iranu]

SP2 is often not compatible with alot of older hardware and can cause all sorts of problems. Have a look at all your peripherals and pci cards and make sure that each of them will run under SP2.

I had an issue with a scanner that would not allow windows to boot cos the driver was not compatible with SP2.