I suspect that when you reinstalled the OS, you permitted it to perform automatic updates of the operating system, right?

And when you loaded the OS, it was a five year old version of XP Media Center that came with your computer, right?  (If it was a 
copy of XP that you bought later, then this advice may or may not be relevant.)

So, I conjecture that XP went looking for updates and found about a zillion megabytes of updates, and downloaded them when it could. 
(Why it waited for a day I can't say, so my conjecture may be off base.)  You may even have downloaded updates to your software, 
particularly if you use Microsoft Office.

Okay, so I assume that you dutifully allowed the computer to download all the updates and shut itself down after they were all 
downloaded, right?

The process does not end there.  When you turn the computer back on, these updates are being installed.  (I have no idea how all 
these processes work, I just know that when you turn the computer back on, you may have to go off for a cup of coffee and come back 
later.)  In Vista, it tells you that it is installing updates, but I forget what XP does.  But I can tell you that five years of 
updates to XP can be quite substantial.  What you see as the Windows logo being frozen might well be the updates being installed.

Hopefully all the updates are now installed and your computer is still running ok?  Then you are okay.  You have all the patches 
installed.  The key here is that the computer is running ok and the updates did not hurt anything.  The good thing is that you now 
have all the latest bug fixes and security patches.

Okay, so you waited a long time and drank many cups of coffee and the Windows logo is still frozen?  Well, you can try erasing the 
drive and starting it all over again.  By turning the computer on and off during the process, you may have trashed some of your 
updates and/or drivers.  This time do not let the computer perform automatic updates.  You will probably want to install the updates 
manually, at a slower pace.  I don't know if you can install SP2 without installing SP3, but as Hugh said, some people have had 
trouble with SP3.

You can try doing a restore.  You can try deleting all the updates.  Personally, if the logo is actually, for-sure frozen, I would 
do a complete re-install.  It usually goes faster the second time because  you've had practice.  :(

Whenever you erase a hard drive with the OS on it, it is standard practice to run updates on all your software and drivers.  This 
can take quite a while, but is to be expected.

Dean Kukral

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Donald DeWitt
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 8:44 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Computer boot problem


I have a five year old Dell 8400 running Windows XP Media Center with
service pack 2.

All four indicator lights (a-b-c-d) on the back panel are showing green.



I replaced a defective hard drive, reinstalled the OS along with all the
programs that were originally on the old drive. The computer was shut down
and booted up several times for the next two days and it was running like
new again. It was defragged and a virus scan was completed.  With the last
shut down on the second day, a message on the monitor indicated it was
downloading thirty eight (38) updates and the computer would shut down
automatically when finished downloading. Now, turning on the computer
results in a freezes-up at the Windows logo and will go no further. I have
repeated this several times and there has been no change, it always stops
booting at the Windows logo. However, I am able to boot up in safe mode and
have access to the Control Panel. Looking at the update list, I see that
most updates were Security related, a Hot Fix and two are related to the
Media player. Has anyone else ever had experience with downloading updates
after an OS reinstall? I’m guessing I can delete all thirty eight updates
while I’m in safe mode. The question here is, is this a smart thing to do?
or should I try a system restore? or is there something else I should
attempt to resolve this start up problem?



Don

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