In conclusion, for everyone who has been following this thread, as mentioned
earlier I did another reinstall of the OS and this time I turned the
automatic downloads off. The computer was booting up normal now and after a
couple days I created a restore point. Then I downloaded Secunia. This
program performed a scan on my computer and recommended the needed patches
and all were downloaded and installed. Still running and booting up normal I
downloaded a free copy of Macrium Reflect. Here I was able to make a
complete copy of my C: drive onto a newly installed slave drive. This should
save me about two + days labor the next time the hard drive dies.



Don



On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 4:18 AM, Robert Fernando -ntlworld <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi ,
> You could use auto patcher to bring the PC upto date in one go.  Ideal for
> standalone PC's
> Vist www. autopatcher.com for more info
>
> Robert Fernando
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dean Kukral" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 5:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Computer boot problem
>
>
>
>  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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