Problem after download of XPSP2

i have a gateway 5000 series with XP home edition. i also had an Office 2000 professional upgrade disc so i could use word & excel..

several months ago my norton antivirus detected a virus or two and i quarantined those but could not delete them. I booted up in safe mode and turned system restore off so as not to restore to a point when the virus was on the computer. i did not go back and turn it on.

about a week ago i installed the sp2 update. when the computer would 1st boot a message window would appear saying that the computer did not know the name of my virus protection (Norton - renewed in june of 2004). the window had a box to check off if i wanted to monitor the security myself, so i checked the box and exverything seemed okay.

a day or two later, i could not access outlook express and my e-mail accounts. i called comcast (cable provider) and they said it was a gateway or microsoft problem. I contacted microsoft and was on the phone with them for 3 hours, after which i could not access any of my programs. They said they would have someone contact me within 24 hours.

Once off the telephone with microsoft, i went to system restore and saw a restore point which was before i was off the phone with microsoft but on the same date, while i was still on the phone with them. i restored the system and during this process, several windows popped up saying this was unlicensed and did i still want to proceed. i hit yes and once done, i could get into microsfot money, word and excel, but could not access outlook or yahoo through explorer. from the desktop i could enter excel and a window would pop up that said "can't use object linking or embedding"...if i hit okay the window goes away....i can see all my files, however if i double click on one,and an Excel.Exe application error window appears. the window says "The instruction at "0x30050ceb" referenced memory at "0x00000196" the memorycould not be "read". Click on OK to terminate program.

Clicking on OK takes me out of excel and back to the desk top.

The microsoft tech had me try to uninstall SP2 and it never completed the uninstall. I can not see my start menu and it does not resemble the XP menu.

I don't believe i disabled norton before installing the sp2 update.

Currently, my computer has no sound, doesn't recognize the printer and i have no access to any programs except microsoft money from my desktop. However, if i open a netscape browser, i can go on the internet and get into my yahoo mail, comcast mail, and netscape mail.

I think what I want to do is format the hard drive and reinstall XP and office 2000. i have saved most of the important excel and word files that i need. will i be able to unlock these files and use them.

thanks in advance for any help.

XP dummy

 

Moved your question to where you'll get better help.

 

thanks

 

Just in case you haven't tried it...875355 - How to use the Automatic Recovery feature to recover your computer if the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Setup program is not completed successfully

Leaving your antivirus running during the install is probably the reason the install was unsuccessful. Some reading for you before you try again...Installing Service Pack 2 (SP2)

You have so many issues with this computer that a reinstall may be your best recourse. Good luck.

 

I'm still having issues with SP2 but I did finally install it.

What it took tho was NOTHING on the computer but a CLEAN copy of windows XP and doing the install of SP1, all your critical updates and SP2 from a CD. I refused to go online unprotected but KNEW that if I was going to succeed in getting SP2 on my computer, it was going to be on a clean install.

I'm not sure how my husband got SP1a, the updates and SP2 onto a CD but, bless him he did.

Once I had all of that on the computer, then I told the security center that I had my own a/v and firewall and would be monitoring myself, and promptly installed Norton.

I still can't use Nero or Roxio as a burner, having to use Music Match which is the pits. I think I read somewhere that the one M$ uses is a Nero clone and that may be why Nero Ultra won't work. As to why Roxio won't work, haven't a clue. But those are the only two programs I am still having issues with, now. And it took reformatting to do it. Had I not been reformatting my computer anyway, I would STILL be in a holding pattern on SP2. Liz

 

i heard there is an update for nero at the main site! www.ahead.de