Windows xp problems

[dylbertm92]

ok so, I have this desktop I bought when I was about 13 years old im 17 now, a year ago I recieved a laptop as a gift so I gave my younger brother that desktop to use. Well he got a better laptop than the desktop or my current laptop, and while he was using it he managed to get tons of viruses on it, so I tried wiping the hard drive and re-loading xp on it. But this is where I run into trouble, while I'm trying to install the sp3 update it crashes, and will not re-boot. So my dad suggested putting ubunutu (I think that's how it's spelled) on it to see if it will run that without crashing, and it does just fine. Honestly I just want to use that desktop for school work because I'm looking into building a new gaming machine once I have the cash. But if it's something that can't be fixed it's not a huge deal since I have my laptop.

I really appreciate any help you can offer

ps. Sorry if this isn't the right forum, I'm not too Knowledgeable when it comes to computer terms, I'm trying to learn.

 

[Alvin.C]

Hi,

...But this is where I run into trouble, while I'm trying to install the sp3 update it crashes, and will not re-boot...

Does your system freeze, or does it display an error message?

If you haven't done so already, check your hard disk drive for errors using chkdsk, then try installing SP3 again.

When installing Service Pack 3, have you ensured that you've closed all unnecessary programs, and disabled anti-virus software?

Have you tried installing previous service packs in order, before installing SP3 (if applicable)?

If all of the above fail, try installing Service Pack 3 in safe mode instead. This has worked for me on many occasions when SP3 fails to install in normal mode. The following article will help you through this process: http://blogs.pcworld.com/tipsandtweaks/archives/006934.html .

 

[JeffO]

Additionally (always start with chkdsk), at work on quite a few PCs, I've had to run a Microsoft utility that fixes a multitude of issues involving security/permissions in the Registry and on the hard drive. It's called SubInACL. I install that and then I ran the following commands...

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

It takes several minutes to run all this.
In 100% of failures I've seen, running both CHKDSK and SubInACL has allowed SP3 to install fine.

 

[baih777]

since its so old try letting it do its own updates after loading XP. it should download about 80 updates in 24 hour time. then load sp2. let it do somemore updates by itself and then update sp3. my self with a old system i just let it start updating by itself over a two week period. all you have to do is turn off and on.

 

[dylbertm92]

when it crashes it sits at a black screen with a single black flashing line and does nothing
and yea I load sp2 and all that before and they work just fine. I'll try all your suggestions when I have time I'm buried in homework right now lol, and I'll let you know the results.