Problems with Service Pack 3 (XP Media Center Edition 2002)

[trebor]

I volunteer at our Humane Society Thrift Store and redo the donated computers for resale. We just got an HP Pavilion a1130N with Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002. Processor runs at 2.19 Ghz, RAM memory is 1024 MB, hard drive is 225 GB. System works fine until I update to Service Pack 3 - then it will not start normally. I can start it in Safe Mode but it will not start normally or to last known good configuration. What is there about Service Pack 3 that could be causing this problem. Thanks for your help.

[Argus]

For troubleshooting some more information is needed.

It normally shouldn't matter, but:

> "System works fine until I update to Service Pack 3 ..."
<UL><LI>How did you install SP3? I assume since you redo donated computers that you have done all kinds of checks of the hardware and software installed, done a disk check etc. prior to trying to install a service pack.
<LI>Was the OS a fresh install before the SP? Given that it was a donated PC; or did you do a in-place upgrade (reinstallation, even if not "clean" install)?
<LI>Do you get any errors during the SP3 installation?
<LI>What do you see when you try to start in normal mode? Remember that when one log in in normal mode (if possible) Windows resets the "Last Known Good ...".
<LI>When in Safe Mode have you looked for entries in the Event viewer, log files for the SP installation etc.?[/list]