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Yeah. I installed Service Pack 2 about fifteen minutes ago. Everything seemed alright, and I restarted. The loading screen comes on, changed. It says Windows XP, but no longer says "Home Edition" and the loading icon fills with blue instead of green. The copyright dates at the bottom were removed and were replaced with "Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation". After that, the screen goes black. It's supposed to bring me to the welcome screen, but instead it restarts. And it continued doing this about 5 times. So I shut it off for about a minute, try it again. And now, I can't even get that far. The Sony icon appears, I get the hardware page, and "Error loading OS." Now the only thing I did was install the Service Pack and I have no idea what the hell happened. I can't restart it in safe mode or anything. How in holy hell can I get this thing restored? Someone please know what to do... and this is NOT a pirate version of XP so rule that out, it's the OEM version that came preinstalled on our computer.

I'm not good at this, but have you changed any BIOS settings? it screwed me once

best advice i can give:

phone a pro

hey! dave! that hurts! I'm already here

you said you wern't a pro

I faked it so that I could get a bigger pay if I solve it

well...you said something about restarting in safe mode. that's the thing.
when the OS begins loading press f8 quicky and pick safe mode.
that doesn't work?
then you need reinstalling

yeah reinstall xp

Looks like your Master Boot record is messed up. Try some of the links here: http://www.google.com/search?&q=xp%20master%20boot%20record

If you have the original XP disc you should be fine. If you don't, then find one ASAP.

The original XP disc is an OEM and only will format the HD, which I don't want to do. Reinstalling XP wipes the HD. Is there any way I can fix the boot record without wiping and losing my data?

I've got no idea what happened...I'd suggest calling Microsoft

They'll end up charging me money for tech support...

seriously? that's a rip-off...

but can't you ask a question online?

Don't think so.. credit card was required last time I checked

*cancels SP2 download*

Are you sure it will reformat, as I've used OEM discs in the past and they are identical to retails discs.

Boot the OEM disc, then select your current WinXP directory when installing. You should get an option saying whether you want to repair the installation.

I read a news article about this Service Pack this weekend and Microsoft has admitted that installing this update will indeed screw up a few things for some people. Which is precisely why I am not installing it. Screw them and their service packs.

what does this service pak do??

Poor JKozzy!
This is much worse than my recent browser porn highjack!

Boot using the XP CD... There's an option to repair the OS.

Unless you are me and didnt get an actual XP CD with your computer.

Then you need to borrow one from a friend

what is sp2

Service Pack 2

Its crap Shadow dont get it

It says "Welcome to the Sony VAIO System Recovery Program
In order to recover, your C drive will be formatted. Do you want your C drive formatted? Or your C and D drives?" basically. There's no recovery consule like I've seen screens of on the internet... nothing like that. Either wipe the drive, or don't use the CDs basically. Crappy Sony... anyway I got one from my friend and I followed Microsoft's removal instructions and they didn't work... I tried the Master Boot Record recovery and that didn't even work either...

Tragic!

*faints*

but whats it suppose to be doing.

What? What the hell VAIO has to do with XP CD???
That message is really weird.....

Have you tried:

FIXMBR C:
FIXBOOT C:
bootcfg /rebuild
?

It's the VAIO Recovery CD. It wipes the HD and reinstalls XP on the blank drive. I also tried those on the Recovery Consule on the CD I'm borrowing, and they all failed miserably.

Sorry, double post.

hmm Kozzy can you get a second harddrive from someone?

Yeah, I think so, but what could I do with that? I can't boot two master disks on the same computer, and if I changed one of them to a slave, I'm afraid it'd wipe it if I tried to install, but yeah I could get another.. what could I do, Fire?

change the one you already had to slave boot from the new one with a new windows, that way you can access your old one and get your files

Are you sure that it'll recognize the slave drive at all? I've always thought that couldn't work

"The disk in drive G is not formatted. Do you wish to format now?"
cry

no Kozzy I aint sure but that has worked for me in the past when I had an almost similar problem

Take a look at the jumpers in the hd... your HD must be slave and the other one master.

I know, but it asks me if I want to format it, which I don't want to do cry

I think it would be a LOT easier if you just formatted it... if you get into trouble for it, just say it was a nasty virus

But I don't wanna lose everything... cry

Any software that can recover?

JK CALL microsoft.....to me it would be worth it to have it fixed correctly and pay the $$

I am a little lost right now so forgive me

You tried to boot using another HD, right? Did it work? Is the PC able to boot in Windows? Did the other HD recognize the Slave?

JK, thats not the Windows XP OEM CD. Can't you borrow one from a friend?

or ... from a "friend of a friend"?

I got one from a friend, and it didn't work. The Recovery Consule did nothing, I couldn't rebuild the MBR or anything... I think it's gone

I love how Microsoft's update is the cause of this problem...

Then do an install over the current one. You shouldn't loose anything this way, but make sure you get the latest updates.

It's from a Dell, will it know the difference if I install it on my VAIO? If not, I'll install right away. Will it format since it can't find any partitions, even though there were two? Thanks for putting up with me, everybody

I have been reading DAILY the amount of problems this so called update is causing in people's computers. I would HIGHLY SUGGEST that peeps who currently have decent firewall, pop-up blocker and spy-ware protection avoid this update at all costs or face the possibility of whats happened to J Kozz happening to you.

JK, if its a proper Windows XP CD, then overwriting your current install won't delete your files. Although make sure you select the right options.

Alright... *trembling hand* I will do it..

JP> True, very true... why can't Microsoft ever have something that *won't* have problems... I don't know, neither do you, so let's all switch to Linux...

(JKozzy: from Tomorrow Never Dies:
"Good, millions of people will now be forced to buy the expensive upgrades"