Cant upgrade to SP2 - HELP!

OK -I'm a newbie on this site, so go easy. I searched around for information on this, but couldn't find anything. I am trying to get a friend's computer upgraded to sp2 and am failing. It once had SP2. In fact the "About IE" window shows xpsp_sp2, as does the General tab when I right-click My Computer and show Properties.

However, there is no Security Center in the Control Panel and the HiJack This log shows SP1 for both XP and IE.

I have tried to reinstall SP2 using the download from Microsoft, but it fails upon extraction of the files with a message that says "The system cannot find the specified file". No error code of any sort.

Adaware, Spybot and NAV all come up clean. I ran the beta version of the Safety Center from Microsoft. It found a bunch of stuff but hangs after the scan and does not allow me to deletewhat it finds. I tried to use Windows Defender, but it fails on installation because it requires SP2 which I do not have.

Has anyone run into this situation?

Thanks!

 

The SP2 download might be corrupted. Download & try it again.

Also see if you can uninstall SP2 before installing it again.

 

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately, Add/remove programs won't let me uninstall SP2. I've also tried 2 different copies of the SP2 upgrade and both fail in exactly the same manner.

As the extraction from the .cab file occurs, it stops when trying to extract a file called imagehlp.dll. I get a dialog box that says "Cannot find the specified file". No error code of any sort. When I hit the OK button, the extraction ceases, and the folder that was created in the root directory on my C: drive is deleted.

I've tried this in normal mode and in safe mode, as both the default user and the administrator. The behavior is the same every time.

I'm thinking that it might be best to just reinstall Windows XP, but I'd really rather not.

 

If you do end up formatting before you do see if you can create a slipstreamed XP SP2 cd. You can then do it all in one step.

Do a google for slipstream xp. You'll find a guide on how to do it. Fairly easy.