HP XP SR3 PC locked and won't boot.

Good morning everyone!

2 weeks ago as I was running my weekly virus updates on 4 PCs every Thursday AM, 1 Vista, 1 8.1, 2 w/XP SR3 & Ubuntu 12.04 dual boot, I had a notification to install the latest MS virus scan update and Adobe Flash on the HP. Since I have done this many times in the past, waited for current app to finish scanning and enabled the 2 updates. About half way into the install this HP P4 locked up. It has been locking up periodically for 5 months only in XP, not Ubuntu.

I rebooted, and now get a flash of a blue screen of death so fast it can't be read, nor am I fast enough to stop it to read it (62 yr old). The PC just keeps recycling. Have tried Safe mode, and all of the other selections with hitting F8 before load XP msg appears. Always the same thing endlessly. Have tried a boot log many times but that fails also.

Downloaded Hirem's Boot CD and burned to a CD which does boot. Have run about 10-15 apps with no result but no errors. Have run chkdsk /r on c:. Tried to run SFC to update obviously trashed files but always get "Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files" from the c:\windows\system32 directory. Chkdsk did not list any repairs, but did take several hours to finish.

Is a HP pavilion a867c w/a P4 processor, 2GB mem, WD 250MB boot drive, WD 2TB storage drive, CD/DVD reader, CD/DVD Lightscribe writer, and a 3 1/2 floppy. Also added a 650w power supply and a nice Nvidia PCIE video card late last year along w/a new monitor. Our entire network is Ethernet gigabit 100MB/10MB. Have run WD and Seagate SeaTOOL long tests and no drive errors.

The problem is this PC runs all of the miriad of hardware we've purchased over the last 10 years because drivers were avail for XP, but not Vista or 8.1. And has been the most stable of all 5 PCs. And is heavily relied upon by myself

Am not an alpha geek but am comfy with older MS products and learning 8.1. Not comfy w/Ubuntu yet, but can navigate w/o getting lost and getting better.

Will welcome all suggestions and assistance.
And Thank You ahead of time, have tried several posters/replies already with no success.
Questing

 

Have you pulled the Nvidia card and tried booting with the on-board graphics?