Weird Problem After Installing XP SP3

Hello again, friends. I thought I had everything fixed after I reinstalled the OS in my old Toshiba laptop (XP). Today, I downloaded service pack 3 from the Microsoft site and the computer was operating fine. Shortly after the download I uninstalled the McAfee firewall, since I wanted to use Zone Alarm.

Well, I was fiddling around with the computer and the BSOD turned up on the screen. It only lasted a fraction of a second so I couldn't read the message. Then the computer would restart itself indefinitely. If I went to safe mode the computer stayed on OK.

So I resorted to using restore to bring my computer back in time before installing SP3. Now the computer is working OK. Interestingly, computer properties shows I'm running SP2. Perhaps MS updated it for me while I was on the Internet?

Would you recommend I try installing SP 3 again, or should I just reinstall the OS as I did originally? I really appreciate your help. I'm also enjoying the challenge of working on this machine. It's a great learning process.

 

First we'll deal with the computer rebooting on a BSOD.

Right click My comuter under the Start Menu and select properties.Then click the Advanced tab and under Startup and Recovery click the Settings button. Under System failure, uncheck Automatically restart. Click OK and OK again. Now when you have a BSOD you'll be able to read and record the Stop error. A minidump will also be saved to C:\WINDOWS\minidump.

It seems your XP install CD had SP2 included. You need SP3 because Microsoft support for SP2 ended in 2010. So, re-install SP3. Your computer properties should then reflect that info.

 

Thanks. I'll try your suggestions.