Service Packs

[deja vu]

I recently reformatted my computer because there we loads and loads of problems. Unfortunately some of the errors have not gone away, and I thought reformatting was supposed to cure all problems.

My windows right now is running on service pack one and for some strange reason all the updates or windows wont install, the little icon on the bottom right doesn't even show up anymore. I set the automatic install time and everything but still no updates.

I have a bunch of software that I want to install on my computer but cannot because they need a active running version of service pack two or higher. I am aware that there is a service pack three now.(i'm falling behind )

I tried to download the service pack two installer, so i could just open the .exe file, but it would not complete the download because it said some other .dll was being run by another program.

HELP!!

[krt]

Perhaps you can try to skip the second one and download Service Pack 3 manually and install that one. If you do get any errors, google them or post them here, chances are you're not the only one that gets them.

Failing that, there is always Linux
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[deja vu]

I actually tried installing the service pack three first which also failed miserably.

I find myself having to reformat my computer now almost once every 2 weeks in order to have a computer that functions.

It seems every week there is some new error that pops up on the screen, even before it boots.

There error is a bunch of numbers and letters trying to reference other numbers and letters. It says something like it cannot retrieve data, is it ok to terminate the process. My selections are "ok" and "cancel."

Most of the time when I click either response there is no effect but over time more errors keep coming up.

Eventually software will not open anymore, my wireless internet will fail, and it seems the only thing I can do is reformat to help, or restore windows.

[Perpetual]

I see a few possibilities here. 1.You did not do a proper reinstall of windows. 2.You have a failing hard drive. 3.You have a boot sector virus. 4.You have a BIOS virus. 5.A combination of more than one of the above.
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God doesn't exist but I do

[marinaroz]

Have you actually formatted or just reinstalled Windows? In any case, it sounds like you have a bad installation. It happens. Format again and try reinstalling.
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Tarakana NET

[Xtreme $niper]

Aside from the possible explanations above, is your copy of Windows legit or was it downloaded? Sometimes downloaded versions can be messed with and it ends up not working as expected.

If it's legit though, then I'd suspect some sort of bad sector on your hard drive to be the problem because it's unlikely that you've got a virus so soon after formatting... My other guess would be what marinaroz suggested, which was that you didn't actually format your drive. When you install Windows you can either simply reinstall overtop an existing installation, or you can completely wipe out the partition and reformat it to NTFS again. That ensures everything starts fresh.
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