[nicholsonscn]

Hello,
I have run into a very mystifying and frustrating problem (to me). I have just installed a fresh copy of Windows XP home edition on a new hard drive. Everything goes fine and when it is installed I start the update process. Windows Update installs its latest version, then I go through it and get all the security updates it recommends. After those are done, it next recommends SP 2 - which I had running just fine on the same machine on the old HD. That also installs fine.. now the fun ends.
After SP2 is installed, and the system is up and running, any web page I browse to causes my computer to lock up and then reboot. After playing with the security and other settings I have narrowed it down to the entry in:
Internet Options : Security Tab : ActiveX Controls and Plugins
specifically the option for
Binary and Script Behaviors

If this is enabled then any page with any script (including running windows update) will cause my computer to lock up, sit for 3-4seconds, then reboot. No warnings, no errors.. I can move my mouse, but cannot select any window or start menu or taskbar item. I cannot alt-tab or ctrl-alt-del.

I am also unable to open the Security Center in the control panel (same behavior), and when I click on the keys for Activating this copy of XP, the activation window frame comes up but doesn't redraw the window (so you still see the stuff behind), it locks, and reboots.

I cannot seem to find any information on this type of behavior anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank you,
Shawn

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Get rid of SP2 mate. That's my advice. If you have antivirus, a third-party firewall, and some anti-spyware stuff installed (and keep them all up to date), you don't need SP2 so why allow it to make life difficult for you?

[pip22]

Get rid of SP2 mate. That's my advice. If you have antivirus, a third-party firewall, and some anti-spyware stuff installed (and keep them all up to date), you don't need SP2 so why allow it to make life difficult for you?

[gerryf]

I have to disagree with that for most people---sp2 can be an obstacle for more advanced users, but the security it adds makes it worthwhile for almost everyone else...

download the following, install it and see if that helps.
http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en

[LIONWOODS]

did you download SP2 before SP1? it is recommended that SP1 should be installed first.

[nicholsonscn]

gerryf- thank you, unfortunately that did not work.
Additional info - in trying to download that file I found that it is not just the 1 setting (Binary & script behaviors) - I also found that if "Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting" was selected (so either of those two script related ones) the behavior would be as described. I also should note that during the reboot process, windows does not complain that it was shut down improperly.

lionwoods - no I did not install SP1 separately - windows update just pointed me directly to SP2 after the initial security updates. I shall try that as well.


Thank you
Shawn

[nicholsonscn]

Hard to believe just how frustrating this is.

Ok - I reinstalled the OS from scratch to make sure I installed SP1 first (just want to be sure).

Installed the OS, used windows update to get the security updates, then instead of getting sp2, I got sp1 and all of its subsequent recommended and security updates. Then got sp2.

This time, upon rebooting after sp2 is installed - my machine decides to go on a rebooting spree. I get the windows xp splash screen with the starting up progress indicator, it then goes away like it's going to show the welcome screen, but instead it reboots. It did this 3 times. After that it logged in successfully and gave me the Windows has recovered from a severe error message 3 times.
I rebooted once more just to make sure things were ok (relatively speaking) and it booted successfully with no errors.

I load up internet explorer options and make sure that those 2 settings are turned on and run Internet Explorer. Hooray http://www.msn.com loads up just fine (that was one page that was always causing reboots). I then run Windows Update and it gets to mstoolbar.aspx and freezes and reboots just like before...
I reboot, open IE just to make sure things are still working there and it works fine.
I then turn off the scripting and go back to windows update (loads fine but of course since update is all script it just shows me a blank page). I turn back on the scripting options and set the run scripts to prompt me. Windows update successfully gets past the first script and then gets to that mstoolbar.aspx again and freezes and reboots.

This time after rebooting, opening http://www.msn.com also freezes and reboots (but it doesn't prompt me to allow a script!!)

And now I'm back to the same behavior as before. Any web page browsing causes my computer to freeze and reboot if the "Binary and Script behaviors" and "Script ActiveX controls that are marked as safe for scripting" are enabled.

Once again I installed that scripting update you linked gerryf to no effect.

What the [bleep] can be causing this?

Thank you,
Shawn