I remember infinite loop problems with installing win 3.1.. I managed a lab full of computers at the time and I HATED Microsoft, now I just sort of HUGELY DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT THEY DO... it's gotten that much better Microsoft OS should not be sold to consumers, only MAC... Microsoft OS requires a great firewall and an IT person with lots of time on their hands to get it right...
see SirCumsized post. just another reason to disable auto update if everything is working fine after clean install. i guess you have to start over from scratch and go up to SP2. i did not see any reason to update to SP3 i would go with bare bones setup- http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
::this weekend I rebooted and Windows XP suddenly decided it ::needed to be activated again. Did MS not roll out a new version of windows activation that closed a lot of known loopholes in there? Can it be that this happened to you - i.e. a stupid little crack just stopped working
I'm sure it was their rollout fix that caused it ... except it was not a cracked version and when I finally got past all their crap it activated just fine. However I bet all the actual software pirates have cracked the new update already.
Well, i can not really say anything to that - I ahe been using VLK (Volume Licensing Key) versions on XP ever since, and for 2008 / Windows 7 I am lucky enough that the contracts between me and MS make me a KMS available, so all activations happen locally, including reactivations.