XP SP3 update seems to be causing PC to continually reboot

I was trying to cleanup and upgrade a friends PC.
It had become very sluggish, to the point of barely running.
I ran through the usual routine for helping friends with this type of problem:

• Ran Spybot & Adaware and removed some spyware/adware.
• Ran 3 registry cleanup tools and removed a bunch of clogging stuff from the memory with CCleaner (over half a gig of temporary data was cleaned up)
• Disabled a bunch of startup applications that run in the background (this really slows the whole works down).
• Also disabled some services, per Black Vipers list.
• And disabled System Restore and Indexing Services.
• Ran a thorough Defrag (twice) and re-organized it.
• I also installed Service Pack3, IE7, and all of the MS updates.
• I also ordered him 1gig of RAm (he was running 256) and a video card (256mb DDR2), he was running onboard video.

The system was running very well with no noticeable lag. I was just finishing up and installed another MS update and now it continuasly reboots.
I remember this error when SP3 first came out (you'd think they would have patched it by now!) and went to this site:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953356/en-us

I tried both methods and still no luck.
the system is a HP Compaq Presario SR1123WM, with an Intel Celeron 2.66GHz. (most of the reported problems were HP AMD's!)

Any further suggestions? (I'm still googling)

Sorry, I misread the MS Help and Support

I didn't try option 2 yet (I don't have his XP CD).

I ran the .exe to prevent the problem (guess it's too late for that!)

Found another post and tried renaming the Intelppm.sys file in Windows\System32\Drivers, no luck there either.

still rebooting.

Quote:

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Ran 3 registry cleanup tools
disabled System Restore

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Two serious mistakes.

"It had become very sluggish, to the point of barely running" - main reason = "he was running 256"

Looking for help, not critisism please.
If you have a recommendation, please offer it.

I've never had a problem with these Registry Cleaners. I'll continue to use them.

And 256 was a different problem, but not why it was getting worse. New memory has been ordered, but I have a different problem to address here.

The system was running rather well before the last MS Update.

Think I solved it (kinda).

I tried a safe boot again, but this time I selected "Last Known Good Configuration" and it been stable ever since.

Now my concern is that it will begin "re-booting" again next time it installs the MS Updates (is there a way to permenently bypass this one? I'm going to try pre-emptive .exe I installed earlier, unless someone has a better suggestion.

Thanks!

How to troubleshoot common Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services installation issues
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906602

Quote:

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Note If you would rather send your issue to a support professional and have a possible solution send (sic) to your e-mail address instead of troubleshooting this issue yourself, click Microsoft Online Assisted Support (no cost for issues related to getting updates) in the open window that contains the installation error code. In the issue report that you will be asked to send, make sure that you mention the installation error code that you noted in step “d.”

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Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

It was running fine last night and this morning, I installed AVG Free 8.0, rebooted and went to church. When I can home, it started the rebooting thing again! So I went back to the safe mode "Last Known Good Configuration" and it stablized, but I fear the problem is still there.

More research! (Any other suggestions? I'll take a look at this MS Installation Issues doc, it looked pretty involved, but I'll review it, Thanks!)

Over the last several months, AVG has been causing a world of grief for a multitude of folks. :(