Windows XP service pack 2 - nightmare!

[ails81]

Hi everyone
I have had my packard bell pc for about 2 years, I bought it from a friend.  after I bought it it prompted me to download service pack 2 which i did and it promptly crashed my computer and it wouldnt do anything - it wont go beyond the grey packard bell loading screen.  my friend then told me not to do it again as it had happened to him too (he is very pc literate!).  so he managed to reset the whole computer and i started again.

since then i just havent bothered about it, but now i cant download the new version of itunes unless i update the service pack.  i know its service pack 3 now but i am too scared to download it incase the same thing happens.  as i now have loads of stuff on my computer i dont want to lose.

any advice very welcome, bear in mind im not very good with computer language!  i have windows xp professional in case it makes a difference.

Thank you!!

[ALAN_BR]

If you don't want to lose your files, back them up.
I use a USB connected external hard drive.

You probably need to use something else because :-

If your computer did not like SP1, it will go ballistic with iTunes !!!

Two weeks ago my computer start up took 2 minutes instead of 10 Seconds.

I restored previous disc images from my external hard drive, and even those now took 2 minutes.
Suspecting an internal Hard drive problem, I ran CHKDSK, and it found (and fixed) 3 different errors in each of 1299 files.
Start up then took only 10 seconds.

Half an hour later our road lost electricity.  My laptop continued running on batteries, but the External hard drive (which was in use) had no battery and shut down - without the benefit of "Safely Remove Hardware".
Once back to normal, the Event log showed, as I expected, a "ftdisk" error due to this crash.  CHKDSK found and fixed 3 errors.

Before the 1299 * 3 errors, my daughter's new IPOD was plugged in, and that immediately caused the External USB Hard drive (on a different port) to crash, and the event log recorded a ftdisk error.

I may be wrong, but the next time my daughter wants to plug her IPOD on my machine I intend to run CHKDSK before and after, and fully expect to obtain evidence that an IPOD does 1300 times more damage than an electricity failure with open files.

So, if you want to use an IPOD, you should consider backing up to something other than a USB hard drive. (And may God have mercy on your soul !!! ).

Regards
Alan