I have a very strange problem something NO ONE seems to have an answer for. I just bought the new ASUS A7N8X mobo with the nForce 2 chipset. I install a fresh copy of XP and when i go to get my windows updates it tells me there are none available for this machine at this time. I have three other systems and i do not have any problems installing or finding the updates. It has to be something with this mobo cause thats the only thing i have changed in the computer. Everything else is the same. All the other components existed with an asus a7v333 mobo and i had no problems installing sp1. If i try to install the sp1 standalone it gives me a Cryptographic Service error. My Cryptographic service is running and i tried to run a fix that MS offers on their troubleshooting page with no luck. Oh, also when i try to scan for updates it doesn't do a scan it automatacally goes into saying their are no updates available. I have never seen that before even when u get all the updates available and do a scan for updates it still scans and gives you zeros next to the 3 options. In my case it grays out windows and show the critical updates and the driver updates with a zero in blue. It also grays out "view installallation history" does anyone has any idea whats going on

also when i try to run the sp1 standalone and i get an error. It desplays a message in at the bottom right hand corner of the screen saying "Microsoft Windows XP for testing perposes only build 2600" the next time i reboot..

Are you using a legit copy of XP? If so, I'd recommend you slipstream it.

not sure what u mean by slipstream it ????

ok i did some research and understand how to slipstream. It says they only recommend doing it if u have an extra machine and u need to upgrade fast. Is there something wrong with slipstreaming. Is it gonna be just as good as upgrading through updates. Seems to me everyone would want to install windows this way. And if not i'm curious what the disavantage to doing it this way

ok installed the slipstream copy of xp i imagine it worked fine but i don't see the service pack installed in the add remove programs lists. i imagine it wouldn't be there anyways sense it was part of the install.. and btw I LOVE IT not only is it quicker but i bet it will work better sense your not actually patching windows after you install everything.

Glad everything's working, that's the idea... Easier, and if you have to deploy to many machines, you don't have to waste time by patching, rebooting, etc.

cool one more question where can i get the other updates aside from the sp1. Does MS offer a ftp site or something where i can get the rest of the updates

Which updates? There's updated deployment tools, and support tools, but those are available right on the MS web site.