Hey guys ... UPDATE ... I fixed this problem, and here's how...
I figured this one out quite by mistake. I wanted to share what I found.
While I was troubleshooting what I thought was other unrelated problems I was having, I found an interesting problem with Windows Update V5.
I hadn't been able to use Windows Updates since I was on XP SP2, and I thought it was just because my serial or something wasn't V5 friendly. Even after I've tried all the new schemes to switch your serial, it still wasn't working with V5 updates.
So as I was looking into my specific V5 error code, I discovered that it wasn't working because I had Steganos Internet Security installed. Supposedly V5 doesn't cooperate with that app at all (or didn't). So since I haven't even been using it, I uninstalled that. And bingo, V5 worked right away.
There were 3 critical updates that I hadn't yet taken for XP, SP2:
- Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 Service Pack 3, English Version
- Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
- Microsoft GDI+ Detection Tool (KB873374)
Once I had installed these and rebooted, about 5 major issues I had been having with my Operating System, and specific apps (FTP apps, Soulseek, basic Windows Explorer functionality) all evaporated, and everything works like a charm....even better than before.
So............I'm quite happy today
When I was searching the board for this problem in old posts, I see that this issue comes up maybe once a month. And everytime, if it even gets resolved at all, the person doesn't know what fixed it. So, I thought this might be a good reference point for those who see this problem in the future.
Thanks guys.