Hi Julie

Sincere apologies for such late response. Frustration and exhaustion was perhaps the main cause. Having tried so often without any joy it really got on top of me and I more or less gave up.
Having said that I decided to give it one final go bearing in mind that I had already made a positive decision to give WIN 7 a bash. As a result I proceeded to pre order a copy which as you know was not due out until 22nd Oct.
Before acquiring the disc I made a final effort to download SP2 once again and blow me cold it installed without any hitches. How about that.
Now that I have WIN 7 in my possession I am in the process of backing up the necessaries as I intend to do a clean install as opposed to upgrade bcs of the problems which I have had with vista.

Tks for your efforts and apologies once more for late response