SP2 Update hangs at "Creating restore point"

[Matt]

I did an XP repair install on my and have since been unable to update
to SP2.

It happens the same way every time. I run IE and Tools->Windows Update
and it goes to back up the system and reports "Creating Restore Point".

The hard drive is active for a while, and the blue progress bar gets
about a third of the way to completion. Then the HD light goes out and
the system is messed up as partly described here:

Can move the mouse pointer.
The blue bar at the top of the "Installing Updates" window flashes upon
mouse clicks.
Can't kill or minimize the IE window.
Can't call up the Start menu.
System doesn't respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del or to Power button.
The only option seems to be to unplug the computer and reboot.

Other:
Dell Dimension 4500, 40G drive, 26 G free space.
Check disk reports no errors.

Any ideas what is wrong?

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Matt wrote:

> I did an XP repair install on my and have since been unable to update
> to SP2.
>
> It happens the same way every time. I run IE and Tools->Windows Update
> and it goes to back up the system and reports "Creating Restore Point".
>
> The hard drive is active for a while, and the blue progress bar gets
> about a third of the way to completion. Then the HD light goes out and
> the system is messed up as partly described here:
> (snip)
Hi

I suggest that you disable and then enable System Restore to see
if that fixes it. If not, let System Restore be disabled while
installing SP2.

To disable/enable System Restore:

Start Control Panel --> System

Under the System Restore tab, use the "Turn off System Restore on
all drives" check box (press the OK or Apply button for each change).


--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx

[Matt]

Torgeir Bakken (MVP) wrote:
> Matt wrote:
>
>> I did an XP repair install on my and have since been unable to update
>> to SP2.
>>
>> It happens the same way every time. I run IE and Tools->Windows
>> Update and it goes to back up the system and reports "Creating Restore
>> Point".
>>
>> The hard drive is active for a while, and the blue progress bar gets
>> about a third of the way to completion. Then the HD light goes out
>> and the system is messed up as partly described here:
>> (snip)
>
> Hi
>
> I suggest that you disable and then enable System Restore to see
> if that fixes it. If not, let System Restore be disabled while
> installing SP2.
>
> To disable/enable System Restore:
>
> Start Control Panel --> System
>
> Under the System Restore tab, use the "Turn off System Restore on
> all drives" check box (press the OK or Apply button for each change).

Thanks for your help.

I disabled System Restore but didn't try to enable it. Then I was able
to do the SP2 update without incident. After restarting, I turned
System Restore back on and got an error like "System Restore encountered
an error trying to enable/disable one or more drives. Please restart
your machine and try again." Then the machine hung completely (without
even the mouse functionality I described for the previous hangs).

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Matt,

The HighPoint Driver may be the problem.
You Cannot Create a Restore Point with a HighPoint Driver Installed
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=322246

Check the event log to and see if any of the errors match the ones in
the article above.
Go to Start - Run and type eventvwr.msc and press enter
Click the Source tab to sort by name, and then look for "sr" or
"srservice." Double-click each of these services.

System Restore Failures to restore
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/srfail.html

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/


Matt wrote:
> Torgeir Bakken (MVP) wrote:
>> Matt wrote:
>>
>>> I did an XP repair install on my and have since been
>>> unable to update to SP2.
>>>
>>> It happens the same way every time. I run IE and
>>> Tools->Windows Update and it goes to back up the system
>>> and reports "Creating Restore Point".
>>>
>>> The hard drive is active for a while, and the blue
>>> progress bar gets about a third of the way to
>>> completion. Then the HD light goes out and the system
>>> is messed up as partly described here: (snip)
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> I suggest that you disable and then enable System
>> Restore to see if that fixes it. If not, let System Restore be
>> disabled
>> while installing SP2.
>>
>> To disable/enable System Restore:
>>
>> Start Control Panel --> System
>>
>> Under the System Restore tab, use the "Turn off System
>> Restore on all drives" check box (press the OK or Apply
>> button for each change).
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> I disabled System Restore but didn't try to enable it. Then I was
> able to do the SP2 update without incident. After restarting, I
> turned System Restore back on and got
> an error like "System Restore encountered an error trying
> to enable/disable one or more drives. Please restart
> your machine and try again." Then the machine hung
> completely (without even the mouse functionality I
> described for the previous hangs).

[Matt]

Bert Kinney wrote:
> Hi Matt,
>
> The HighPoint Driver may be the problem.
> You Cannot Create a Restore Point with a HighPoint Driver Installed
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=322246
>

Thanks Bert.

I read and followed the instructions regarding that HighPoint Driver,
but the Hptpro.sys file was not present. I concluded that that was not
the problem, although there was a file with a name matching hpt*xx.*
(whose exact name I don't remember) that I left alone.

By the way, when I booted in Safe Mode and examined Control
Panel-->System-->System Restore, intending to check the "Turn off System
Restore on all drives" box, I found that it was already checked. That
must have been done automatically when the previous System Restore
failed as I described in my previous post.

> Check the event log to and see if any of the errors match the ones in
> the article above.
> Go to Start - Run and type eventvwr.msc and press enter
> Click the Source tab to sort by name, and then look for "sr" or
> "srservice." Double-click each of these services.
>
> System Restore Failures to restore
> http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/srfail.html

The event viewer presents logs of three kinds of events: Application,
Security, and System. Probably I was supposed to look for sr* events in
the System log. I looked in all three logs and there were no events
with names matching sr*.

So apparently I still can't make a restore point. Meanwhile I am
installing 16 High Priority Updates following the SP2 updates.

[Matt]

Matt wrote:

> So apparently I still can't make a restore point. Meanwhile I am
> installing 16 High Priority Updates following the SP2 updates.

The system installed 15 of the updates then again hung completely while
"Installing Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - March 2005
(KB890830) (update 16 of 16)..."

[Matt]

Matt wrote:
> Matt wrote:
>
>> So apparently I still can't make a restore point. Meanwhile I am
>> installing 16 High Priority Updates following the SP2 updates.
>
>
> The system installed 15 of the updates then again hung completely while
> "Installing Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - March 2005
> (KB890830) (update 16 of 16)..."

After rebooting and running Windows Update, the system hangs again when
trying to do that last update (KB890830). First the process hangs, then
I try to cancel it or I go into the Start menu, then the system beeps
and completely hangs, and I have to unplug it.

[Bert Kinney]

Matt wrote:
> Bert Kinney wrote:
>> Hi Matt,
>>
>>
> I read and followed the instructions regarding that
> HighPoint Driver, but the Hptpro.sys file was not
> present. I concluded that that was not the problem,
> although there was a file with a name matching hpt*xx.*
> (whose exact name I don't remember) that I left alone.

Please look for the correct spelling of the hpt file and post it here.

Enable SR and let it monitor the C:\ drive only.
Try restoring to the restore point that was created by turning SR on.
Take a look at EventViewer again for any "sr" or "srservice" error
messages.
If any of these steps failed, let us know, along with any error
messages.

> By the way, when I booted in Safe Mode and examined
> Control Panel-->System-->System Restore, intending to
> check the "Turn off System Restore on all drives" box, I
> found that it was already checked. That must have been
> done automatically when the previous System Restore
> failed as I described in my previous post.
>> Check the event log to and see if any of the errors
>> match the ones in the article above.
>> Go to Start - Run and type eventvwr.msc and press enter
>> Click the Source tab to sort by name, and then look for
>> "sr" or "srservice." Double-click each of these services.
>>
>> System Restore Failures to restore
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/srfail.html
>
> The event viewer presents logs of three kinds of events:
> Application, Security, and System. Probably I was
> supposed to look for sr* events in the System log. I
> looked in all three logs and there were no events with
> names matching sr*.
> So apparently I still can't make a restore point. Meanwhile I am
> installing 16 High Priority Updates
> following the SP2 updates.


--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Matt,

Post any Windows Update questions here.
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=6

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/



Matt wrote:
>>> So apparently I still can't make a restore point. Meanwhile I am
>>> installing 16 High Priority Updates
>>> following the SP2 updates.
>>
>>
>> The system installed 15 of the updates then again hung
>> completely while "Installing Windows Malicious Software
>> Removal Tool - March 2005 (KB890830) (update 16 of
>> 16)..."
>
> After rebooting and running Windows Update, the system
> hangs again when trying to do that last update
> (KB890830). First the process hangs, then I try to
> cancel it or I go into the Start menu, then the system
> beeps and completely hangs, and I have to unplug it.

[Matt]

Bert Kinney wrote:
> Matt wrote:
>
>>Bert Kinney wrote:
>>
>>>Hi Matt,
>>>
>>>
>>
>>I read and followed the instructions regarding that
>>HighPoint Driver, but the Hptpro.sys file was not
>>present. I concluded that that was not the problem,
>>although there was a file with a name matching hpt*xx.*
>>(whose exact name I don't remember) that I left alone.
>
>
> Please look for the correct spelling of the hpt file and post it here.

hpt3xx.sys

I am not using RAID, and as far as I know, the hardware doesn't have any
RAID capability.

[Bert Kinney]

Do you see hpt3xx.sys on the process tab of Task Manager
(ctrl+alt+del) ?

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/

Matt wrote:
> Bert Kinney wrote:
>> Matt wrote:
>>
>>> Bert Kinney wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Matt,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> I read and followed the instructions regarding that
>>> HighPoint Driver, but the Hptpro.sys file was not
>>> present. I concluded that that was not the problem,
>>> although there was a file with a name matching hpt*xx.*
>>> (whose exact name I don't remember) that I left alone.
>>
>>
>> Please look for the correct spelling of the hpt file and
>> post it here.
>
> hpt3xx.sys
>
> I am not using RAID, and as far as I know, the hardware
> doesn't have any RAID capability.

[Matt]

Bert Kinney wrote:
> Do you see hpt3xx.sys on the process tab of Task Manager
> (ctrl+alt+del) ?

No.

[Bert Kinney]

Then it probably isn't an issue.

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/


Matt wrote:
> Bert Kinney wrote:
>> Do you see hpt3xx.sys on the process tab of Task
>> Manager (ctrl+alt+del) ?
>
> No.

[Matt]

Bert Kinney wrote:
> Then it probably isn't an issue.

Thanks for helping me rule that out.

I suspect a hardware problem.

[Bert Kinney]

I would rule out everything on this page first, including the clean
boot.
System Restore Failures to restore
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/srfail.html

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://dts-l.org/

Matt wrote:
> Bert Kinney wrote:
>> Then it probably isn't an issue.
>
> Thanks for helping me rule that out.
>
> I suspect a hardware problem.