Installing WinXP SP2 is a risk

Here's an instance where after installing sp2 all applications worked OK
except anything Microsoft; XP, Office 2003, IE blah blah. XP was
originally a clean install onto a new HD 'bout 5 months ago and defragged
2-3 times before d/l and installing sp2:

Outlook 2003 - could not find Word 2003 as the email editor; broken
Word 2003 - could not register new documents; could not link documents;
broken
Windows Installer - could not repair, reinstall, maintain any Microsoft
component; broken
System Information - broken due to a problem with WMI, which was broken
Services editing - broken ability to stop, disable some services
Services Dependancies availability - broken
WMI - broken
RPC - altered & broken
DEC - totally fuzzy what this is; no effect to my problems disabled or
enabled; assumed broken
Desktop Icon graphics - everything looked like 640x320 quality but 1280x960
sized; broken
Speed for anything (applications, windows, browser, surfing etc) - lost 20%

Joe:

Very strange.
I installed SP2 over an XP install that I had done in Feb 2003.
No problems, including the use of Office 2003

Sometime on, or about Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:36:16 -0400, Joe Billionaire
wrote:

Here's an instance where after installing sp2 all applications worked OK except anything Microsoft;
XP, Office 2003, IE blah blah. XP was originally a clean install onto a new HD 'bout 5 months ago
and defragged 2-3 times before d/l and installing sp2:

Outlook 2003 - could not find Word 2003 as the email editor; broken
Word 2003 - could not register new documents; could not link documents; broken
Windows Installer - could not repair, reinstall, maintain any Microsoft component; broken
System Information - broken due to a problem with WMI, which was broken
Services editing - broken ability to stop, disable some services
Services Dependancies availability - broken
WMI - broken
RPC - altered & broken
DEC - totally fuzzy what this is; no effect to my problems disabled or enabled; assumed broken
Desktop Icon graphics - everything looked like 640x320 quality but 1280x960 sized; broken
Speed for anything (applications, windows, browser, surfing etc) -
lost 20%
sp2 rollback; since Windows Installer was broken I could not rollback; broken

Soooooooooo I did a CD repair and this happened:

All of the above - FIXED!
Speed for everything - gained 20%
DirectX 9c did not update 3 files; does not find my SB Live! card (Creative driver problem, not MS);
manually copied dx files from 1 location which had 9c dated files to 2 locations TWICE before the
system 'unprotected' the older files, for each of 3 files; fixed but reinstalled again; still fixed

All back to usual. Sorry MS but SP2 didn't work for me. I'm not saying anything other than stating
some facts.

Some of the most common problems that cause problems in sp2 are
spyware/adware and viruses. Anyone considering doing this upgrade
should do a complete sweep with at least one or two spyware cleaners
(AdAware and Spybot are two good examples). A complete virus scan
wouldn't hurt either. I'd also recommend making sure that all your
drivers are up-to-date and that any software updates (like to Office
programs) have been made. So far I've upgraded 3 different computers
without a hitch yet.

Sam
--
To mail me, please get rid of the BS first

Here's an instance where after installing sp2 all applications worked OK except anything Microsoft;
XP, Office 2003, IE blah blah. XP was originally a clean install onto a new HD 'bout 5 months ago
and defragged 2-3 times before d/l and installing sp2:

Outlook 2003 - could not find Word 2003 as the email editor; broken
Word 2003 - could not register new documents; could not link documents; broken
Windows Installer - could not repair, reinstall, maintain any Microsoft component; broken
System Information - broken due to a problem with WMI, which was broken
Services editing - broken ability to stop, disable some services
Services Dependancies availability - broken
WMI - broken
RPC - altered & broken
DEC - totally fuzzy what this is; no effect to my problems disabled or enabled; assumed broken
Desktop Icon graphics - everything looked like 640x320 quality but 1280x960 sized; broken
Speed for anything (applications, windows, browser, surfing etc) -
lost 20%
sp2 rollback; since Windows Installer was broken I could not rollback; broken

Soooooooooo I did a CD repair and this happened:

All of the above - FIXED!
Speed for everything - gained 20%
DirectX 9c did not update 3 files; does not find my SB Live! card (Creative driver problem, not MS);
manually copied dx files from 1 location which had 9c dated files to 2 locations TWICE before the
system 'unprotected' the older files, for each of 3 files; fixed but reinstalled again; still fixed

All back to usual. Sorry MS but SP2 didn't work for me. I'm not saying anything other than stating
some facts.

Joe Billionaire wrote in
:

Here's an instance where after installing sp2 all applications
worked OK except anything Microsoft; XP, Office 2003, IE blah
blah. XP was originally a clean install onto a new HD 'bout 5
months ago and defragged 2-3 times before d/l and installing
sp2:

Outlook 2003 - could not find Word 2003 as the email editor;
broken Word 2003 - could not register new documents; could not
link documents; broken Windows Installer - could not repair,
reinstall, maintain any Microsoft component; broken System
Information - broken due to a problem with WMI, which was broken
Services editing - broken ability to stop, disable some services
Services Dependancies availability - broken
WMI - broken
RPC - altered & broken
DEC - totally fuzzy what this is; no effect to my problems
disabled or enabled; assumed broken Desktop Icon graphics -
everything looked like 640x320 quality but 1280x960 sized;
broken Speed for anything (applications, windows, browser,
surfing etc) - lost 20%
sp2 rollback; since Windows Installer was broken I could not
rollback; broken

Soooooooooo I did a CD repair and this happened:

All of the above - FIXED!
Speed for everything - gained 20%
DirectX 9c did not update 3 files; does not find my SB Live!
card (Creative driver problem, not MS); manually copied dx files
from 1 location which had 9c dated files to 2 locations TWICE
before the system 'unprotected' the older files, for each of 3
files; fixed but reinstalled again; still fixed

All back to usual. Sorry MS but SP2 didn't work for me. I'm
not saying anything other than stating some facts.

Devldr32.exe, which is part of the SoundBlaster Live installation for
Creative Mixer, the PlayCenter, and the AudioHQ, wreaks havoc with
SP2 (on most systems).

Best approach is to remove all SB Live drivers & software prior to
the SP2 install and then install only the drivers after SP2 is
installed.

Symptoms include:
1. system boots take 2 to 3 minutes
2. some services refuse to start
3. number 2. above causes some hardware (printers, scanners etc.) to
stop working

Nick Goetz