Can't Add Fax Support in WinXP Pro SP3

Hal -

The hotfix you reference is included in SP3 and obviously doesn't solve the
problem.

I'm dealing with MS Tech Support now. After a couple of very false starts,
it appears that the issue has something to do with the handling of user
profiles. (Yeah - not intuitively obvious.) So far, per MS guidance, I've
tried adding a new user account which failed to complete initialization upon
the first login. I'm awaiting their further response. If I don't achieve
success, I'll try blasting my installation with Esentutl.exe that both you
and MS mention.

Thanks for responding.

- John

"Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]" wrote in message
...
Rob and John:

It sounds like you may have security data base corruption as documented in
this KB article. This is a farly common problem after an SP2 install and
it
looks like the probleem persists with SP3:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884018/EN-US/
You cannot add a Windows component in Windows XP

You can either:

1. Get the hotfix mentioned in the KB article and install it. Microsoft
usually waives any charges for support calls to get supported hotfixes
listed in Knowledge Base articles. If you go this route, please make SURE
the person you talk to understands you've applied XP-SP3; this hotfix may
have been included. FWIW, the only report I've had back on this hotfix
was
that it did NOT fix the problem on an XP-SP2 system

2. Try this procedure using the Esentutl.exe utility mentioned in the KB
article to recover from security database corruption:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...name=c00270202
HP and Compaq Notebook PCs: Unable to Install Windows XP Fax Software

I can report that the Esentutl utility has corrected the problem in a
number
of cases, HOWEVER, note that Microsoft does NOT recommend that you use the
utility and would prefer you try the hotfix.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE --
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

After much fiddling with startup programs and services, I found that by
removing all vesiges of the fax component, disabling all non-MS services,
and then re-installing the fax component, it worked. After re-enabling all
services, it continued to work - even after a couple of re-boots - for a few
days. Then it malfunctioned again.

Remembering scattered references to issues with the Bluetooth stack is
vaguely related problems, I disabled my LLogitech Bluetooth service (v4.24),
reinstalled the fax component, and it worked reliably. I then updated
Logitech SetPoint (including their Bluetooth stack & service) to v4.60, and
the fax component is still working fine after several days.

It appears that in my case, the problem was some sort of interaction between
SP3 and Logitech's previous Bluetooth service. I'm just hoping that it
won't recur.

- John