Installing WinXP SP2 is a risk

I did take it at face value. Clearly I have no sense of humour! E'en as we
speak I have launched Spybot S & D.

Alex, watch out: statements like this might make MS have you turn in your
MVP badge. We Bournbemouthians (sic) must stick together.

"Alex Nichol" wrote:

Thane of Lochaber wrote:
Ummm, I thought it was pretty obvious that Carey was joking.

He ought not to say such things - even in jest, and even if he omits the
[MVP] in his handle. People are only too likely to take it at face
value



--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

Sorry Alex. In responding to you, I failed to note that a fake "Carey Frisch
was apparently responsible for the Spyware claim. I have generally been
reading your advisory statements for some time and I am impressed with your
understanding of what is to me, basically, an impossible subject.

"Alex Nichol" wrote:

Thane of Lochaber wrote:

Ummm, I thought it was pretty obvious that Carey was joking.

He ought not to say such things - even in jest, and even if he omits the
[MVP] in his handle. People are only too likely to take it at face
value



--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

"RonK" wrote in message

I also think that there should be a warning that XP might not boot
after installing SP2.

Agreed - especially now that Windows Update is pushing it (and yes, I
re-tested it that way; it still kills at-risk Prescott systems).

See http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm for a definitive (?) coverage
on this topic - what happens, why, how to tell if your PC will fail
this way before it does, what to do to get out alive.



-------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
"I think it's time we took our
friendship to the next level"
'What, gender roles and abuse?'
-------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 09:25:04 -0700, "Tonyo UK"

This a bit of a late reply, but can you possibly use System Restore to go
back to a date prior to the installation of SP2? I set a Restore Point on
both of my laptops before installation as an insurance policy.

You have to be able to boot to use SR, unless you can boot off XP CD
and access it from Recovery Console (does RC do that?)

Else you have to follow one of the two approaches in
http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm to get into XP SP2. Once there,
you can either uninstall it or keep using it or SR your way back.

I've done method 1 to uninstall it (was fine) and now I've used method
2 to live with SP2 in place, while I wait for my mobo ventor to
provide a suitable BIOS update. It's all in the URL (so I type less)



-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Reality is that which, when you stop believing
in it, does not go away (PKD)
-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 08:58:12 -0500, "Carey Frisch [MVP]"

Please post your hardware configuration. If you happen
to have a Prescott CPU installed,...

....you can also read about it he

http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

This covers what happens, why, how to tell if your PC will fail this
way before it does, and what to do to get out alive.


--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Never turn your back on an installer program
--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Why didn't this happen in beta testing? No one used xp sp2 rc2 on a
prescott cpu?


On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 03:05:23 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Win9x)" wrote:

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 08:58:12 -0500, "Carey Frisch [MVP]"

Please post your hardware configuration. If you happen
to have a Prescott CPU installed,...

...you can also read about it he

http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

This covers what happens, why, how to tell if your PC will fail this
way before it does, and what to do to get out alive.


--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Never turn your back on an installer program
--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

http://www.angelfire.com/in4/computertips/

Hey Cquirke - Your link won't go anywhere.

"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" wrote in message
...
"RonK" wrote in message

I also think that there should be a warning that XP might not boot
after installing SP2.

Agreed - especially now that Windows Update is pushing it (and yes, I
re-tested it that way; it still kills at-risk Prescott systems).

See http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm for a definitive (?) coverage
on this topic - what happens, why, how to tell if your PC will fail
this way before it does, what to do to get out alive.



-------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
"I think it's time we took our
friendship to the next level"
'What, gender roles and abuse?'
-------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 22:48:46 -0400, RonK wrote:

Hey Cquirke - Your link won't go anywhere.

Try this: http://cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

--
Howard

cquirke (MVP Win9x) wrote:

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 08:58:12 -0500, "Carey Frisch [MVP]"


Please post your hardware configuration. If you happen
to have a Prescott CPU installed,...


...you can also read about it he

http//cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm
Hi

You might want to add a colon in that URL:

http://cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm


--
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/scr...r/default.mspx

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 22:48:46 -0400, "RonK"
wrote:

Hey Cquirke - Your link won't go anywhere.

Did I typo it? Let me cut-and-paste test it... ah, OK :-)

http://cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

Thanks! Sorry about the colectomy :-)



-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
"If I'd known it was harmless, I'd have
killed it myself" (PKD)
-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 21:12:34 -0500, Greg R

Why didn't this happen in beta testing? No one used xp sp2 rc2 on a
prescott cpu?

I missed the beta, so dunno first-hand. Maybe the Prescott they
tested on had an OK BIOS (most likely if it was an Intel-submitted
Intel motherboard system, that's one BIOS that should be OK).

Or maybe by the time Prescott came out, they'd done the "does it
work?" phase and were chasing other details, and didn't pull new PCs.

Or it could be the nature of big-brand-dominated UP PC market (Dell
this, HP that etc.) such that the channel is (and will be) saturated
with existing pre-Prescott stock.

If so, they may see their first Prescotts in bulk later than us here,
who have been building with them from June 2004.


The question that interests me more is; why is SP2 playing so deep
that a processor microcode variance makes a difference?

One possible reason might be the DirectX 9c that ships with SP2, along
with the new code (e.g. new FPU-based pixel shaders) in that.

Prescott has a handful of new opcodes, and it could be that DirectX 9c
makes use of these (if they are present) to get the most oomph in
games. If so, then chances are it will have to query the processor
for these on startup; maybe that's what Update.sys does.

Now; postulate an erratum that causes these opcodes to hang, and/or
the test for these opcodes to hang. These opcodes are never used in
pre-SP2, so no problem if BIOS doesn't "fix" the errata by pushing the
required level of microcode revision. But if, etc.



------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

I was thinking the exact same thing...LOL


"Richard Urban" wrote in message
...
If you believe that software can make a piece of hardware mechanically
fail you must also believe in the tooth fairy!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"UserZero" wrote in message
...
I'm happy that your 30 computers have all been updated successfully and
happy
for everyone who has had success in installing the SP2, but I think both
Jason and I would appreciate more helpful replies.

I was unsuccessful in my attempt to install the SP2, in fact it seems to
have caused my hard drive to fail. I have kept up to date with all the
XP
updates, have updated virus software, don't have any strange or illegal
programs on the machine and the machine was supplied by Dell.

I'm off to check to see if perhapse my machine had the "one bad process",
but even with that one bad processor Microsoft shouldnt have sent the
update
through the automatic update system, they should have just informed
people it
was available for download and stated the known problems a bit more
clearly.


"Johnny Lingo" wrote:

I have installed SP2 on over 30 machines over the last week or more
(including today's autoupdate release) and I have yet to have ANY
problems.
I believe that if your hardware and software are both in good shape you
should be fine. I have also spoken to many friends and colleagues who
are
in the same boat at as me and saying that this is the most solid SP that
Microsoft has ever released. As long as the systems have been kept up
properly this SP seems to install and run great (except for one
processor).




"Jason" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I want to put out a general warning to users to not
install SP2. Yes, I realize that there are many security
advancements and all that, but the risk is not worth it.
I have just installed SP2 on a clean install and my PC no
longer boots up. Not in Safe-mode, not "last known good
configuration". I am now restarting the installation
again.
I do not know why it doesn't work, and I'm sure for
many users it did work, but I know it is not 100% solid.
The fact that there is a risk should be enough for you
not to do it. I should add that I do this for a living so
it's not like this is the first time I work with Windows.
It is the first time I have installed SP2, and it will be
the last until Microsoft can get it right.
For all users out there who are debating, do not
install it. Keep the regular updates going, but do not
install this as a complete update or you may be stuck
with 4 hours of work and lost data.

If only Microsoft could do things right the first time.

Best of luck to those who attempt it, you'll need it.

Sincerely,
Jason

Sometime on, or about Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:55:54 -0700, Jason wrote:

Hi,
I want to put out a general warning to users to not
install SP2. Yes, I realize that there are many security
advancements and all that, but the risk is not worth it.
I have just installed SP2 on a clean install and my PC no
longer boots up. Not in Safe-mode, not "last known good
configuration". I am now restarting the installation
again.
I do not know why it doesn't work, and I'm sure for
many users it did work, but I know it is not 100% solid.
The fact that there is a risk should be enough for you
not to do it. I should add that I do this for a living so
it's not like this is the first time I work with Windows.
It is the first time I have installed SP2, and it will be
the last until Microsoft can get it right.
For all users out there who are debating, do not
install it. Keep the regular updates going, but do not
install this as a complete update or you may be stuck
with 4 hours of work and lost data.

If only Microsoft could do things right the first time.

Best of luck to those who attempt it, you'll need it.

Sincerely,
Jason

Life is a risk. Should we not try it?

It would be impossible for Microsoft to create any software that would
be guaranteed to work on the thousands of combinations of hardware,
bios's, drivers and software installations. The prudent thing is to do
a full backup first, clean your system of any viruses/spyware, and
then stop all unnecessary processes before installing SP2...
especially your anti-virus software.

Anyone who doesn't do this shouldn't have been issued their computer
driving license. :-)

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

Keep in mind that when you go into a hospital, you will encounter sick
people. If it's a big hospital, you are going to encounter a LOT of
sick people. That has no bearing on the percentage of the general
population that is sick.



Alias wrote:

"Sam" wrote


Life is a risk. Should we not try it?


Just because life's a risk doesn't mean we should walk out in front of a
truck.

And that is of no comfort to the sick!

Testy

"Barry Watzman" wrote in message
...
Keep in mind that when you go into a hospital, you will encounter sick
people. If it's a big hospital, you are going to encounter a LOT of sick
people. That has no bearing on the percentage of the general population
that is sick.



Alias wrote:

"Sam" wrote


Life is a risk. Should we not try it?


Just because life's a risk doesn't mean we should walk out in front of a
truck.



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