Will SP2 Crash my machine?

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Dont know if anyone else has experienced this problem but my pc froze midway through SP2 download, i had to unplug pc because nothing else worked. When i turned it on to restart it was missing system32 files and basicaly i had to reset machine and reload windows with the little grey magic diskette, losing nearly 1000 mp3,s and recent photos in the process. I know i should have backed up the recent photo,s but if you cant trust microsoft who can you trust.

Sorry, Leo, but if my experience is anything to go by, you should change your recommendation. I resisted for about a week before accepting Microsoft's invitation to install SP2 on my new PC (ten days old) running XP Media Center Edition. When I installed it, the PC would reboot every time I logged into Windows. I'd done every step Leo listed, including one which it turned out I shouldn't have done. At the bottom of the Windows Update list of updates (for SP1, after booting for the first time into Windows with a new PC) are various hardware updates and one of these was for a software modem. I'd installed everything.

Luckily for me, I have a Mac (this has never happened to me with a Mac OS upgrade) and could go on to Microsoft's website on it to find out what to do. The PC would start in safe mode and safe mode with networking, so I managed to stop it rebooting and give me a nice safe Blue Screen of Death to give me the stop code - nothing relevant on Microsoft's support site. Next step, free email support and some quick, helpful replies which didn't fix the problem. So up to a support professional.

In the meantime, I'd found the article on the Microsoft site which told me you can uninstall SP2 using the standard Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, so back to being able to use the PC, with only one minor glitch when it reported a driver error on the NVidia 5200 driver.

These guys are up to their necks in problems and the turn round is near the maximum of three days. It probably took longer than it should because the support guy concentrated on the NVidia driver and it turned out it had been OK all along. Very frustrating having to wait 2.5 days for each response after my response went back within minutes.

In the end, the guy asked for the crash dumps (I had eleven in a row within two hours) and I sent a selection. He finally came back after a further 2.5 days with the answer - I had two software modems installed and should remove one. Guess what, it was the one from Windows Update and when I removed it, I was able to reinstall SP2 and the PC is now fully up to date.

I asked about the signed driver I had installed and he said it isn't a good idea just to install new drivers as even if they have been signed by Microsoft, they can't be guaranteed to work! In this case, I don't even think the driver was for the correct software modem.

I think I know a bit about PCs but shudder to think how an ordinary person would have coped with a completely unusable machine. Mind you, I didn't buy it retail and paid half what it would have been in a shop as it was remaindered, so that's the kind of risk I was willing to take. Oh, by the way, following Rob's comment, it is an Advent Media Centre PC ...

The good news is that so far I have had zero software problems, three days into the world of SP2.

Install SP2 at your own risk. Hindsight says I should have kept ignoring the nagging from Windows Update and I don't intend installing any new drivers unless there is a critical reason for doing it.

I have a 30 month old Sony Vaio laptop. Came with Windows XP Home edition. I used to keep it up to date using MS update until the machine became unusable, when I restored it back to the factory state losing a lot of quite useful info. (It was backed up on another machine).

I turned off automatic updates and all worked well again.

Some time passed and SP2 came out. Being somewhat suspicious of MS updates, having experienced problems already, I did some investigation work around the web and magazines before buying one with a cover mounted CD containing SP2.

I installed SP2 and all seemed well for a couple of days, when mysterious reboots occurred, none of which completed successfully and each required a hardware reset to get the machine restarted. Sudden freezing of the machine started too, with the mouse pointer just stopping, again, a hardware reset required to get it restarted.

There was nothing consistent about what caused these problems, they did not happen before SP2, apart from when I had MS updates installed.

I backed up everything (again) and clicked the remove SP2 button (from control panel) and I now have a functioning machine again.

Fortunately, I use Linux for as much of my computing needs as possible, so protecting myself from MS and their poor quality software. The laptop is used where I can't use Linux or for family usage where they want to use MS software (Word) for compatibility with school work.

It is a bore though, when you try to follow the guidance of those good guys in Redmond, to find that my expensive laptop no longer functions as a result. Is this why they take so long to do things there, they use there own software and are continually rebooting their machines ?

My view (for what it is worth) , ONLY update windows if you KNOW that you NEED a particular update and do not do it for any other reason.

YES! SP2 MAY VERY WELL CRASH YOUR MACHINE! I'm not talking about problems with a few applications. After I installed SP2 and tried to reboot, Windows refused to load. The infamoue Blue Screen gave no clue as to what was wrong, no error message number, just "Windows has to shut down because someone has tried to change your settings." I have to reboot in Safe Mode and remove the damn thing. I've done this repeatedly. Now, before you go telling me I've got some unique problem, let me tell you I have a perfectly ordinary Dell Dimension running Win XP Family Edition, I scan regularly for spyware and have standard antivirus software running. Nothing I could find on Microsoft's website even acknowledges that this can happen. Proceed at your own risk.

I want to reiterate to everyone that SPYWARE is probably the number one cause of problems installing SP2. Microsoft acknowledges this. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS in this article - SCAN for spyware. Scan again with another tool, even. BACKUP. CHECK the Microsoft website for *known* compatability issues. GET UPDATES from other vendors who've been inpacted by SP2.

SP2 is a VERY worthwhile upgrade for a host of security related reasons. But because it makes some significant changes to your system, preparation on your part is essential.

Prior to installing SP2, I bought the latest Norton System Works software & scanned my system for viruses, etc. After SP2 was installed, I started experiencing issues with my Microsoft Picture It program, so I called Dell for assistance & they instructed me to call Microsoft. After on the phone with Microsoft support for over 5 hours, moving "unsigned" drivers to a new file, and doing step by step what I was instructed to do, including an attempt to uninstall SP@ & repair/re-install from my XP CD, my system crashed & the Microsoft rep told me "sorry, someone from system recovery will contact you within 1 week to attempt to restore your data; however, the chances are that you will loose your all your documemts. I had not backed up for about a year, lesson to be learned, but of course now I am upset that I have to wait for a phone call (no appointments are made nor will they provide me with the contact number for the system recovery department.) I called Dell afterwards & they told me I

Does anyone know how to go about contacting the Microsoft Systems Recovery Department?

My computer has been freezing for about 5-15 seconds at random intervals. this has been happening for a wile, at first i just reformated when i couldn't fix it, but the problem didnt go away. I noticed that the only thing i had installed other than xp was SP2. I reformated again and there was no change. Now im trying to fix it with virus scanning, ad ware, you name it and nothing is working. If anyone has had this happen or knows anything about it plz help me

thank you, this site has helped me a lot with my computer.

FAO: Rob

I had the exact same problem, Advent 7027. Figured it was something to do with the bios, so flashed it but still no joy. My workaround that has been successful is to disable acpi. This means you have to use the power button to swicth the notebook off button after sgutdown, but it did enable me to install sp2 successfully.

I'm a 37-year-old college student living off of severance. I don't have a lot of it left.

I made the mistake of installing Service Pack three weeks ago. The result? It kept "rebooting" my computer, out of the clear blue sky. It got to be that I had maybe 10 seconds of time before this happened, each and every time I turned on my system. I was using XP Upgrade software at the time, installed on top of a new motherboard and installed an "E Machine" operating disk (with Win 98).

I took the machine to a computer shop. THEY COULDN'T FIX IT, despite the fact that they spent three days trying. These were professionals, mind you, who install and support networks for large corporations here in the Austin area.

The end result? I spent $800 on a new machine and the full XP package, which was (I'm sure) Microsoft's goal all along.

AGAIN, I'M A COLLEGE STUDENT WHO IS LIVING OFF OF SEVERANCE, AND I JUST SPENT $800 TO FIX A PROBLEM CAUSED BY INCOMPETENT SOFTWARE ENGINEERS, WHO (I'M GUESSING) HAVEN'T BEEN LAID OFF AS I WAS TWO YEARS AGO.

MICROSOFT: YOU OWE ME $800!!!

Jeff Perrine
Leander, TX

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