XP 2 Upgrade?

I’ve finally received Microsoft’s flag to remind me to update my XP Home to service pack 2. I’m loathed to do anything whilst my PC is working well at the moment.

What’s the latest consensus of opinion on this subject, is it now considered safe to upgrade or is it still too early to chance it - for a non-techie like me?

Sally

Don't upgrade at your peril.

JonnyT

I got the upgrade cd from p c world. It recommends a visit to microsoft site to check for "other" upgrades and gives advice on spyware etc. I then shut down avg virus checker, firewall and win patrol and ran the cd.I have had no problems whatsoever.I ran the cd on two machines one with xp home and the other with xp professional.

I have upgraded 100's of machines with only minor issues with applications that were installed prior to the Firewall. The fixes are very simple.

You simply have to have SP2 if you want XP to continue to be secure ans stable.

JonnyT

I, on the other hand, have upgraded only one machine, and it was a nightmare and a disaster which (contrary to what everyone claims) was _far_ from all reversed by uninstalling the thing. I've now bought a new PC which works perfectly and won't be installing XP2 in a hurry.

Here's some stuff on SP2 http://pcpitstop.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=63817
A lot of the early probs have been resolved. Make sure you disable all running programmes, especially antivirus and firewall. It takes its time installing.......don't rush it.
You'll be OK. If not, blame the others :cheesy:

oatman said:

Here's some stuff on SP2 http://pcpitstop.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=63817
A lot of the early probs have been resolved. Make sure you disable all running programmes, especially antivirus and firewall. It takes its time installing.......don't rush it.
You'll be OK. If not, blame the others :cheesy:

Click to expand...

I'd add these links to ur pre-install read/print list:

(1) Your computer stops responding when you restart to complete the installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

(2) How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer

(3) Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility

(4) Update to help resolve an issue where a limited number of systems running a BIOS without production support for Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Celeron D processors based on Prescott C-0 stepping can potentially hang on Windows XP Service Pack 2 installation

My brother installed SP2 and had major problems afterwards. The machine (based on Shuttle system but made by Evesham) just kept rebooting and he couldn't even access Safe Mode. Not being fully PC-literate he had to pay an engineer to sort it all out, and even after the help, his ADSL USB modem refused to work again - he had to buy a router in the end. I think his PC had all these problems due to his PC motherboard manufacturer not updating the BIOS - more information for Shuttle owners here.

Well, his misfortune has been fortunate for me as it made me investigate whether my laptop would have problems with SP2. I have the free CD but with my machine running so well right now I am still relectant to install it. Plus I don't think I'd use all the latest "features", and I already have all the necessary security updates anyway. Meanwhile, my brother refuses to update to SP2 ever again and is £300 lighter!

Bluewave said:

my brother refuses to update to SP2 ever again and is £300 lighter!

Click to expand...

Hmmm ... £300? ... he got off cheaply

Well - nice opportunity for a rant!
If you're going to do this I would ONLY contemplate it if you have "ghosted" your HD beforehand. That way, if you can't resolve any issues after the upgrade then you can go back to what you had before. (Oh, and yes there will be issues!) From personal experience, a simple "Restore Point" is insufficient, as in my case the upgrade wiped out ALL previous restore points.
I had major problems with this, which multiple formatting and repair/new installations have failed to resolve. My machine is still suffering from the problems, as I am unable to install the .net framework (a microsoft product!) which is needed to run ninjatrader! It also crashes randomly.
It is of course possible that this is all due to a major hardware problem which was latent on the machine. However I am now stuck between a rock and a hard place as, whilst the machine is still under warranty, it will cost a considerable amount of money to fix it if it is a software problem, as software is only warranted for 90 days!
Be careful!
Cheers
Q

Iv'e been running the upgrade for months with no problem, its not perfect but, it is better IMHO............

Good Luck

One of the reason's Microsoft introduced an upgrade was because the previous one was flawed, hence patches and upgrades, and no doubt there will be another upgrade, as operating systems become more
highly complex in the amount of tasks they are required to do, so doe's the increase in flaws, its trail and error on a huge scale, as hackers become even more skillful in finding a weakness in a system, MS in turn find a solution, I don't believe its going to change in the foreseeable future, to move forward you have to not only upgrade hardware, but software to, The choice is yours.....................Good Luck

Just wondering. Those that had problems with the upgrade did you follow Microsoft's instructions to scrub out all spyware?

It would have been nice if those instructions were around when I did the upgrade in Early Sept!
Thank you Mr Gates.
Q

Roberto said:

Hmmm ... £300? ... he got off cheaply

Click to expand...

My bro thought so too, and was just happy that he didn't need to buy a new machine, a thought I just couldn't even comprehend! Anyway, my bro also had my research services and experience free for a week before the engineer stepped in - it's hard work instructing someone over the phone and I knew I was beat when his machine wouldn't even go into safe mode!

Quercus said:

If you're going to do this I would ONLY contemplate it if you have "ghosted" your HD beforehand. That way, if you can't resolve any issues after the upgrade then you can go back to what you had before.

Click to expand...

I feel your pain and hope you get your PC running normally soon. I feel ghosting hard disks are beyond most users who (1) wouldn't see the need for it (2) wouldn't know how to do it (3) wouldn't have a separate HD (4) Even if they did have another HD, wouldn't remember to do it regularly! The more data I put on my PC (and after 2 memory chip corruptions - curses to the manufacturer for using cheap memory!) the more I realised I needed to use HD ghost imaging. So I bought a large capacity external HD that can connect through USB, USB2 or Firewire 400/800 (should be future proof!) and make fairly regular backups. Of course, ghosting won't help clearing out old programs, files and registry entries though - sometimes you just need to re-format the drive and reinstall for that "fresh PC" feeling

Culion said:

Just wondering. Those that had problems with the upgrade did you follow Microsoft's instructions to scrub out all spyware?

Click to expand...

Easy for Microsoft to say that, and it makes it look like their trying to blame bad SP2 installations on possible spyware. But again, how many Joe Publics would just accept the SP2 auto download/update without checking their machine for suitability or for viruses/spyware/trojans?

Bluewave said:

But again, how many Joe Publics would just accept the SP2 auto download/update without checking their machine for suitability or for viruses/spyware/trojans?

Click to expand...

Indeed. But for the record, I ran adaware first and deleted everything it found, then disabled Norton antivirus and everything else I had running, in short "did nothing wrong" and still needed a new PC because even uninstalling SP2 didn't correct the damage it had done.

Roberto, why didn't you simply put in the restore CD and rebuild?

If you partition your drive correctly this is a relatively easy task without data loss.

JonnyT

JonnyT said:

Roberto, why didn't you simply put in the restore CD and rebuild? If you partition your drive correctly this is a relatively easy task without data loss.

Click to expand...

Restore CD?
Rebuild?
Partition your drive?
As Bluewave explains above, not everyone knows anything about computers like you do, Jonny. I was _considerably_ more cautious about the thing than most people would be, and it still destroyed my computer.

XP SP2 doesn't destroy PCs.

There are documented ways on how someone who isn't computer literate can uninstall it if required.

I have installed in many many times and only had issues with the Firewall which are easily resolved.

JonnyT

I installed SP2 and ran for months with no problem. For reasons that don't matter here I tried uninstalling using the Add or Remove Software facility in Control Panel, and that's when my problems began. Here's where Microsoft (who've been very helpful) subsequently directed me for information on uninstalling SP2, if you need to do it: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875350 Hope it helps someone.

I am now attempting to rebuild/repair my partially crippled Windows from my original install CD but it keeps asking for the SP2 CD, which I've also seen reference to in this thread. Can anyone tell me how can I get hold of a SP2 CD?

Thanks.

WR

You can download the network install version from http://download.microsoft.com

Burn it to a cd and use that.

JonnyT