[TenTec] Service Pack 2 Won't Install (off topic!!)

[Joe Giacobello]

You folks may all find this article from NY Times on " Still Wrestling 
Windows SP2?" useful. It acknowledges the problems with this so-called 
upgrade and gives step-by-step installation instructions to avoid 
problems. Hoowever, for reasons that are not clear I can't find the 
link, so I've cut and pasted what was still in my inbox. maybe someone 
else can locate the original ink.

Still Wrestling Windows SP2?

Last week, I wrote up a list of steps for long-suffering Windows users 
who are afraid to install Service Pack 2, which is proving to cause 
problems (like dead PC's) for certain unlucky percentage.

First, a correction. As one reader put it: "I can't believe the SP2 
product manager put his stamp of approval on your procedure. You have 
people visiting sites on the Internet [to check for BIOS updates] AFTER 
uninstalling their virus and firewall protection. Good luck to all of 
them."

Ooh, yes, that was a gaffe, which I promptly corrected in the online 
version of the column. If you have the original e-mail column on hand, 
you can make the same change by swapping steps 3 and 6, so that turning 
off your virus and firewall software is the last step.

Much more of the feedback, though, ran along these lines:

• "I just got done reading your current SP2 Step-by-Step newsletter. All 
I can say is, holy moley. While I may be pretty technical, I can't 
imagine the vast majority of the 200 million users being able to work 
their way through all of the precautions you laid out. Can you imagine 
trying to explain to the average Joe or Jane from Omaha how to update 
their BIOS? Are you kidding?!"

• "They are the 800 pound gorilla and they can't send a Service Pack out 
that works? To go through what you have suggested is absurd for the 
average PC user. Keep up the vigilance. Please let them know they have 
created a fearful user base."

• "Microsoft simply astounds me. I have to go through all of that 
because their software doesn't work in the first place?"

• "When talking to all of those Windows XP experts from Redmond, did you 
ask them why they created a patch which was so problematic to the 
average consumer? Surely, with all that brain power at Microsoft, they 
could have done a better job of creating a patch that does not require a 
safety checklist that rivals a NASA lift-off."

• "I am one of those people who have not upgraded my OS with SP2. Every 
time I talk to my propeller-head friends about the prospects of running 
the update, there is a chorus of 'noooooooo!' from the group. You're 
correct when you say many people of very afraid, given the horror 
stories found on the many message boards around the Net."

• "The irony is that because Microsoft is making such an arrogant show 
of this security release by putting it on the Critical Update list, I 
and many other professionals are turning off Automatic Updates. 
Microsoft should never have put SP2 on the Critical Update list. It 
should be optional.

"Until SP2 was released, I had all my clients' XP computers on fully 
automatic updates. Their systems would be protected within a day of a 
patch's release. Some corporate control freaks don't like this, as you 
mentioned, but I've never once been burned by an automatic update. But 
when the release of SP2 was imminent, I made sure that every single XP 
computer I manage had Automatic Updates turned off. So the real 
consequence of SP2 is that my clients' XP systems take longer to get 
manual updates and are less protected than before until I can test and 
prepare for a controlled release of SP2 under my own schedule. I don't 
think that's the consequence Microsoft intended."

Finally, two more bits of tech advice.

• "I have found that it is very important to run chkdsk [a built-in hard 
drive utility] before doing any maintenance on Windows machines [to 
repair hidden hard drive damage caused by crashes or improper 
shutdowns]. Especially when a large update such as Windows XP SP2 is 
installed. I have installed SP2 on over 50 machines without a problem 
making sure chkdsk is part of the pre-installation routine."

To which I'll add: If you know how to run chkdsk from the Windows 
command line, great. For anyone who's not quite that technical, you may 
find it less intimidating to proceed like this: Close all documents and 
programs. Open My Computer; right-click your hard drive icon; choose 
Properties; click the Tools tab; and under "Error-checking," click Check 
Now. In the next dialog box, turn on "Automatically fix file system 
errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Click Start.

And if all else fails:

• "Thank you for the warnings, but they came too late. Any advice on 
uninstalling SP2 so I can start again the right way? It came as an 
automatic update and I dutifully installed it..."

Yes. If you want to uninstall SP2 (perhaps with the intention of 
repeating the installation after first following last week's checklist), 
click Start, open your Control Panel, open Add or Remove Programs, and 
scroll down. You'll see "Windows XP Service Pack 2" listed as an 
individually removable item. Just click it and then click Remove.

Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com <http://www.davidpogue.com>.

73, Joe

Jim Reid wrote:

> Forgive this,  another off a direct Ten Tec issue topic.
>
>The update seems to be downloaded just fine.
>But,  I cannot get SP2 for XP to install!  Gets about
>as far as inspecting the "registry"  then an error window
>appears:  "Can't read to or from the data base".....and
>all stops.  Another window shows up advising that SP2
>was not installed,  and all disappears.  Only to have the
>reminder window to come up later advising that updates
>are available to be installed.  This has been going on for
>around a month now.  I'd like to be rid of these continuing
>reminders,  or else get the silly update pack installed.
>
>How/what do I do about the data base reading issue....
>maybe just forget it,  hi.
>
>73,  Jim W6KPI
>On the Garden Island of Kauai
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