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Still waiting on installing XP Service Pack 2, should I? (1 Viewer)

Mary M S

Screenwriter
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Mar 12, 2002
Messages
1,544
I was considering downloading SP#2, which I had put off.
Just checked for recent discussion on the topic here at HTF.
Last thread I see is dated Aug 2004, with several posters at that time; - declaring a wait & see stance.

Have most here since summer gone ahead and installed?
Will I regret it?
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
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Oct 31, 1997
Messages
13,385
I've put it on my work PC, home PC and laptop, and knock on wood, no problems (though some stuff @ work was reported, it didn't affect my PC).

I'd say it's okay to update, especially since M$ is saying they're going to stop servicing SP1 sometime in the future (in order to get more updates you'll have to be at SP2).
 

Mike Fassler

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
523
i havent noticed any performance issues with it, if you dont maintain your pc yeah it could happen, but chances are slim,there arent really any reasons not to install it.
 

SethH

Senior HTF Member
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Dec 17, 2003
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I've installed it on at least 6 computers now and have not noticed any performance issues at all.
 

Max Leung

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SP2 zaps my firewire drives. If I have my Maxtor One-Touch firewire drive on, and then I turn on my firewire external DVD burner, it disconnects my Maxtor without warning and I get "Delayed Write Failure" messages from XP. If the DVD burner is on and the Maxtor is off, and I turn on the Maxtor, the DVD burner drops out - I made a couple of DVD coasters this way. Ugh.

It's probably a compatibility issue with my DVD drive's firewire enclosure, but this was never a problem with SP1. I've had this problem on two PCs now, both using nForce2 chipset motherboards but from different manufacturers (Asus and Abit). My solution was to copy the SP1 firewire drivers over the SP2 one - taking care to disable the driver file overwrite feature built into XP. Solves everything perfectly and now I can burn DVDs from content on the Maxtor drive.
 

Mark Shannon

Screenwriter
Joined
May 27, 2002
Messages
1,991
For some reason SP2 prevented me from connecting to the internet. It would say the network is connected, and that there is nothing wrong with the connection, but no internet programs were able to connect. I even tried disabling the built in firewall, to no avail. Uninstalling SP2 left the problem there, so I had to reinstall XP.
 

Francois Caron

Senior HTF Member
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Location
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François Caron
At work, one employee loaded SP2 on their Dell 8600 notebook and lost all ability to connect to the server's shared drives along with all of our clients' shared drives. Dell's response: "We don't support SP2." He went back to SP1 and everything works again.

SP2 does impose a limit on the number of connections permitted on each individual TCP/IP port. This was a problem for me until I found a utility that hacks the related DLL file and boosts the maximum allowable connections to whatever number you desire (the utility recommended not exceeding 100).

I have no other issues or problems with SP2 so I decided to keep it.
 

Mary M S

Screenwriter
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Mar 12, 2002
Messages
1,544
I think I will incline towards the "hold" pattern till MS creates a force.
Appreciate all the feedback, I fear the odds I might be one of the unlucky’s to experience conflicts if I download.

The two issues I do want to avoid are dealing with loss of my DSL connectivity and a slowdown.
I have really got to spend hours (the ones I waste here :) ) Studying info on tweaking my OS and reducing bloat. I loaded XP Pro on my old dependable 1G Athalon Thunderbird chip, which has stressed the system a hair, any performance slowdown would prob. be the straw that breaks this old DT’s back.

Really is time to be building my next DT and shopping a new printer and other peripherals with less antiquated drivers and software. I’m good at shopping the parts, my husbands good at screwing them together, but neither of us are inclined towards dealing with the software conflict issues. I usually end up fixing them because I have more time in front of the unit to sort it out. But when done, I’m never really sure ‘how’ and ‘what’ I did and do not want to have to repeat it.

Right now I’m living with old-model laser printer which took extreme forcing to get back online, when I switched the OS from 98 to XP. Took a wait for a software disc from HP for XP (which did not work) faxes from HP, phone calls for hours, and a template to follow which took about 2 hours to implement to force the software. A one week nighmare just to have my printer back online, since its hold on compatibilty running off XP, is tenuous, I’m afraid to rock the boat. I will end up (as last time) in a emergency crunch situation of trying to force the printer back, if a download of SP2 causes any issues which require me to reinstall my OS.

Thanks to all for the feedback on your experinces’ !!
 

Marvin Richardson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 16, 1999
Messages
750
Have it installed on 5 machines, four at home and one at work, and it works fine. My wireless adapters actually work now. I've had it installed since day 1 and I ran benchmarks on my main pc before and after, and it does not affect "performance" one bit.
 

Mike_J_Potter

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 26, 2003
Messages
262


I have ran into the same problem too on a work PC but I found a fix. It turns out that sometimes installing or uninstalling firewall and other related utilities including SP2 can corrupt certain registry enteries and disable the network. There is freeware utility called Winsock XP fix that will correct this a quick google for it can get you a copy.
 

Mary M S

Screenwriter
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Mar 12, 2002
Messages
1,544
There is freeware utility called Winsock XP fix that will correct this a quick google for it can get you a copy.

..be very careful the source you download the freeware from. When I replaced the Harddrive it was because I been so corrupted by virus/trogians/keystroke loggers etc. (I had let my virus def. expire)

One of the worst I 'let in' was a free winsock socket fix to fix what had corrupted after removing another spyware.

My fault entirely...but be careful..it looked legit, I scanned it, but my expired definitions did not pick it up.
 

DaveB

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
198
If your computer currently works perfectly and you are completely satisfied with its function and performance, then under absolutely no circumstance are you to ever make any needless changes. Do not attemt to fix what is not broken. Install no SP packs, no firmware upgrades, no driver updates, NOTHING. EVER.

Now that that's out of the way, is there some pressing reason why you feel you need to install SP2? Is there some added functionality or security feature that is important to you to have? If so, weigh your need for the added functionality against the possible (probable?) compatibility problems and assorted issues and the effort required to deal with them.

If after you've considered the above it still seems worth it, then by all means, GO FOR IT!!

David
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 31, 1997
Messages
13,385
Hmmm...except for the fact that MS is constantly fixing security holes with their updates and SPs, I'd agree with this. ;)

I know what you are trying to say with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" suggestion, but the truth is that if you go with an MS OS "out of the box" and never update it, unless you're behind the biggest, baddest firewall of all time, and never ever EVER download anything or open any email attachments or use Outlook, then you are going to have some problems. Seriously, you have to keep up to date at least with the "critical" MS patches.
 

Mary M S

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
1,544
Now that that's out of the way, is there some pressing reason why you feel you need to install SP2?

Only, (as Carlo alluded too). If SP2 covers a major security hole which could arise without it.

other than that, my desire is NO...don't rock the boat!

MS products are so fra-gi-lee...a breath of air...and it totters into the blue screen of death. :)
 

Marvin Richardson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 16, 1999
Messages
750
:rolleyes:I'm glad none of my four computers seem to be so fragile. I've had, oh about 4 blue screens in the past two years. That's doing everything with them you can imagine...photo editing, image capture, cd ripping, gaming, a 10 year old, etc., etc.
 

Max Leung

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Messages
4,611
Well, considering that Mary has a few legacy applications running - especially that HP printer - it may be wise for her not to upgrade at this time.

I upgraded to SP2, but I started from scratch to avoid as many compatibility issues as possible. However, I did it after "ghosting" my hard drive in case something went wrong. I used Acronis Trueimage, an amazing HD backup program that will back up even your boot drive without requiring a reboot and you are still able to work on the computer. Supports USB2/network/firewire and incremental backups. Far cleaner than Norton Ghost 2003 and simpler to use. Oh, and you can browse a backup image from within Windows if you need to pull some data you forgot to copy over. :)

So, Mary, if you want to try SP2, you can try a good HD backup program first. You'll need a spare empty hard drive though. If SP2 doesn't work, you can always go back - it may take a few hours however depending on how large the backup is.
 

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