Sometimes it pays not to be an early adopter.

[Steve_Perry]

Well last night I took the plunge and decided to upgrade to XP SP2, a good 2 months or so after it was first released by Microsoft. After doing a lot of reading of MS technical bulletins and visiting sites of software that are known to have issues with SP2, I thought that the time was right. I only updated a couple of software titles and was expecting the new SP2 to ignore my Norton 2003 AV/IS installation.

After two false (failed) starts, with a cryptic '8007F0CC' error message - seems SP2 doesn't like modified boot kernels or login screens so it just craps out on the initialisation step.

Therefore I tried for a third time to install SP2 after turning my boot and login screens back to normal and it worked flawlessly Even better is that my anticipated problem with Norton 2003 and XP's security centre (or is that center ) didn't happen. On re-boot, Norton stepped in and turned off the beefed up XP firewall and said "don't worry I've got it all taken care of". It seems Symantec have tweaked their software too, because the security centre was monitoring my Norton firewall and anti-virus without any grief. :bannana: Two big geeen lights and one yellow light as I have auto updates set to notify me first as opposed to download updates/patches automatically in the background.

All very painless so it just goes to show, sometimes it's better to wait rather than be one of the first to get an update, it gives MS and others e.g. Symantec a chance to iron out the bugs.

So if anyone out there still hasn't jumped on the SP2 bandwagon, I think it's safe to do so judging from my experience. Heh although knowing you lot I'm guessing I'm probably the last.

S.

P.S. Sorry for the long rambly post, I just thought I'd share my good fortune and experiences with SP2, I really was expecting to F' up on me last night.

 

[Brian WH]

Haven't done mine yet mate. Downloaded but haven't let it install. I have Norton as well, so maybe I "might" now.

 

[scotth_uk]

Wahey Steve! Glad it went ok for you. Unfortunately it does go badly for some, but given the sheer number of changes that it makes, it's hardly surprising.

I SP2'd my new laptop the other day which was an SP1 XP Home machine. No issues at all. Went like a dream.

 

[Brian WH]

Well I finally succumbed and downloaded SP2 and SP3 Office updates.

No major problems Norton accepted by Security Centre as Steve found. Went on the net and couldn't get "any" E mails, as they all failed, timed out?

This web site wouldn't load either, and nor would any others. Tried to disconnect Firewall and it made no difference. Checked all the settings and couldn't find anything amiss. So I rebooted my system again and it then all worked fine, for now anyway. :bannana:

 

[glojo]

My son takes great enjoyment in upgrading my software whenever something becomes available. I think he does it deliberately to see if it is okay to upgrade is own computer. I will catch him one day then there will be fireworks.

I have had Service Pack Two working since it was first released and 'touch wood' no problems.

Good luck with your updates.
John

 

[pammy]

well - it's finally got me thinking it's OK to put SP2 on

My main prob is I don't really have an easy back up system. Up to now I've simply copied all the files I want onto CD which is wasteful and a pain. But now we have the three PC's networked, I reckon I should just be able to copy all my stuff over to one of the other PC's. Then as and when all is working on mine, get rid - or pull it across when I've fixed it all. BUT and there's always a but, it's been the main prob with my network, while we can all share the internet connection OK, viewing other files and sharing the printer has never worked reliably

I sense a serious IT session coming on

 

[marcos]

I stupidly upgraded my office laptop with SP2 last week and it's cost me a new hard drive, IT boys came and took it away. Apparently the service pack can't store/change some stuff and gets lost and just basically messes the HD, according to Microsoft .25% of upgrades will encounter this problem but .25% over 1 billion pc's is a lot of hard drives as I pointed out to the muppet at Microsoft " but if it was seriously flawed sir we would not have allowed it into general release" he stated, handy for me then eh

 

[Steve_Perry]

well - it's finally got me thinking it's OK to put SP2 on

My main prob is I don't really have an easy back up system. Up to now I've simply copied all the files I want onto CD which is wasteful and a pain. But now we have the three PC's networked, I reckon I should just be able to copy all my stuff over to one of the other PC's. Then as and when all is working on mine, get rid - or pull it across when I've fixed it all. BUT and there's always a but, it's been the main prob with my network, while we can all share the internet connection OK, viewing other files and sharing the printer has never worked reliably

I sense a serious IT session coming on

Hi Pammy,

Linky

Given my experiences of a week or so ago, I reckon the firewalls on the PC's that make up your network probably need tweaking to allow certain selected traffic from your LAN to travel unhindered whilst leaving your WAN side traffic locked up tight, if that makes sense.

marcos,

Sorry to hear that Now if I had read your post earlier I probably would have held off my SP2 upgrade for another 3 months.

S.

 

[Brian WH]

marcos,

Sorry to hear that Now if I had read your post earlier I probably would have held off my SP2 upgrade for another 3 months.

S.

Me too.

 

[pammy]

Hi Pammy,

Linky

Given my experiences of a week or so ago, I reckon the firewalls on the PC's that make up your network probably need tweaking to allow certain selected traffic from your LAN to travel unhindered whilst leaving your WAN side traffic locked up tight, if that makes sense.

Thanks Steve

When I've got the time and inclination I'll give it a good look coz your set up is similar to mine.