SP3 and beethov9 silliness

[Joe from LV]

I installed SP3 on My Dimension 8400 with only one minor glitch. It froze on
the restart shutdown and required a power down restart. Everything came up
as advertised and the machine shows no ill effects.

Then I attempted to update a Dimension 4600. While copying files it couldn't
find beethov9.wm_ and gave the option of retry or skip. Retry didn't work so
I clicked skip and it proceeded to about three quarters of the way through
the installing files section and choked again on the same file. This time
the only options were retry or cancel. Retry didn't work so I canceled.
Unfortunately this canceled the whole installation resulting in an uninstall
of the update and a warning that it had done a partial installation and the
machine may not work properly. After much gnashing of teeth and another
failed attempt after assuring file permissions were in order, I started in
Safe Mode, logged in as the Default Administrator and the installation
completed flawlessly.

It seems silly to have the entire upgrade foiled by a media file.

 

[Big Al]

I installed SP3 on My Dimension 8400 with only one minor glitch. It froze on
the restart shutdown and required a power down restart. Everything came up
as advertised and the machine shows no ill effects.

Then I attempted to update a Dimension 4600. While copying files it couldn't
find beethov9.wm_ and gave the option of retry or skip. Retry didn't work so
I clicked skip and it proceeded to about three quarters of the way through
the installing files section and choked again on the same file. This time
the only options were retry or cancel. Retry didn't work so I canceled.
Unfortunately this canceled the whole installation resulting in an uninstall
of the update and a warning that it had done a partial installation and the
machine may not work properly. After much gnashing of teeth and another
failed attempt after assuring file permissions were in order, I started in
Safe Mode, logged in as the Default Administrator and the installation
completed flawlessly.

It seems silly to have the entire upgrade foiled by a media file.

I'm running SP3 and I can't find it on my PC. So if it was extracted,
where did it go? Not that I care. And no, don't reply to this, its
not a question.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

<IMHO>
Temporarily disable all real-time protections afforded by your anti-virus
application, any anti-spyware applications, and any third-party firewall
prior to installing SP3. If you disable a third-party firewall, make sure
you then enable the Windows Firewall: The machine should not be connected to
the internet without an active firewall.

After installing SP3 /and rebooting twice/, check to make sure your
real-time protections have been re-enabled; If you disabled a third-party
firewall, remember to re-enable it and disable the Windows Firewall.
</IMHO>

 

[MrB]

My customer's Dell/Intel/XP Home system has the same problem - many others
also have this problem- just search 'beethov9.wm_ and you will see. I am an
experienced PC and network tech. and this one really gets my goat.

I installed SP3 on 7 XP Pro systems without a problem but I cannot overcome
this problem on the XP Home system. Four attempts and all fail with the File
Copy Error on beethov9.wm_ and you end up backing out all SP3 efforts!

Last effort was in SAFE MODE logged on as Administrator (another gotcha
compared to XP Pro where you can log on as Admin. in Normal Mode).

I downloaded SP3 this last time and also completely uinstalled Norton 360
before going into Safe Mode to install SP3.

All 4 failures are with this one copy file- not known if more show up when
you get past beethov9.wm_ error.

This is a large failure on MS part as I see it - I now have over 9 hours
invested in a 1.5 hour job and still do not have SP3 installed.

Is there a straight forward solution to this problem? Thanks,
Larry

 

[R. McCarty]

Have you tried doing the upgrade with a fully expanded/extracted
file set. You can create this on another machine and then simply run
the update command to start the install. This method completely
bypasses any extraction or expansion of the .Exe module.

I carry this type of setup on a Flash Drive for doing "Problem" SP3
installs.

 

[MrB]

R.McCarty - Thank you for your effort. Your effort is appreciated but I did
not have to use it per below.

I DID RESOLVE this SP3 installation on a XP Home PC using a suggestion from
another forum as follows:

The solution is that one folder has NO PERMISSIONS granted so SP3 cannot
copy to it. Note that the folder is never identified in any manner so you
would not know to go there except for the great suggestion by "Bill" in
another forum.

Here's how you get 'er done or at least what I did to resolve it:

1. Log on as Administrator in SAFE MODE.
2. Open Windows Explorer and wander over to:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents

3. Right Click on the Documents folder; select the Security tab and note
users or groups authorized to access the folder = none.

XP Home does not grant access automatically so SP3 cannot copy to this folder.

4. Add Administrator group (and any others you want) to have access.
5. Grant Full Control to the Administrator group and/or any others.
6. Click OK until all these are closed. SP3 should then continue without a
complaint.

Notes:
a. Why MS would set no permissions to All User\Documents on XP Home is
beyond me.
b. Why a Service Pack would fail on a single, non-critical file copy is also
beyond me.
c. Why SP3 doesn't allow you to SKIP this file (or some other option) is
also a mystery.

All in all, I spent about 8 hours installing SP3 failures (4 times) and
finally got 'er done using the above. Many thanks to our comrade, "Bill" who
shall remain an unknown hero. Cheers to all and I hope this serves you well.

Best to all and keep adding to the knowledge base as shared minds get more
done than a single one.

Larry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Peter Foldes]

What happened ? You also fell asleep with Rip Van Vinkle and woke up years after the
fact. Moron

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Thank you for your timely reply to a thread from May 2008.

 

[cvclark.cc]

R.McCarty - Thank you for your effort. Your effort is appreciated but I did
not have to use it per below.

I DID RESOLVE this SP3 installation on a XP Home PC using a suggestion from
another forum as follows:

The solution is that one folder has NO PERMISSIONS granted so SP3 cannot
copy to it. Note that the folder is never identified in any manner so you
would not know to go there except for the great suggestion by "Bill" in
another forum.

Here's how you get 'er done or at least what I did to resolve it:

1. Log on as Administrator in SAFE MODE.
2. Open Windows Explorer and wander over to:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents

3. Right Click on the Documents folder; select the Security tab and note
users or groups authorized to access the folder = none.

XP Home does not grant access automatically so SP3 cannot copy to this folder.

4. Add Administrator group (and any others you want) to have access.
5. Grant Full Control to the Administrator group and/or any others.
6. Click OK until all these are closed. SP3 should then continue without a
complaint.

Notes:
a. Why MS would set no permissions to All User\Documents on XP Home is
beyond me.
b. Why a Service Pack would fail on a single, non-critical file copy is also
beyond me.
c. Why SP3 doesn't allow you to SKIP this file (or some other option) is
also a mystery.

All in all, I spent about 8 hours installing SP3 failures (4 times) and
finally got 'er done using the above. Many thanks to our comrade, "Bill" who
shall remain an unknown hero. Cheers to all and I hope this serves you well.

Best to all and keep adding to the knowledge base as shared minds get more
done than a single one.

Larry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know this is an old thread but thank you very much for the information.

 

[DGW]

It seems that credible arguments can be made for continuing to use XP,
and also for giving it up. I agree that it depends on how one uses XP.
For a stand alone - at home, it is only vulnerable to user error.
That's not likely to happen when one has been operating XP well past the
learning curve.

When we go online, any op sys is at risk of being compromised. I
believe the first defense is to be careful about where you go. We all
know that games, porn sites, some usenet groups, entertainment
downloads, etc pose a greater risk than "taking care of business."

Not all internet browsers are created equal. When I install XP, I make
sure that Win Explorer is disabled. My personal choice is one of the
Mozilla products - now it's Seamonkey. The other thing I get rid of is
Windows Player. I've had good success with VLC Media Player. Also with
regard to browsers, I suggest enabling cookies only for the current
session. Other good browser options are "do not store anything past
the current session."

We need to do our homework before buying into a anti-virus package. The
best sellers are not always the best performers. I've tried some that
were almost as annoying as the stuff they were supposed to prevent. I'm
presently having good success with AVG Internet Security.

I see no reason why we cannot continue to use XP well into the future so
long as one understands its limitations. There is even a 64 bit version
if hardware upgrades become an issue. For those who prefer a lot of
visual effects and would rather not be burdened with customizing their
system, XP is probably not the best choice.

BTW, I disable all automatic upgrades, with the exception of anti virus.
It's a personal choice. I would rather take a look at what I'm
downloading, and do it at my own convenience. Some of this stuff like
Adobe will drive you crazy with updates and adware. Good PDF software
is Sumatra. It's low overhead and it never annoys.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Not all internet browsers are created equal. When I install XP, I make
sure that Win Explorer is disabled.

Two points:

1. You presumably mean *Internet" Explorer, not Windows Explorer. They
are two different things and you should be careful not to mix them up.

2. Disabling Internet Explorer is not a wise thing to do. If you
prefer a different browser and want to use it instead, that's fine;
which one to use is your choice. I also use a different browser
(Maxthon). But every once in a while a while I run into a web site
that the other browser won't open or opens improperly. It's always
good to have IE available, so you can use it if you need it in
situations like that.