SP4 Crashes on Installation

[Marek Williams]

I have a Windows 2000 Professional machine that I built for myself 3.5
years ago. It is rock solid and everything works great. Can't complain
a bit.

It currently has SP2. I want to get an iPod, but that requires SP4. I
tried to install SP4, but it repeatedly crashes just before
completion. Fortunately, the restore function works OK and it removes
the files it installed and reinstalls the old files, so I'm still OK.

I've tried to install SP4 about six times, but each time I get the
same results. Toward the end of the installation I get a popup from
wczsetup.exe "the memory could not be read." A moment later there is a
second popup that says the same thing. Then it aborts the installation
and restores the old version.

I searched the knowledgebase and could not find any reference to this
problem. But there were a thousand references to problems with SP4, so
maybe I missed it.

I'm really kind of desperate. I can't reinstall Windows 2000, because
I have years of personal configurations for dozens of big
applications. It would take me weeks to get this computer
reconfigured, weeks that I do not have, considering that fall term
classes start next Monday.

I tried exiting from my firewall (Sygate), but it did not help. I have
no anti-virus installed. Naturally, I also tried installing it with no
applications open and right after rebooting. But still no joy.

Does anyone have any idea of what the problem might be? Please, even a
wild guess is better than what I have now. TIA

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Have you tried installing the SP in safe mode? Disabling all
unnecessary services, including the firewall? Might be worth a shot.

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

To clarify, disabling all unnecessary services including the firewall
from services.msc, not merely shutting down Sygate. I've had various
problems with Sygate myself and finally I've just ditched the POS. It
worked fine for years then suddenly began blocking the POP and SMTP
ports for no apparent reason.

 

[Marek Williams]

To clarify, disabling all unnecessary services including the firewall
from services.msc, not merely shutting down Sygate. I've had various
problems with Sygate myself and finally I've just ditched the POS. It
worked fine for years then suddenly began blocking the POP and SMTP
ports for no apparent reason.

An excellent suggestion that I had not thought of trying.

I have heard of Safe Mode, but how does one invoke it in Windows 2000?
Isn't it a secret keycode during the boot process or something? (Sorry
for the stupid question, never used it before.)

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Depends on the manuf of your pc. Mine is a Dell and hitting F2 before
the pc runs through its POST routine renders it into safe mode selection
either with networking or not/w cmd prompt or not. If yours isn't a
Dell then I'd recommend checking the manuf. website for technical
details as to launching your particular make/model pc into safe mode.