WinXP SP3 Issues

[Tim_S]

I am in a corp enviroment using Novell as NOS. I have mutliple PC's of
varying makes and models. mostly HP and dell. I started updating PC's
yesterday and I always do a test on them one at a time to see if the patch
will cause problems with our other software.

Here is my findings so far; 4 with problems : 2 without... 50%

1. One PC is now in a reboot loop whereas safe mode doesn't work... will
have to do a restore. I will have to work on this problem to find a fix...
i suspect it is the stop: C0000139 GDI file missmatch error... (so they said
they fixed it in this release) but i will see tommorrow when i get a hold of
the PC...

2. Two PC's installed fine and rebooted fine, however repeated attempts to
revisit microsoft or windows update site has a issue where after the
Microsoft update site finishes its scan, it reports more patches due (mostly
office 2003 patches) but never the less after selecting them for download and
install they all fail. Says an error like this "a problem is preventing
updates to install" (or something similar). The SP3 apparently breaks both
the windows or microsoft update site from being used again. However, you can
go to the download site and download the patches one at a time and install
them with out issue. I used Microsoft's free tech support service last
night and after 6 hours of them remoteing in, i finally have a batch file
that re-registers all the .dll files for windows update. This has fixed the
broken updaters.

3. One PC would not allow me to log-in to the network (i am on novell
client 4.91) and had to go into safe mode to uninstall novell client and
reinstall it to fix that issue.

4. Two PC's installed just fine and did not exhibit the issues described
above.

50% shot of it working correctly... one note however, On two of the broken
ones, I used the administrator download to install it from our network drive
instead of downloading from web. One of them being the reboot looper...

I will hold off installing / rolling out more until microsoft releases
SP3(b)...

Plea for sanity...
Come on MS listen to us and get it right.... This thing has to be solid if
we (I) as an administrator are to roll this out to 150+ computers in my
organization... or I will have each user call your free support line when
they blow up....

 

[ANONYMOUS]

You don't say what preparation did you do before installaing SP3? Did
you install it in safe mode? did you install it in clean boot? did you
read the document which says what you need to do before installing?

hth

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

SP3 support is free at:
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11273&gprid=522131

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Continual reboots or can only boot into Safe Mode after installing WinXP
SP3?

Workarounds:

1. Boot into Safe Mode and rename INTELPMM.SYS to INTELPMM.OLD.

2. After booting into Safe Mode:

Start | Run | (copy/paste) sc config intelppm start= disabled | OK | Reboot
into normal (Windows) mode.

Other references include:

• http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=187790#p187790

•
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jes...ed-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx

• You receive a “Stop 0x0000007E†error message after you upgrade to Windows
XP Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 on a non-Intel-processor-based computer
(Revised 06 May-08)
http://support.microsoft.com:80/kb/888372
--
Windows Update-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsupdate

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002

1. One PC is now in a reboot loop whereas safe mode doesn't work... will
have to do a restore. I will have to work on this problem to find a
fix...
i suspect it is the stop: C0000139 GDI file missmatch error... (so they
said they fixed it in this release) but i will see tommorrow when i get a
hold of the PC...

<snip>

 

[Tim_S]

First, you can't download or run the windows update from safe mode.... hint
network card disabled....

Second, I should not have to do any "prep" work as this is distributed via
the normal windows update site, that first does a scan of your system prior
to installing and thus should automatically determine the software installed
and what it needs to do prior to installing... It is Microsoft's "Preferred"
system of updating you know... if there are any issues with the system it
should prompt you prior to installation. I am sure the engineers are smart
enough to put a msg box to alert the user that the patch could not install
due to a problem with an existing file or application like RDP...etc...

Third, a normal user that has no computer intelligence wouldn't read any
documentation prior to clicking on a button that says "download and install
now" But yes I did read this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717/ and yes
I checked the systems prior to upgrade but.... and be realistic how many
users do you know that would understand what that document is talking about
anyway... no one really reads that boring stuff but the techies like me any
way... a normal user surly would not...

Fourth, if you have automatic updates turned on and it downloads it
automatically "which it did on one of my systems" it just says an update is
required and if a user uses express mode will never see the document above.

Fifth, a normal user would expect better quality control on their service
patches prior to just throwing it out. They would expect that MS has tested
it in beta before RTM. Besides the 'White" papers all say that it is just
a rollup of existing patches with a couple of enhancements like PAN and the
like... not to worry some since most of the service packs are just "roll up
of existing patches". Why would the service pack interfere with its own
"Update Engine" in the first place... and from Microsoft's own web page it
states "Windows XP SP3 contains a small number of new updates and should not
significantly change the Windows XP experience". Boy that was a joke...

Sixth, most of us "network administrators" use downloaded copies and
initiate the updates through log-in scripts instead of running around to
each PC... That way we let the end-user have the Pain of sitting for an 1.5
hour download/install to complete... and thus we expect the patches to be
workable on all platforms in the enterprise environment. And yes most of
all my PC's are identical between brands and all have been patched in the
same manor.

And finally, if so many problems exist with the service pack, (and I did
contact them on the free support site) they should immediately pull it from
the web site and work out the issue's before releasing it again.

I first install patches on one PC at a time for the first 5 units or so, if
everything goes well, I then will configure a log-in script to initiate the
update unattended on each workstation in the fleet. however this time i am
not as the patch is unreliable... and in a Hospital enviroment like I'm in,
it could mean life or death for a patient.... (i.e. if a radiologist can't
get a film to read due to the PC rebooting and rebooting that patient may
die on the OR table. And yes our XRAY film's are digital based running on
XP Pro...) And this is why i am overly cautious when it comes to updates...

This is not the first time MS has released a SP and it caused major
problems...

v/r

 

[Tim_S]

But the issue is all systems I have ARE intel Based...

 

[tk]

This update crashed my computer.

But the issue is all systems I have ARE intel Based...

 

[EricG]

This update caused my graphics card to disappear from the system and an
exclamation mark appeared against the AGP Controller in Device Manager.

Why would Microsoft want to cause an automatic update to interfere with
existing hardware items. If SP3 causes this (and possibly other) hardware
issues surely it should not be realeased as an automatic update?

This is a disappointing end to an otherwise superb trouble free OS -
especially after my few miserable years with Windows Me!!!

 

[SP_1]

Could this be a strategic move to outdate a product ?

In any case, I just did SP3 update for a Dell Latitude D520 laptop (XP Pro
w/SP2 & IE6 SP3) and a Dell GX620 desktop (XP Pro w/SP1a & IE6). Both took
about 35 minutes each to complete, and there was no problem during or after
the update.

Here are some additional notes.
-The laptop (w/SP2 & IE6): When I clicked on Custom button to scan for
updates, Windows Update suggested to download and install SP3 (which was
logical). After installing SP3, subsequent Custom scan suggested IE7 (which
was also logical) among other updates.

-The desktop (w/SP1a & IE6): When I clicked on Custom button to scan for
updates, Windows Update suggested to download and install SP2 (and not SP3).
So I manually download the WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe file (316MB)
and bypassed SP2 installation. I wasn't sure if that was ok to do, but it
did complete OK. Anyway, subsequent Custom scan did not suggested IE7 as it
did for the laptop. So, again, I manually downloaded file
IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe (14.7MB) and installed it.

Beside the slight variation in update methods, everything seemed to be as it
was before updates - bracing for problem free OS.

Steve

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You could easily write a script for this, Tim.

But the issue is all systems I have ARE intel Based...

 

[SP_1]

Could this be a strategic move to outdate a product ?

In any case, I just did SP3 update for a Dell Latitude D520 laptop (XP Pro
w/SP2 & IE6 SP3) and a Dell GX620 desktop (XP Pro w/SP1a & IE6). Both took
about 35 minutes each to complete, and there was no problem during or after
the update.

Here are some additional notes.
-The laptop (w/SP2 & IE6): When I clicked on Custom button to scan for
updates, Windows Update suggested to download and install SP3 (which was
logical). After installing SP3, subsequent Custom scan suggested IE7 (which
was also logical) among other updates.

-The desktop (w/SP1a & IE6): When I clicked on Custom button to scan for
updates, Windows Update suggested to download and install SP2 (and not SP3).
So I manually download the WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe file (316MB)
and bypassed SP2 installation. I wasn't sure if that was ok to do, but it
did complete OK. Anyway, subsequent Custom scan did not suggested IE7 as it
did for the laptop. So, again, I manually downloaded file
IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe (14.7MB) and installed it.

Beside the slight variation in update methods, everything seemed to be as it
was before updates - bracing for a problem-free OS.

Steve

 

[EdN_OPKS]

Nice summary Tim_S -- there is a bunch of us out here harboring similar
feelings. Systems continue growing in complexity while I find myself faced
with less time to go troubleshooting. Stuck in the middle, I need (and
expect) all the help I can get from my OS supplier.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can run in Safe Mode with networking enabled. You can run SM with or
without networking and you can run it with no GUI (Command prompt only).