BillW50 said:
In LeeCC typed on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:16:01 -0700:
That's very possibly the partial install of SP3 causing problems. If
the uninstall was created and it probably was, I'd run it to get it
uninstalled properly and then start over again after going through
Microsoft's instructions on what to do before the install. They do cite
some specific things to watch for and incompatabilities for the SP3
install.
More below:
Hi Lee! I don't know why PA Bear gave you all of that stuff to read. I
hate reading a book worth of stuff just looking for the one line you
need to fix the problem.
It's his boilerplate responses he keeps handy; often they completely
miss the point, too.
Second of all, I don't know why Microsoft claims you need 460MB of
free space. That is nonsense! As I have done many SP3 installs and
uninstalls of SP3. And it takes at least 1GB or more. And I have a
feeling that you probably need 2GB or more just to install it. Not
good for those running with 4GB SSD. Sometimes I swear that Microsoft
doesn't use their heads at all.
I don't know where the 460 Meg to install SP3 came from; IIRC that's the
space occupied after SP3 is installed; you need about three times that
amount for the install, so I agree with you comment there. I can't find
it right now but I'm certain one of MS's articles says to have at least
2 Gig + whatever Restore & other programs might be setting aside to
install SP3. Almost everyone I know who had less than about 20% empty
space left has had trouble with SP3 installations. I'll keep looking
for that article and post it if I can find it.
And some of my machines still has SP2 on them. And I am still getting
updates. Not many, but some. I also see no difference between my SP2
and SP3 machines. I don't see any big deal to have SP3 installed,
unless you want lots of drive space being eaten up and now that space
is completely useless.
There is someting to be said w/r to SP3 and SP2 not appearing any
differently; most of the engine changes in SP3 were under the hood and
most of the changes were simply incorporating the SP2 & 1a changes into
it.
I ran with SP2 for a long time (months) because of all the reported
problems with SP3 but when I finally read thru all of the MS
instructions and backed it up to IE6 plus uninstalled a program they
said to, forget which one, SP3 slipped right in like buttered knife.
I see the main value of SP3, unless you need some of the few actual
enhancements made to it, as a simple repository for the 1xx or so
updates it holds. It's a lot faster to let the updates start at SP3
than with SP2. And if you're paranoid like I am, I also like to keep
all the service packs and updates to them on file for future use.
Should MS do away with them on us, in order to force us to Vista, 7 or
whatever, I'll at least still be able to update to what's a pretty
stable and reliable system now. IMO SP3 is worth the trouble, which in
most cases seems to be no trouble but a little time spent for the
install.
I also take it that you don't make backups?
Hopefully, if one is making images of their drives, they'll never again
need SP-anything again. A new computer would, but that's another story
and a good reason for downloading the entire SP2 and SP3s, not just the
smaller ones that apply to the current PC.
And if you do, have you
test them to make sure they actually make a useable restore. Many
find out the hard way all of the backups they have made are totally
useless. Sad isn't it? I test all of mine.
ABSOLUTELY! Even if you're using the best there is, it's still
necessary to satisfy yourself that you can restore from a catastrophic
event and/or individual files! I haven't heard of problems with Ghost,
Acronis or BootItNG that way, but I've read a ton of posts where
slipstreamed disks failed dismally when they were needed. The problem
there is most people don't know or can't figure out how to test them.
I no longer test mine but I do occasionally turn on Verification just
to be sure everything's on the up and up. It's all done automatically
on a schedule overnight for me now but I've been running them for a
long, long time.
FWIW, a complete rebuild, the equivalent of reinstalling the OS and
all of my programs and they're customizations, starting from instering
the boot disk to being up and running perfectly again took 26 minutes
for the C drive last time I ran it. No virus or anything; just my own
stupid actions trashed the drive & it was faster to re-image it than to
fix it piece by piece.
Anyway as a last resort, if you still have System Restore still turned
on, I would try that before you are at the end of the straw. When it
works, it does a fine job. When it doesn't, it makes a mess. I find it
does work about 95% of the time.
I'm not familair with System Restore Points making much of a mess of
anything unless you interrupt them or have tried to edit them. And they
can repair a wide range of problems w/r to the System Files only; they
don't do anything for your own data files of course; it only works on
System Files.
When system restore doesn't work, I've never heard of it doing
anything but just not changing anything; no restore happens at all.
It's an all or nothing activity.
HTH,
Twayne`
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