godzilla451

I browsed around and didn't find a thread on this. (could be I'm just inept) so here goes

I did a clean install on my C: partition, then put in sp1 and sp 2 RC, no problems.
( I actually like the few added functions)
so I added in all my other apps and tweaks and still having no problem, Ghosted it with Norton. no troubles at all.
installed the beta of WMP 10, hated it, couldn't uninstall it, so I restored the partition with Norton, no problems at all.
-- then I read at slashdot that some tester reported 2 out of 5 test rigs not booting after installing sp 1 and 2, the article implied that Microshaft had a long ways to go on it.
I put in a series of demos ( UT2004, Painkiller, Silent Hill 3 and the like) to test it out but haven't really benched it.
So far I have only one problem, my n64 emulator ( Project 64 ) gives me a "Failed to allocate Memory" popup, which I have never seen before, but others have, with a host of other OS's apparently, so that could be anything.
( I have 512mb DDR so it shouldn't be a problem, really)
If I can't resolve the pj64 issue, I will just have an excuse to build another rig for emulation(hee hee, SYSTEM 2!) without sp2, so no crying there

Has anybody else had any problems with the sp2 Release Candidate?
How about that pj64? any ideas?
ANybody up for benching sp2 rc2?

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godzilla451

These are what other folks seem to think

quote - ---I don't see how they could know it was the service pack that caused the machine to fail. I just did a random test here in my office. I shut down everyone's computer, and 3 out of 5 failed to come back up again. This is normal operation, not something new introduced by the service pack.


quote -----The parent article is just plain ridiculous. I'm the I.T. Director for a large organization, and practically the entire I.T. department is running SP2 RC2, busily finding out what it breaks (not as much as you'd think, actually). The idea that 3 out of 5 machines "didn't come back up" is either due to (a) really funky, odd hardware or (b) a really screwy WinXP core install. We've had a 100% upgrade success rate and no reason to complain thus far, and we've got way more than 5 systems done.

So it would seem that people who are flaming Microshaft don't actually have any experience with SP2 RC2 and are just spouting crap.

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Rob

I installed SP2 on my VAIO laptop and didn't really have a problem until I ran BCWipe. Windows errored saying that it needed to allocate more memory and this never happened before. I used to run BCWipe about once a week on the laptop and never once had that error.

Just a little side note about SP2. On the boot screen, they changed the color of the "loading" bar from green to blue. Didn't notice until I booted my desktop and laptop (both on the desk) at the same time with the lights off. Sort of a "huh?" moment.

Didn't notice any real difference except for the freakin' taskbar notification telling me that my computer was vunerable because I had turned off the Windows auto-update feature. Got irritating so I ditched it when I ran a clean install on the entire laptop.

Rob

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Spectrum

I have SP2, but (for you Rob) I turned that annoying thing off.

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godzilla451

So Maybe it's having trouble managing memory in general, the two could be related.
I tried FreeRAM XP 1.03 with no results, but still no problem with any other apps anyhow, even those that are supposedly memory intensive.

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godzilla451

Update

I managed to fix it by using files fro PJ64k, ( has kaillera added) from Zophars. It uses the 1.4 core as opposed to the 1.5, but I'm not sure which file made the difference. I'll have to investigate further. (trial and error)

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Joose

I suckered a co-worker into installing it. Good thing he imaged it before he installed SP2RC2 because it hosed his machine. This is just a standard XP Pro install; no funky options or anything. He _did_ have StyleXP installed, and reportedly SP2 kills those 3rd-party themeing applications.

Me, I never waste my time on RC's or betas. I _always_ wait for the full release versions.

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hondatuner

SP2 overall is just a problem

godzilla451

I' m running style XP with SP2rc2 and having no problems with it.
sp2 replaces a ton of files and UXTHEME.DLL is one of them.
STYLE XP uses a modified version of this .DLL,
so if it's overwritten you need to reinstall Style XP.

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Slaymate

I tried the SP 2 RC2. They slowed my machine down alot. Other than that I had no problems. I did a complete format and when back to just SP1 and all the updates.

TekXoID

Zilla, what the hell is up with your avatar, turd fishing or throwing up?

As for SP2, if you have troubles with it, uninstall it. It's an RC beta, this is expected.
Personally I have had a 10% performance gain everywhere in comparison to XP Non-SP.
SP1 had degraded performance worse than non-SP for me.

godzilla451

Quote: Originally Posted by hondatuner SP2 overall is just a problem

What Problems have you had with it? Did you do a clean install or try to lay it over a spyware-choked old copy? Which apps failed on you after the install? any crashes?

I like the fact that SP2 fixes a TON of items that should have been fixed in the first place,
I get less OS crashes and noticeably fewer application crashes.
I like the free extra firewall and other control panel goodies,
even though they are implemented in typical Windows annoyance style.
(which you can shut down if you know what your doing)
and it cuts out a lot of spurious Windows "updates" after re-installing, just like sp1,

which is important to me in particular because I generally re-install XP on a monthly basis,
I am a heavy user, and use my PC all the time, (all day, every day it seems)
Constantly installing and deleting apps
and don't waste time activating, because it generally only takes me 3-4 weeks
anyhow to totally WRECK that OS with hacks and all manner of shady betas.
no to mention some rediculous multiboot schemes, alternate bootloaders and whatnot.

SP2 is definitely more than a collection of updates.

as quoted above, windows is inherently unstable anyhow, so a single machine might have been ready to "hose" itself anyhow.
Which is why a clean install is recommended. I don't know why people think you are going to replace half the OS and then have all your apps run perfectly smoothly, as if sp2 is some stand alone program or add on.
SP1 hosed my friends PC once, he had a stock Alienware, and when I called them, they said it happens a lot, and it was unrecoverable. The boot sector was corrupted and we had to format and start from scratch. Never saw it happen again after that. anecdotal evidence. proof of nothing.

In case anybody else is unwilling or uncomfortable with installing an operating system, applications or opening the case of their PC let me warn you now,

SP2 is an INVASIVE procedure and you may need to RE-INSTALL your OS to see best results.

don't USE it if you can't HACK it

try making a Morphix CD until you understand

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godzilla451

Quote: Originally Posted by TekXoID Zilla, what the hell is up with your avatar, turd fishing or throwing up?

That's actually a friend of mine, he doesn't drink a lot, we just always seem to have a camera when he does.
edit--changed it I'm the gimp. ths shot is from an instructional film I did.

I am here so I'll mention that lately it seems half the time I am here on a Knoppix CD because my harddrive is facked, (all My Fault)
so whether sp2rc2 is any good or not, it's not half as bad as
some of the crap I do to poor XP. Everything's relative.
Nothing is stable for long in my hands. I like to break stuff.

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godzilla451

For the drive-space conscious or paranoid,
sp2rc2 creates an uninstall folder in C:\Windows
which takes up a little over 300mb, looks like just about every
component of windows is in here
from logon to ntoskrnl, ntldr,mspaint, ftp, moviemaker, regedit
screensavers, ping, pinball, and a million .dll's
(slayerxp.dll ? what the hell is that!)
I managed to delete them all eventually without too much trouble
so my ghost can fit on a DVD.

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turbopsi

Sp2 sucks, it basically made my system flaky, and slow when starting up. It used to start up so quick, and now it's just terrible. When I exit games, and things like that, you can see lag now, when there was none with Sp1. I didn't set a restore point when installing Sp2, so I can't go back without formatting, and reinstalling windows. I guess I have to live with it for now, do you think they will patch it anytime soon, to maybe get rid of some of these problems?

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CasseModder

sp2 screwed me over lost both hds a nice 90 gig loss was forced to format both of them after that. It wouldnt let me boot off the cd some unknown error Stick with service pack 1 no need for pack 2 I learned my lesson the hard way

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corruptjoker

Well I have had complete success with sp2. Only one problem and that waas fixed by reinstalling java.

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Crazy_J

I installed in on my Dell Laptop, and on my AMD machine. The Dell laptop runs great but not so much the AMD machine.

After installing SP2 during the first boot, I received a message stating "Please wait, Windiws is loading." It just froze there so I had to reboot it.

A couple days later, I turned my AMD machine back on it appeared to be running ok. But then I needed to reboot and my chill control card displayed E022 error. Which was wierd because everything sounded like it was running normally. I restarded the PC and Windows froze again on boot up. I restarted again and chose
"Use last good known configuration." This time Windows on boot froze on me again. I waited a couple of minutes and restarted the PC again and this time, but slowly Windows booted up. I also notice when I shut down my PC windows takes a long time to shut down. I haven't had time to determine whether I have a hardware problem or a software problem. I do know my machine is virus and spyware free. I will probably format my computer again to be on the safe side. I hope maybe slip streaming Sp2 on a cd will enhance the reliability of the OS..

Other than that, I have no problems with SP2.

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unholy

Slapped SP2 onto 3 fresh installations of Windows and everything runs like a dream. Don't know if it's the clean install that made all the difference, or I'm just in a lucky majority ('cuz so far I've heard reports of all kinds of funky stuff going on after the update), but I've had no problems whatsoever so far. It's three different systems, two AMD-, one Intel-based. The only side effect seems to be a slight delay in system shutdown on one of them (about 6-7 seconds).

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turbopsi

My computer runs fine when in windows, but when starting up or shutting down, it is really "buggy". When I start up, and go to click on my start menu, it will all freeze for like 30seconds, which it never used to do. When exiting games, you can see lag, which also, it never done before Sp2. I think Sp2 is a waste of time, and causes more trouble than it helps. I have heard wayyy more bad experiences with it, then good experiences, if you know what I mean. Hopefully they will fix the bugs in it, I hate MS sometimes.

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