WinXp SP2 Preinstallation Jitters & Questions

Hello All~

I have spent the last three hours hear reading here about potential problems and solutions in installing WIN XP SP2 and have come across a few answers to my questions but I still have the jitters about doing this and a few questions.

I am on lowly dialup (HS still not available here)
These are my specs on my computer:
Intel P4 2.8 Ghz, 512MB DDR RAM.
Win XP Home
I don;t run a network
I have the WinXP SP2 CD.

My biggest fear is that it will do something to my Internet Connection and then I won;t be able to get back on and try to find out why.
Why does this happen to some?

There is a possible small update on WU for my modem
Conexant Systems, Inc. - Modems - PCI SoftV92 Modem
CXT modem software update released on October 02 2004.
Should I be doing this before I install Win XP SP2?

Another fear is that my system will not reboot....any precautions I can take here?

I have a Espson Stylus CX 5400 3-in-1 and have checked on their site for updates on driver and they say there are none.

I run Adaware and Spyblocker all the time.
I have NIS 2003 and NSW 2004 with only the NAV 2004 and WinDoctor of the NSW installed.
I have the latest Live Updates installed....just did that this morning.
I've checked on Symantecs site and they say there should not be problem.
But I have a friend who has had her antivirus definitions subscription say its expired. Has this happend to any one else?

I also have Roxio's Easy Media Creator 7 installed...can't find out if there are any potential problems there...any known ones?

And I have a lot of graphic software.

From what I have read I should be sure to:
Back up my files
Defrag
Virus Scan
System restore
Check for drivers
Clearout temps and history.

Christer said to Lee Mitchell to clear out cookies too...but I have a few cookies essential to a few sites...should I still do this?

Any other suggestions on what to do to prepare or ease my jitters would be most helpful.

Thanks so much, SusieB

 

Hi Chester~ Thanks for the welcome.

It takes me a long time to figure things out and do them as I have some brain trouble so it helps if I can do it right the first time and not have to troubleshoot.

As I understand it, graphics drivers are quite common as the culprit. Check if there are any new drivers for Your motherboard and graphics card.
I have an Asus P4P800 Motherboard I believe...how do I tell for sure?

and I have a ATI Radeon 9200 128MB video card....I have never really gone looking for drivers before...I'm 'Googling' but not sure of what I am doing.

Did I find a correct link for my Video Card http://mirror.ati.com/support/drive...c&prod=productsXPdriver&submit.x=8&submit.y=2
I'm not having issues with my video card plus it says SP2 should be installed...I don;t think I need this do i?

There is a Microsoft webpage which lists known software to be incompatible with SP2. I'll try to find it and provide a link.
I would appreciate this link...then I can check out my Roxio and other software


Spybot S&D is another utility which often finds stuff that Ad-Aware misses.
I meant to type Spybot...I don;t use Syblocker....my brain sometimes cause me to type something completly wrong or to say things backwards...sorry.

I do appreciate all your help and answers.
Thanks, SusieB

 

Hi SusieB and a welcome from me too.

The general finding on upgrading to SP2 is that a really clean PC (as in no problem and all the latest drivers) seems to have almost no problems. Wireless high-speed networking is about the only potential problem area and you don't have that.

I'll happily leave the specifics to christer but I will suggest that you have a copy of SP2 either on CD or else a copy on your hard drive when you do the upgrade and then make sure you are not dialed in and that your antivirus program is NOT running.

 

Hi Newt...thanks for the welcome too.

My computer is about 11 months old and I take seriuously my housekeeping. Sometimes it seems I spend more time run SpyBot, doing DiskClean etc than working with my graphics.

So hopefully I'll be one of those that has no trouble....it was just reading about and hearing about the various problems that gave me the jitters.

I subscribe to Windows-Help.NET and it was thru their information that I ordered the CD so that's what I will be installing from.

I'll add to my list to make sure I disable my firewall and anitvirus...which I usually do for all installations and I won;t be online.

Thanks again, SusieB

 

Good Morning Christer

I will go hunting this today as to exactly what my motherboard is....I have the booklet that comes with the computer and all it says on the outside is Q964 and the spec sheet where I bought it says Asus P4P800...but the modem that was on the spec sheet is not the one they gave me...so I'll see what I can find out.

Glad to hear that you think I'll have no issues with my video card....I'll check out that site too.

Thanks very much for that link...it doesn't appear that I will have any trouble with my programs but I did find out why I sent a friend and image over MSN it was rejected at their end...they must have SP2 installed and not made any 'exceptions'.

I plan NOT on using SP2's Firewall or Antivirus as I have good protection with my Norton's products.

After I install SP2 hopefully my WU will be working again without me having to disable my Firewall...we;ll see...if not I'll be back with a new post.

Have a great w/e....I'm not on the computer much on the w/es either so my installation might not take place until Monday

You are too funneeeee ...'seriously outta town if I have bad news'
Thanks, SusieB

 

Have done around 75 upgrades and full installs to both home and pro versions with minor problems. I do however if possible to do the upgrade as a clean install. It will go much better if nothing else is on the system not even a prior version of windows. The upgrade cd will ask for proof of prior ownership of windows and all you need to do is put your 98 or whatever cd in the drive and it will continue as soon as it verifies your prior ownership.

If you dont want to do a clean install then I do suggest as others have that you run spybot and ad-aware, temp files and remove your temporary internet files.

Only problems I have seen after the installs and honestly dont think it applies but soon of my users tell me a week later or so they have problems getting into ebay account, or hotmail through msn messenger but thats all the problems I have really experienced. Have not seen any problems so far with dial-up not working after the upgrade but if you do just remove the modem reboot and have xp find it again. Most times this will work as long as the modem is functional.

I also disable the xp firewall and install either zonealarm or sygate the free versions seem pretty good. They are easier in my opinion to alter. Norton 2005 replaces xp's firewall with its own version of what it calls "internet worm protection" but that doesnt help with other protections a firewall gives so you need to disable the worm protection in norton and replace with a true firewall.

As far as the video card is concerned if its an older one then most likely the drivers microsoft installs should be okay. If a newer card then I would install the cd drivers with the vendors drivers. Seems to have worked in my situations.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

HiChester...by now you will be gone...that link didn't show my error but I searched and found it

When accessing the Windows Update site, you receive the 0x80072EFD error.
That's my error

And it says A misconfigured Proxy/Firewall can cause this problem. Double-check the Proxy/Firewall settings. Add the following urls to the exception list within your Firewall/Proxy:

But I can figure how how to do that for my NIS...so I'll post elsewhere.
Thanks so much...hope you've had fun.

 

Hello Hartman

I am confused I am not upgrading from Win98 or whatever but applying the WinXP SP2 to my already existing WinXP SP1

And I don't really know how to do a 'clean' install anyway.

Are you saying that some of your clients had trouble acessing their Hotmail after applying the SP2.

My system is quite new so I haven't found there to be a problem with the drivers.

Thanks for your other tips.

SusieB

 

SusieB,
Suggest you install the WU for your Modem. SP2 won't have that update. Alternatively you could wait till after the SP2 update and then go back to WU to install any updates.

I installed SP2 on a few machines and only had a problem on one. No icons or taskbar appeared after the reboot. Only the wallpaper was there. Required 4-5 reboots and one or two powerups to fix. Strange but that's computing.

Before the update suggest you do a little bit of house keeping, which you do anyway. Clean out Internet temp, history and cookie files. clear all that is allowed from the Windows/temp folder and the temp folder in C:\Documents and Settings\your login\Local Settings\Temp
I would clearout the windows/prefetch folder and then do a defrag.

Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 (what a great suite this one is )will survive the update just fine. Have you updated media creator 7 to 7.0.430.0
http://www.roxio.com/en/support/emc/software_updatesv7.jhtml
Not necessary for the SP2 update but has a lot of fixes for creator 7 though.

The update will be fine.

Just make sure you have backups (which you should anyway) of data, (incl. favorites etc) programmes, drivers and setup settings for your ISP/modem as well as email client configuration. Just in case things go belly up, which they can at anytime!

With proper updates and regular full system (varified) backups with a programme such as Ghost or TrueImage you should be confident to tackle most things, and these types of backups will ease any stress levied on your shoulders.

If I stuff up my PC's (providing it's not a hardware fault), I can have the system backup in 15-20mins and only a few updates/changes to address since the last regular full backup which I do every couple of weeks. Usually only the odd driver and/or programme update.

Computing should be fun and stress free. I mean we have enough stress elsewhere in our lives without these computer thingys heaping more on us.

 

another $.02

I'm surprised that no one has advised Suzie to use Ghost to back up her computer prior to any changes she makes, and after each change, in case there's a problem. She owns Nortons Ghost and should run it!

 

SusieB

I dont know if there is a correlation between sp2 and hotmail but have had a couple clients on dial-up say they have had trouble but honestly I think its the isp and the dial-up connection. If not already on dsl or cable modem I strongly suggest giving it a try. Once you have it you'll never go back. Make surfing the web much more enjoyable.

If your system is relatively new then like the other posts the best thing to do is scan with spybot, adaware, remove temp files and temporary internet files and you should not have a problem. Just make it as clean as possible or sp2 will bite you.

 

Thanks Paul

Thanks so much Paul for all your helpful tips and links.

I'll do the update for the modem for sure....i just would hate for it not to work after....WU has been known to post problem d/ls...hopefully this is not the case.

If I have that icon trouble I'll just do what you did.

What is the Windows/Prefetch?...i seareced and found it and it has a bunch of .pf files and one Layout.ini.

And what do you mean ' clear all that is allowed from the Windows/temp folder and the temp folder in C:\Documents and Settings\your login\Local Settings\Temp' ? Some you shouldn't?

No I have not updated Roxio Mediator Creator 7 yet...will do after I get this SP2 done.

I use the Roxio to do my backups as I do not have Ghost or a similar program....and will do them before I apply SP2

I most certainly agree with you when you said:
Computing should be fun and stress free. I mean we have enough stress elsewhere in our lives without these computer thingys heaping more on us.[/

Thanks again.
SusieB

 

No Ghost

I don't have Ghost...never said I did...bought so much this past year ...can't afford anything else for a while...I use Roxio to back up my important stuff.
Thanks for thinking I did ...that would have been real easy.

 

SuzieB,
When I suggest "all that is allowed" I mean that occasionally windows will be using a current temp file. Or an application that is running is using it. So any files that won't delete, just leave them. After a reboot the undeleteable file may become deleteable. Don't worry about it though. I just like keeping my system squeeky clean. A lot of what I do has absolutely no bearing on system performance.

The prefetch files are created when you reboot or start windows and any applications on the PC. They allow applications or services to start slightly faster the next time they are run, after the initial creation of the corresponding prefetch file. Occasionally prefetch files may become corrupted, "stale" , or just leftover from an application that isn't/hasn't been used for sometime or has been uninstalled. Anecdotal evidence suggests that occasionally emptying these files is beneficial.

If you install that modem update and find you have a problem, you can always right click your modem in the device manager, go into properties and use the roll back feature to the previous installed driver.

When the bank balance is healthy again. I'd suggest something like TrueImage for system backup. It works a treat and is easy to use. You can backup to CDR/RW, DVDR/RW or even better, to an external USB or Firewire HDD. It also works fine backing up to a second installed HDD as well.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

SusieB

You said you have norton's system works 2004 which includes ghost on the installation CD, although it may not be installed on your computer.

 

Paul Thanks Again

Well...now I know what prefetch files are....I like to kepp my machine as cleep as posssible too but there is still so much I don't know...slowly but slowly learning.

And I appreciate that tip about what to do if the modem update messes up my modem...something else I didn't know

I'll have to start saving my pennies again.
SusieB