Various XP SP2 Problems

edit note: I rearranged your post a little to make it easier for someone to take a shot at one part of it. Also easier for us old fuds to read when things are laid out this way. Newt


I have installed XP SP2 on about 12 machines with various problems arising.

1. One will extract the SP2 files and then do nothing.

2. One will start the install process and then I get a "cannot find the specified file" error.

3. I have three machines,one with Office 2003 and two with Office XP and have applied the current Office service packs to all. When using Word and you try to send file as Attachment I get a" MAPI Failure" error, when sending file for review I get a "cannot create page error ". When I uninstall the service pack they all work fine.I can attach a file with the insert function through Outlook 2003 which is on all of these machines.

4. On one of these same machines when the service pack is applied,I can not do a seach from the start menu. when you click search nothing happens.

5. I have yet another that runs a dynamic desktop syncronization with an sql server and when the service pack was applied and the computer rebooted it froze after a few minutes. If I open the task manager there is a process running called "mobsync.exe" that is driving the cpu to 100%. I end the process and the machine runs fine but the process starts againg after a few minutes.I uninstalled the service pack but even that did not help on this machine.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated as I have not found any info on the net regarding any of these problems.
Thanks

 

Hi LNP and welcome to the forum. Sounds like SP2 isn't being very kind to you so far.

Questions

Did you have any SP2 installs that were problem free?

1 & 2 - sound like the sort of thing that will happen with the SP burned to a CD where the burn didn't go perfectly.

3 - Office SP applies before or after SP2? If before, did they work OK and then go bad after SP2?

5 - what verion of SQL server?

 

Hi Newt and thanks for replying so soon.

To answer your questions:

I had about 7 That have been problem free so far.

1 & 2. I will try and install these on a fresh download.

3.Office SP was applied before the XP SP2 however,1 of the Office XP computers was working before SP2,the other with Office XP I can not verify and the one with Office 2003 had a problem with the send for review but not send as attachment.I tried to apply the office service packs to these after the SP2 install and kept getting errors that the Office service packs could not be applied succesfully.This was the case if I downloaded the update manually or through Office Update.I Uninstalled SP2 and was then able to apply the Office SP's.Everything worked fine but when I reinstalled SP2,I got the same 2 errors on all 3 again.

5.SQL version 7.0 and 2K.These are .asp pages that are synchronizing.

 

Since there should now be a couple of local places (Office Max and Staples and maybe others) where you can get a SP2 CD, that might be a better option than another downloaded one.

I'm avoiding the 'search' part since I don't have a clue about that one. May try some additional searches this evening and see if I can turn up ideas for you. I use AgentRansack myself and doubt if I've tried anything from the start~search thing on any XP system. AgentRansack is so much better and faster than the Microsoft tools that I just ignore them.

For the office issues I think I'd uninstall Office completely and do a reload. If you think you will have many to do, I'd suggest burning a slipstreamed CD with Office and the latest SP. Links Here to specifics for all the recent Office versions.

I know I've read details on the mobsynch issue so looks like this is gonna be a research night for me. Back later with results (or lack of same if I get unlucky ).

 

Various XP SP2 Poblems

Hi Newt,

Thanks for the continued reasearch.I did iron out a few of the bugs.The one thing I found was that all of the systems I installed SP2 on,when looking at the network properties page,the local connections icons were gone.This was wether or not I was logged into the domain as the user,administrator or to the local machine.I could not access any IP settings even though the machine was still on the network and had access to all network shares.I reinstalled the updated drivers for each machines NIC and this brought back all the connections.This cured all of the Office problems and the search problem.I had also had problems with software from other vendors such as ADP Payroll apps. that connect to a server as well as others that this fixed.
I hope this may help some others having some of the same problems.

I do still have the SQL problem and the 2 install problems.Any other help would be appreciated.

 

Re: the install problems - have you tried slipstreaming the SP and installing from that CD? If not, I would. Otherwise it sorta sounds like a BIOS or other hardware problem. Seems that SP2 does not like some hardware that XP-original and XP-SP1 would deal with. Miz found an article about issues with a specific celeron processor and I'm seeing a few others. If the BIOS on both problem systems is up to date and the slipstreamed CD won't load, give some hardware specifics. Everest is probably your best tool for pealing out that information.

SQL - still looking. Meanwhile, I'd like to rule out any spyware that might be causing the problem. Download Hijackthis v1.98.2 from Quicklinks in my signature, put it in a folder of its' own (so not temp and not desktop) and run it to generate a log then post the log here.

Note to mods/admin - please leave this thread in the SP2 section rather than security after the HJT log is posted. Newt