XpSp2

jessy

Yesterday I installed XpSP2 and it seemed to install fine until it restarted, the duel boot window appeared I selected Windows Xp and the boot screen appeared, then windows crashed so I tried again but the same thing so I decided to boot from the last known good configuration but this also gave the same affect (as in it crashed the fecken thing). Safe mode wouldn’t boot or any for the other options so as a last resort I decided to reinstall windows. Now I am having trouble installing windows, I didn’t need to install SP2 I just did it out of curiosity. I know most people didn’t have any trouble installing sp2 but a lot did. I don’t want to be one of these people that’s always taking a shot a MS, but FFS there a trillion dollar company they need to get there act together. I am seriously thinking of switching to an iMac.

aidan_walsh

There is no possible way anyone could ever release perfectly functioning software in an envoirnment like this. Given the total number of hardware variations and the total number of software variations, and combining them, its inevitable that issues are going to be raised... Its hardly fair to blame MS for everything...

What precise problems are you having installing Windows?

jessy

There is a major difference in software that’s not perfect any software that could be classed as a liability (I would know this as I’m a software Engineer). Fair enough if not all software installed work’s correctly or even hardware but, the very least that you would expect from them is (No software should bring down the OS) and especially there own software that’s supposed to be an “update” would not bring down the entire OS. You say that “it hardly fair to blame MS for every thing” whose blaming them for everything I just said that I don’t want to be one of those people whose always taking a shot a them but who else is there to blame, MS release a piece of software that not only doesn’t work (on mine and many other’s machines) but cases the entire OS to crash.

ColmOT [MSFT]

If you're a software engineer then you should be aware that it's impossible to completly test every scenario with a complex software engineering project like Windows/XP SP2. We target the majority of user scenarios, but there are only so many test engineers in MS and only so much time. When things stop repro'ing in house, we deem it ready for release. If you have unsigned drivers or whatever, that's your problem, because during the driver installation, you were warned about the probability of that driver making your system unstable.

Did you scan your machine for malware/virii and disable your AV service before the upgrade, as recommended in the readme accompanying the SP and on the website?

Have you tried booting to the recovery console and disabling some of the 3rd party services that may be installed?

As for the reinstall...what issue are you seeing? The more information that you can provide the faster we can determine the problem and hopefully get it sorted out.

jessy

Not to keep on about the same point but, of course I know that is impossible to test every scenario (it’s virtually impossible to test every scenario in a tiny program with as little as 20 loops So of course I realise how hard it would be to test a program as large as SP2) but surly the good people at Microsoft have to know the difference between a hard and soft crash. Also MS seem to have forgotten the main objective of an OS which basically breaks down into managing memory and the CPU (basically). So this should be there priority. Never let the OS go down even if this means other programs won’t run correctly or at all, at least the OS is still standing. Remember programs should be build for an OS not the other way around.



You say “we” when you talk about MS so I presume you work for them, so a quick question? Would it not have been more reasonable and sensible to release Sp2 in 2-4 different stages, we waited so long for it to appear, would it not have made more sense to realise it in smaller parts. Not only would it be much more reliable and easier for MS to track down problems but it would be easier to distribute as well (I’m still on a 56K I’m afraid). Why did they release it in one giant install surely the must have known that it would cause loads of problem with an installation this big.



Don’t get me wrong here, I honestly don’t thing that there would be a PC in almost every home in Ireland if not for MS, so they have done some great work, It’s just a company with there resources can do more.



Anyways the problem with the reinstall is “invalid Partition table”. (I had Linux on there as well) A format would of course solve the problem but I’d lose way too much data.