Warning on downloading of XP SP-2

Just a word to the wise who are thinking of downloading the Windows XP SP-2. My adult son did so on his new Dell Laptop, and it crashed the system. Can't even be brought into Safe Mode.

He spent several hours on the phone with a MS tech support person to no avail. At this point, he's probably facing a complete reformat, then reinstall of XP and everything else on his system.

I think I'll wait to download this new, improvement from the wizards at MS!

It is a huge file - 272 Mb!

I downloaded it from microsoft and then installed it separately. I don't like installing directly off the net.

I wouldn't be in any hurry to put SP2 on a production machine just yet. It trashed one of my machines on a upgrade, and I ended up having to completely reformat and install XP with SP2 cleanly.

Don't be silly. You don't think that Microsoft would release something that isn't ready for prime time, do you? Errr, ignore that.

---Bob Gross---

I downloaded the service pack a couple days ago and am having no problems at all. Mind you, I installed it on a completely new notebook only 1 week old. I suppose there would be nothing on it yet for the service pack to have a problem with.

I'm running it successfully on 3 laptops so far. Haven't loaded it on the home tower yet, but that sees a lot less use, including on-line.

Was halfway through downloading it when I read your post. Decided to go ahead with it and have survived...... so far

It's running on three of five in my SOHO. It crashed my 4th and had to recover via recovery console (no data loss).

I suggest anyone interested in applying the update check out Microsofts known issues, browse a few of the disgruntled user resolution threads, make sure you have your XP install disks/licenses and above all else BACKUP ALL YOUR DATA!.

Other than that - I like the functionality I've seen thus far.

Something that might be of interest for experienced computer users:

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools
The Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows XP are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.

If you feel like hacking around with your WinXP SP2 computer, these tools might be interesting.

When my computer asked me if I wanted to download SP-2 I said yes, that was three days ago, and if i put my cursor over the Windows update icon its says : Downloading updates: 0%
for three days and also I have DSL so I'm always online.
Julie

No problem installing it on my main computer. But when I tried it on our other computer, it could no longer connect to the wireless network - even with the new Windows firewall turned off! I uninstalled it on the 2nd computer and it works fine again. I think I'll leave it off ...

You must be a very patient person, Julie. I would have given up on it after 3 hours!

Did you click {{OK}}?

Mine install went in fine on the desktop. The laptop installation was clean as well, except that I had to fiddle with the internet settings a little afterword. The update kept my dialup, but it apparently forgot that I also access the internet on the network at home.

BTW, I downloaded and then installed. Much easier to deal with for a large update like this, particularly with 2 computers.

I had the same problem. Its now available on the windows update website - I downloaded it from there.