My nightmare

[vraiblonde]

On Monday I downloaded and installed SP4 from the Windows Update site. After I did that, my IE6 browser started showing me page code instead of normal web pages. If I refreshed several times, it would finally show me the page correctly.

This was no good. So I uninstalled SP4 but the browser was still showing me code. So I tried to do a reinstall of Win2000 to try and correct the problem. The installation kept shutting down my CD-ROM and "couldn't" find the files necessary to reinstall. PS, it had already deleted several files needed to run Win.

The "fix" was to boot to DOS, copy the I386 folder to my C: drive and run the install from there via DOS. So now the POS is back up and running, all my files intact but my Office and some other programs need to be reinstalled. Since I'm backed up, I think I'll take this opportunity to reformat and go clean.

Anybody else have a problem with SP4 or is it just my computer that spit it back out?

 

[justhangn]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
Anybody else have a problem with SP4 or is it just my computer that spit it back out?

I'm running SP4 on over 60 Dell servers without an issue. (knocking on wood)

Sorry for you suck experience.

 

[Otter]

Not sure if this is applicable to Vrai's problem, but might be useful to some that encounter update problems. I get this newsletter from this guys site twice a week, lots of good stuff and info.

3) Fred Gets Bitten By The "Cannot Update" Bug

Over the last year or so, I've gotten lots of emails like the one below, but never had any first hand experience with the problem---- until about a week ago!

As I usually do on a pretty regular basis, I checked for
Windows updates on Microsoft's site and there was a new
security update.. I have Windows Me and tried to install the
update - it downloads but won't install. If I try again, I get
a script error message, select yes and then the accept
agreement is grayed out on the update window. It just wont go
on my computer. I checked the forums for security on
Microsoft's site and it looks like some other people have had
the same problems, and with other security downloads too
(although this is the only time I have had this happen). Was
wondering if you had any other questions about this or ideas
on what to do. I always like to have the security updates
added on my computer.---Jennifer & Keith Smith

With no first-hand knowledge of what was going on with problems like the above, I've always had to give third-hand or general advice, but then---for no obvious reason--- one of my PCs here suddenly could no longer use Windows Update. It was puzzling because I've set up all 11 PCs here the same basic way (allowing for differences in the OSes), use them in the same basic way, and connect through the same shared internet connection.
Why would just *one* PC suddenly have trouble?

I went digging through a ton of web sites, trying to find both a fix for the specific issue, and more universal information on causes and cures. Out of all the pages I searched, the one that had the best info is the oddly-named "MrScary" page at
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mrscary/winupfaq.htm . The information is unusually organized--- the most generally-useful info is at the bottom of the page.

In fact, that's where I found my fix: Item V, deletion of the "wuhist" log file, restored my system's ability to perform updates. Apparently, a local log file of past system updates was corrupted, which caused the Update engine to stall every time it tried to process the file. Once you know what it is, it's easy to fix--- just whack the file, and let the Update engine rebuild it from scratch.

The scripting problem that "Jennifer & Keith" reported also is covered there, in a separate item. In fact, there are many other fixes at the bottom of the page: It's hard to imagine an instance that at least one of the fixes there couldn't handle.

The top of the "MrScary" page contains specific info on individual
update items. If you have a problem installing one particular update, then you may well find the fix there. But if your Windows Update itself is broken, so that you can't install anything, scroll down to the bottom the page: There's a goldmine of information there!

Click to email this item to a friend http://www.langa.com/sendit.htm