Treeman

SP2 was developed for the masses. The idiots that had no idea that opening an unknown attachment, previewing unknown html email, or downloading software from unknown sources could get them into trouble. So if you fall into this catagory then please do install SP2. As for power users, I really don't see any benifit. To the MS sock puppets that only know recent Microsoft products, please give the rest of us a break. If you ran MS products from Dos 6.6 to the present, you've earned the right to an opinion, if not, please go back to your X-Box and be quiet. Myself, I thought Windows 3.11 was the best Microsoft product that rolled out. MY2Cents, Treeman

Just do a simple google search using these keywords: SP2 Problems You will get: Results 1 - 10 of about 966,000 pages for SP2 Problems. Now say only 10% of the results are actual SP2 problems. That gives you 9,660 pages to look through. Happy reading. I'd upgrade to SP2 just for the experience! Again. Treeman

Hi FthrJACK, That was indeed a thought provoking post! I just wish Microsoft had given us different levels of deployment, ie: Express Install for the masses. Custom Install, or what I'd refer to as compatability mode. Where SP2 would do a virtual install, then report the incompatabilities it finds, (problems) so you could then go out and get what you need. I guess I just don't like having this thing shoved down my throat either. Treeman

Three quarters of businesses shun SP2 update. Less than a quarter of businesses in North America have installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) according to a new study April 05, 2005 by AssetMetrix Labs. SC Magazine SC Magazine Treeman

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/servicepacks.mspx

I'd look for the best native resolution for the dollar. (not interpolated resolution=software enhanced scanning.) Go with the big boys, HP, Cannon, Microtek, etc. I say that because you can usually go online & order directly from them, and get a better deal then from a brick & morter retail store. They will also have the more mature drivers & technology. Hope that helped. Treeman

This computer (1 out of 3) had trouble with SP2 in the past. Mostly hardware problems; I want to uninstall these items temporarily while SP2 does it's upgrade. HP Printer & Scanner PCI Combo Firewire & USb card Audigy 2 Z2 Sound Card My question is; what is the best way to do this? Soundcard & PCI card in device manager, the Printer in C.Panel, Printers & Faxes; Scanner in C. Panel, Cameras & Scanners ? Uninstall each item, shut off computer & physically remove the items one-at-a-time? Update to SP2, reverse the order in which the items came out, one at a time, rebooting after each is re-detected. The new drivers for the printer, scanner, & sound card will still be on the hard drive, so I'm hoping that will make the re-installation of each item simple. Your confirmation of my plan will be appreciated. Treeman

I'm assuming the case is plastic. In that case, Krylon I think has a spray paint that is supposed to "bond," with plastic. Lot's of colors too. Treeman

You have to uninstall the ATI drivers first. Here is the Uninstaller utility from ATI: ATI Driver Uninstaller Surf to Utilities, Various, Catalyst ATI Maintenance Utilities, Cat -Uninstaller.exe Best, Treeman

And if firewire still doesn't work here's something you can try if you have SP2: Go to C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386 & C:\dllcache in SP1 and copy out the following files SBP2port.sys is in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers & \system32\dllcache 1394bus.sys is in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers arp1394.sys is in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers nic1394.sys is in c:\Windows\System32\Drivers ohci1394.sys is in C:\windows\System32\drivers enum1394.sys is in C:\windows\system32\drivers Copy out the following files to a new folder you can call "Firewirefix," (without quotes) Stop XP Sp2 from re-installing it's drivers again by: Renaming the XP2.cab file to (e.g. to XP2old.cab) Replace the SP2 versions of these files with the SP1 versions in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers & C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache in safe mode. Go to device manager for your ohci firewire card and update SP2 drivers to the SP1 drivers by pointing to Firewirefix.(warning message normal) Reboot. Good Luck, Treeman

Thanks Alanoll, I figured you folks would hold the secret to the last piece of the puzzle! I've spent a lot of time trying to get Firewire working again after Sp2 dorked it up. After 5 tiers of call support from MS, they had me re-install SP1 Pro over the top of SP2, the results were a disaster. (format, re-install apps & data) I think I've managed to fix this mess by forcing SP1 firewire drivers back into SP2. Now I just have to "dumb down" the computer before I attempt SP2 again. Thanks for your posts. As promised to Godan, here is the utility he told me about, that let me extract and insert files into the cabs. Maybe someone in this forum can use it. (free for 40 days) Cabinet Manager Best, Treeman P.S., To see the thread on how this was used, it's here starting on page #2. OK Bill, You Win

Thanks Alanoll, I just know that some folks like to specialize at a specific forum, and may not be able to visit every one on the boards. I tried to be specific on posting to this forum because I didn't get an answer over at the Nlite forum. Figuring maybe the Unattended folks would know the answer. My mistake, and I'm sorry. I originally was going to slipstream SP2, but then decided to take it head-on. Best, Treeman

1394bus.sys (50kb, 3/31/2003) is a file I have in XP Pro Sp1. In SP2, in the i386 folder is a file named 1394bus.sy_ (30kb, 8/3/2004) I have tweaked the SP2.cab files to overwrite: SBP2port.sys 1394bus.sys arp1394.sys nic1394.sys ohci1394.sys These files were replaced with the same name, SP1 Firewire drivers. All this in a second attempt to install SP2, and have my firewire drivers work. Just wondering about the above two system files, can I just rename the SP1 file 1394bus.sys to 1394bus.sy_ and stick it in the SP2/i386 folder? Any help would be appreciated to finalize this project. I'd ask MS, but I think I'm better off asking here. Thanks, Treeman

Don't know why this double post shows?

I had to extract these files to a folder I called XPSP2 so I could tweak the cab files. If I wanted to run just the SP2 update from this folder, what do I have to execute to do that? Under the i386 folder is one called "update," in that folder is a file called update.exe, I assume that's the one I have to double click to start the install of SP2? Thanks, Treeman

Nuhi, I'm going the other way on the firewire issue. Check out http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=41830 OK, Bill you win Treeman Will I run into problems trying to add SP1 firewire drivers to SP2?

I'm active in a lot of forums trying to help folks out with problems after installing SP2. Most of the problems seem to be hardware related. This nutty idea came to me last night. Blocking SP2 drivers from loading is easy, all you have to do is rename SP2.cab to SP2.cabold or whatever, plug in your device, and the working SP1 drivers get installed. Now rather than decompiling the 5 million lines of code in SP2 to fix it ourselves, doesn't the above tweak make sense? Just wondering. (note: If SP2 drivers are already installed, you have to find the SP1 drivers for your device and downgrade them in Device Manager) P.S., If SP2 installed fine for you, please don't post that back. I don't care, and I'm sure the other folks with problems don't care either. Thanks, Treeman

With a gps locator you could come to my front door. (grin) Treeman

Hey Argon007, Always wondered about those "you are here," thingy's. 131.191.32.5 Close, but if you dropped by for a cup of coffee, you'd have to walk around a little to find me. This should narrow it down! Treeman

If you don't practice safe computing (no firewall enabled, no anti-virus, don't scan for spyware) then yes, you should install it. SP2 has 5 million lines of code written to it. Can this screw with your configuration? My experience, two out of three computers did fine with SP2. The more complex computer (see sig.) had to be re-formatted & SP1 re-installed. You won't be forced to install SP2, just turn off auto-updates. To see how other folks are doing with SP2 check out Pc Banter Even though you get great advice on this forum, it's always good to check out the Microsoft newsgroup forums. Look at the threads that have been posted. Do any of them come close to home for your computer? Stay informed, then make your own decision. Treeman

I think you need to integrate the Via scsi drivers into your setup. Files.scsi.VIAPDSK_VT4149_NT] driver = d3, viapdsk.sys, viapdsk inf = d3, viapide.inf [HardwareIds.scsi.VIAPDSK_VT4149_2003IA32] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_4149","viapdsk" [HardwareIds.scsi.VIAPDSK_VT4149_XP] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_4149","viapdsk" [HardwareIds.scsi.VIAPDSK_VT4149_2K] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_4149","viapdsk" #=======================================# [Files.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_2003IA32] driver = d8, viasraid.sys, viasraid inf = d8, viasraid.inf ## Cat file directive. It should be marked with non-digital signed driver catalog = d8, viasraid.cat [Files.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_XP] driver = d4, viasraid.sys, viasraid #dll = d4, setupvia.dll inf = d4, viasraid.inf ## Cat file directive. It should be marked with non-digital signed driver catalog = d4, viasraid.cat [Files.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_2K] driver = d5, viasraid.sys, viasraid #dll = d5, setupvia.dll inf = d5, viasraid.inf ## Cat file directive. It should be marked with non-digital signed driver catalog = d5, viasraid.cat [Files.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_NT] driver = d6, viasraid.sys, viasraid inf = d6, viasraid.inf [HardwareIds.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_2003IA32] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149","viasraid" [HardwareIds.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_XP] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149","viasraid" [HardwareIds.scsi.VIARAID_VT3149_2K] id = "PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149","viasraid" Treeman

Can't figure out where to put this so I'll stick it here. Tired of opening up Windows Explorer and seeing the dumb my computer, etc? Add this to all Explorer icons by right clicking the icons, go to> Properties>Target and type: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,/e,C:\ There's a space between .exe and /n,/e,C:\ Try it, you might like the view. Treeman

Might not want to use a Via chipset pci card. See: ViaArena I would recommend chipsets: Ali, Nec, or Texas Instruments. Treeman

Bump Anybody?

Howdy Folks, After a clean of install of XP Pro w/ SP2 on a friends computer he ran some windows updates, and system restore quit working. I traced the anomoly down to a needed patch for the highpoint raid driver. So for this Soyo Fire Dragon motherboard I downloaded the update. Problem is they don't make the update self installing. I have included the readme.txt file for this update below. From what I gather, you copy the files to a floppy, then disconnect the drives before updating. I've never seen this type of install before. Is this the way you see the installation? Thanks: Readme file for HPT370/370A/372 ATA RAID Controller BIOS, Device Drivers and RAID Management Software Copyright © HighPoint Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Last updated on July 5, 2002 Please review this file for important information about compatibility issues and differences in operation that were discovered after our product manuals were created. In case of conflict among various parts of the documentation set, this file contains the most current information. Note: The latest firmware and product documentation will be available for download at http://www.highpoint-tech.com This file is divided into the following major sections: 1. Software Version 2. Files Listing 3. Revision History 4. BIOS Update 5. Known Problems 1. Software Version ==================== BIOS version: v2.32 Driver version: v2.32 ATA RAID Management Software version: v2.31 Operating Systems: Windows 98/ME Windows NT 4.0 Windows 2000 Windows XP Version Compatibility: Driver v2.32 can be used with GUI v2.1/v2.2 and BIOS v2.1/v2.2 if you do not use any of the following features: 1. Larger block size (above 64K) 2. Multi-controller support Otherwise, you must use GUI v2.3 and BIOS v2.3 or later. 2. Files Listing ================= Readme.txt This file BIOS |_ load.exe BIOS loading utility \_ bios372.232 HPT370/370A/372 controller BIOS Drivers Driver disk |- win98_me Windows 98/ME driver | |_ hpt3xx.inf | |_ hpt3xx.mpd | |_ hptpwr.vxd | \_ hptwrap.vxd |- win_nt Windows NT 4.0 driver | |_ hpt3xx.inf | |_ hpt3xx5.inf | \_ hpt3xx.sys |- win_2k Windows 2000 driver | |_ hpt3xx.inf | |_ hpt3xx.cat | |_ hpt3xx.sys | \_ hptpro.sys |- win_xp Windows XP driver | |_ hpt3xx.inf | |_ hpt3xx.cat | |_ hpt3xx.sys | \_ hptpro.sys |- disk1 Driver disk label \_ txtsetup.oem Windows NT/2k/XP setup file 3. Revision History ==================== v2.32 07/01/2002 * Fix 48bit LBA formatting issue * Fix hptpro.sys problem on Windows XP system restore and sparse files * use PMM to allocate BIOS memory * Disable BIOS EBDA reallocation by default v2.31 01/09/2002 * Performance improved * Fix BIOS compatibility issue with Adaptec SCSI * Fix Seagate Barracuda III and IV mode to ATA100 * Show capacity by 1G=1,000,000,000 Bytes * Fix BIOS bug "drive capacity incorrect after deleting a broken array" v2.3 12/20/2001 * Add support for stripe size 128K-2M * Support multi controller * Modify driver for HPT370/370A compatibility * Fix reading ATA/133 disk error when PCI clock is lower than 33MHz * Fix compatibility problem with Intel IAA driver under Windows ME * Fix BIOS compatibility issue with MSI845 mainboard v2.2 12/08/2001 * Performance improved * Fix GUI re-open bug when rebuilding an array v2.1 11/15/2001 * Add 48bit LBA (Big Drive) support * Fix BIOS display problem on S3 display adapter * Fix BIOS BBS support * Fix Windows ME hibernating problem 4. BIOS Update =============== To update BIOS for onboard HPT370/370A/372 controller, please refer to your mainboard manual or contact the hardware vendor for updating BIOS. To update BIOS for HPT370/370A/372 adapter, you can use HighPoint BIOS loading utility. * Notes for BIOS update from v2.0.xxxx on adapters with auto-load enabled If your HPT370/370A adapter has auto-load feature enabled, PCI configuration header may change after you update BIOS. This will cause Windows 2000/XP unable to boot from the controller. To avoid this problem, you must use load utility v2.1.12.22 or later and specify the following parameters to update BIOS: load bios372.231 /e 408=1800003,42c=51103 5. Known Problems ================== * Install OS to devices attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller Before installing OS to devices attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller, you must remove the drives connected to other controllers from your system temporarily. After OS installation complete, you can put them back. * Windows XP upgrade installation When doing an upgrade installation of Windows XP with HPT370/370A/372 controller, Windows XP will use HPT370 driver in its driver package and prevent user to specify a new driver. To solve this problem you can do the upgrade as below: 1. Run XP upgrade program in a running system. 2. When setup finished copying files and ask reboot, DO NOT reboot. 3. Open WinXP temporary installation folder ($WIN_NT$.~BT) and search for txtsetup.sif file. 4. Open txtsetup.sif with Notepad, remove the line "hpt3xx=hpt3xx.sys,4" under section [scsi.load] by adding a semicolon before that line. 5. Save the file and reboot. 6. Start XP setup as normal. When setup prompt "Press F6 to add SCSI driver", press F6 and specify the new driver to be loaded. 7. During text-mode setup, Windows XP may still copy the built-in HPT370 driver to the final Windows installation's System32\Drivers directory. To use the new driver, you must replace the old one before you continue into graphic-mode setup. This can be done by booting from a DOS floppy if you are using FAT or FAT32 file system; if you use NTFS file system, you have to use some other method to replace the built-in driver. There are more information about this issue on Microsoft support site: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q225125 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q220845 * Install HPT370/370A/372 controller on an existing Windows XP system When installing HPT370/370A/372 controller on an existing Windows XP system, Windows XP will try to install its HPT370 driver first; this may cause system hang when you are using new features the driver don't support. To avoid this problem, you shall update the driver first with no drives attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller, shutdown the system, attach the drives, then start the system again. * Compatibility issue with Adaptec SCSI adapter If you encounter compatibility problems when you use HPT3xx controller together with Adaptec SCSI adapter, please try to disable EBDA reallocation in Adaptec SCSI BIOS, or enable "EBDA reallocation" in HPT3xx BIOS. You can use BIOS loading utility v2.2.07.01 or later to enable this feature (e.g. "load /c bios372.232"). * Moving disks to other IDE controllers When you want to use disks previously attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller on other IDE controllers, please first delete any array information on the disks. Otherwise your data may be lost when you want to put it back later. * Rescanning disks There is a limitation for the refresh function in RAID Management Software. If you remove a disk from the controller but the software does not notice this event, it is also unable to notice the event when you plug another disk back to that location. You must force a refresh action before changing the disk. * Problem on two disks with same signature under Windows 98/ME If you break a RAID 1 array into two single disks without destroying data and use both of them under Windows 98/ME, Windows will behave abnormally since there are two volumes with same Windows signature. To solve the problem, boot into MS-DOS mode and run "fdisk /mbr".