SP2 Update - a warning (Asus / Time)

[jimwillsher]

Hi all, just a general note.

My Dad's install of SP2 failed miserably. Even a scratch/reinstall failed miserably. Symptoms - freeze during boot. A safe-boot boot shows the infamous "mup.sys" as the last entry. Board - Asus P4P8 Deluxe.

Same with my uncle. Identical board, identical problem.

In both cases, flashing to the latest BIOS solved the problem.

And why am I writing this posting? Because I'm currently pulling my hair out with a friend's Time Computers ( ) system. Same problem, but no BIOS to download. £1/min for technical support - I don't think so!

Sigh....slipstreamed SP1 currently going on. I'll then apply all the hotfixes (via my SuS laptop), and then disable Automatic Updates.

So....the moral? There's something seriously stuffed in SP2. BIOS updates seem to solve the problem, but if you cannot get a later BIOS, it's just tough!

Jim

[Dynamite]

I'm having the same problem [freezing during bootup] trying to load a slipstreamed XPSP2 onto a virtual PC. I can boot into safe mode ok, it waits quite a while during loading "mup.sys" but then moves on to the warning about going into safe mode. Can't get a newer BIOS (Abit KT7A RAID) for my machine or VPC!

currently trying the upgrade method.

update: No the upgrade method doesn't work either.

The only way I have been able to get SP2 running successfully was to install XP from the original CD then run SP2 to update it, this works fine, but is a real pain!

If anybody knows why the slipstreaming isn’t working properly please post!

[jimwillsher]

Hi Synamite,

It's a bugger isn't it! I was dreading this happening.

I've opted to scrub the system, reinstall a slipstreamed SP1, and then apply all the pre-SP2 hotfixes from Windows Update. It's not ideal, as the PC is now "locked" to a pre-SP2 state, but I don't see any alternative. If SP2 didn't break systems then we'd be okay - SP1 never broke anything!

Best of luck!

Jim

[Dynamite]

OK jimwillsher

I’ve got one to work at last, in a round-about way.

I used a copy of XP with slipstreamed SP1 in it as a starting point. (not the original XP disc)

I then slipstreamed SP2 into this, using nLite with the help of this guide (by-the-bye it says you need to be on NTFS but I'm on FAT32 and it worked fine). I used nLite to make the ISO also. I've tested it on VMwares Virtual Machine and all appears fine. Some registry tweaks don't seem to work, but that’s probably because the location has been changed by SP2, just guessing at this stage.

Anyways it boots, runs, shutsdown, restarts and programs run ok on it. I'll have to see how much junk can be removed before it stops working, but it's a start.