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Careful with the newest Windows Update

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:16 am
by Shannara
I found out the hard way that the newest windows update gives your XP system a BSOD and a GSOD after reboot, then renders your network completely unusable. Ref: google :)

To make a long story short, I was dumb enough to allow auto-windows updates to my XP Pro machine at home. After the mandatory reboot, I had to go through a few BSOD and GSODs before the system finally booted. After it did so, the wireless networking is 100% f*cked. After searching the net on groups, microsoft groups, IRC etc. It turns out the only way to fix this problem is to do a complete format/reinstall of windows. There is no way to uninstall the update (its not on the add/remove programs list), so your' SOL ... thanks Microshaft!

Anyways, just a warning, it only does this if you have any wireless card. It'll automatically assign a random ip to the card (one that does not work) and all other network devices, thus will not allow you to do any kind of networking (wireless or otherwise).

Some people say this is a DHCP issue, though no matter what settings you try, static, automatic, etc. The lame update will not take any settings other then it's random ones.

Yet another reason to buy a Mac ... go figure :) And now that PB/OSX is on par (or close to) with the windows version .. what's holding me back? Heh, gotta save up first ...

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:21 am
by jack
I use Drive Image to make a backup of my C drive, just in case somthing goes wrong.

Re: Careful with the newest Windows Update

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:43 am
by PB
> I was dumb enough to allow auto-windows updates to my XP Pro machine

On a similar subject, with regard to my whole new video card fiasco, I did
try a fresh install of Windows 2000 Pro again and was AMAZED by the
speed compared to XP! Even my Internet access is way faster, so it seems
that XP was limiting my bandwidth or something -- I didn't change any of
my Internet settings -- just did a normal install of the ADSL driver, and
bang, everything is loading like lightning! Even my net banking is flying
along -- when I had XP installed it took 30-60 seconds to log onto net
banking, but now under my clean W2K install it logs on in literally 2 or 3
seconds. Very nice!

As a result, I'll stick to using Windows 2000 Pro again and NOT allow any
updates at all. I truly believe the updates actually wreck Windows in some
ways. For example, with XP when I was allowing it the system just kept
getting slower and slower, and even automatic Restore Points were not
occurring anymore. And no, I had no spyware or anything like that (I run
a very tight ship!).

So yeah, it's back to W2K for me, no updates, but Kerio/Avast running to
keep a check on things. Oh, and I use Firefox only and don't touch IE. ;)

Re: Careful with the newest Windows Update

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:02 am
by Intrigued
PB wrote:> I was dumb enough to allow auto-windows updates to my XP Pro machine

On a similar subject, with regard to my whole new video card fiasco, I did
try a fresh install of Windows 2000 Pro again and was AMAZED by the
speed compared to XP! Even my Internet access is way faster, so it seems
that XP was limiting my bandwidth or something -- I didn't change any of
my Internet settings -- just did a normal install of the ADSL driver, and
bang, everything is loading like lightning! Even my net banking is flying
along -- when I had XP installed it took 30-60 seconds to log onto net
banking, but now under my clean W2K install it logs on in literally 2 or 3
seconds. Very nice!

As a result, I'll stick to using Windows 2000 Pro again and NOT allow any
updates at all. I truly believe the updates actually wreck Windows in some
ways. For example, with XP when I was allowing it the system just kept
getting slower and slower, and even automatic Restore Points were not
occurring anymore. And no, I had no spyware or anything like that (I run
a very tight ship!).

So yeah, it's back to W2K for me, no updates, but Kerio/Avast running to
keep a check on things. Oh, and I use Firefox only and don't touch IE. ;)
Try out the Tweak Tests and Dr. TCP over at dub dub dub dslreports.com I did such with my new ADSL connection and the retransmission of packets issue was solved on the spot!

*thumbs up*

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:46 am
by Psychophanta
Shannara; since day 20050811 y lost my wireless internet connection on my laptop. And i have Auto-Windows update enabled.
Could be that the reason?
Fortunately i have 6 different OSes installed on the laptop, and a saved Ghost image from each one. So, i'll try as soon as i arrive to home today.
THANX!

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 8:10 am
by dmoc
Duh, I thought this refered to the PB update, duh

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 8:56 am
by Psychophanta
dmoc wrote:Duh, I thought this refered to the PB update, duh
:lol: :P Nope, discarded that posibility: in that computer hasn't been made any PB update yet.

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:36 pm
by aaron
My two laptops are both running the latest windows updates with no issues. My wireless cards (built into one machine and pcmcia on the other) work fine. No BSOD or GSODs here.

There is a checkmark that needs to be checked in order to see windows updates in the uninstall/install windows. Forget where that checkbox, but maybe it is right on the main windows?

Another option is to roll windows back to the last system restore point. In all likelyhood it created one when it installed the updates.

Anyhow, Shannara you have a habit of jumping to conclusions (see MODS ERASED MY AVATAR thread for recent example). By the tone of your message, you are implying that the update will trash everyones computer. In fact, Microsoft just added that feature for your computer alone. Its all a conspiracy against you. :roll:

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:44 pm
by Bonne_den_kule
I had the same problem as shannara for 2 days ago...

But it works as usually now.

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:12 pm
by thefool
@pb: i would not recommend a 700 mhz pc to run XP! however on higher end machines it runs very well. And nedless to say at the same speed or faster than windows 2000 pro [tried both here.!] XP pro though

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:44 pm
by jacobmp92
I sure hope Microsoft doesnt do this when Vista comes out :shock:

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:47 pm
by Intrigued
thefool wrote:@pb: i would not recommend a 700 mhz pc to run XP! however on higher end machines it runs very well. And nedless to say at the same speed or faster than windows 2000 pro [tried both here.!] XP pro though
I have WinXP on a 700 Mhz and with the added RAM ( I recommend no less than 512) it moves along pretty good.

FWIW... (I know you said you would not recommend (recommend being the operative word)

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:57 pm
by thefool
Of course the amount of memory is also a very important factor! 512 is minimum for a slower cpu.!
And yes i said recommended :) its also how well you set it up. I mean of course your system will run slower if you have all the eye-candy you can have added, and system-recovery etc. Also if you run with lots of background app's and unneded services it will bring down the effiency.

However if you tune it to your system, it can of course run pretty well.

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:11 pm
by ricardo
Having some problems here in my wife's PC after some windows XP update... i was believing that was only me, but know i notice that other ones has the same pain. :(

The problem is that as i have some network relationated code for some customers, and i need to keep updated at least one PC here, because i noticed before that my customer was claiming some failure and i cant reproduce it until i update some PC. So i will have to keep the automatic update running :(

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:20 pm
by Shannara
@ ricardo: Right now, I'm spending days at a time doing backups (HP was dumb enough to make sure the DVD burner overheats/shutdown after 2 DVD burns), then restore/reformat the laptop, install pro upgrade, and run the updates from the beginning before installing everything again. If it doesnt work after the updates, it's time to start all over w/o updates until Microsoft start testing their updates before releasing them.

@ Bonne_den_kule: Your soooo lucky :)

@ aaron: that's kinda funny you said that. The recent and only one, avatar thread was mentioning a previous thread where that in fact, has happened. Thanks for the thoughtless-ness :roll: As for the checkmark, if you ever used that "Feature", you would notice it does not show all of the updates ... Anyways, if you read my post, you would noticed how I mentioned those with wireless cards, AND google ... searching helps :)