Re: SP-2 update destroys HD

From: Jeff (jeff_at_phony.com)
Date: 11/06/04 

Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 21:42:19 -0500

My daughter learned that the hard way. Unfortunately, without my knowing,
she had followed Microsoft's advice to set her XP to "automatic" windows
updates. Being on broadband, she was updated without her even knowing it. It
is not an old laptop: merely 2.5 years old and widely sold.

Cost me a bundle. Needless to say, she ignored MS's advice to keep her new
laptop on "automatic" Windows Update. (It came with SP-2 installed). 

-- 
Jeff Williams
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
jeff@phony.com
"PA Bear" <PABear@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:%23dL93F5wEHA.3528@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Also see:
>
> What is Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and What Are the New
> Features?
>
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090437
>
> For months now we've been posting here:
>
> "Most of us are recommending that those with laptops, especially older
ones,
> contact the manufacturer for info on upgrading to SP2.  I would not
upgrade
> until I got an 'all clear' from the manufacturer as well as download links
> for any model-specific drivers which SP2 would require."
>
> Good luck.
> -- 
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE)
>
>
> Jeff wrote:
> > I think this piece of info needs to be made known to whoever it may
> > concern. It might help others with the same problem. Here is the sad
> > story and the response from Dell.
> >
> > It concerns my daughter's Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop which she uses at
law
> > school.  After she automatic Windows Update updated her XP Home, she
> > started to notice all sorts of problems including abrupt crashes.  I
> > looked for spyware, viruses, etc and found nothing because she was well
> > protected with Zone Alarm and numerous uptodate utilities. Then finally,
> > while in the midst of a paper she had been working on for a week, the
> > laptop crashed and would not reboot because the HD had died and would
not
> > boot up. Using some tricks I got the HD to boot up for a few minutes -
> > enough to save her data - before the HD died completely with grinding
> > noises.  Because of the urgency of her law school work I was obliged to
> > purchase a new laptop from a store while I tried to fix her Dell Laptop.
> >
> > I purchased a new HD, installed it and installed XP Home from the
recovery
> > CD, installed the Dell drivers and decided to install SP-2 which went
> > through smoothly. After I installed SP-2 I noticed the laptop fans were
> > not coming on as usual.  Concerned, I installed several utilities to
> > monitor the HD temperature. They all showed the same thing: the temp
went
> > up to 60 C after about 15 minutes, at which point I would shut down to
> > laptop to avoid further damage. The fans did n not go on. Using the
tests
> > provided on the Dell Utility CD I found that both the motherboard and
> > processor fans were working fine and would go on at both speeds when so
> > instructed by the test utilities.  Even more significant, when booting
> > from the utility CD (not XP), the fans would spontaneously go on
> > repeatedly while running other tests - not the fan tests which would
> > start them.  However when I booted into XP SP-2, the fans would not go
on
> > even when the HD temp went beyond critical.
> >
> > The above is just a summary of what I went through trying to figure out
> > what happened to the laptop.  It is only after a lot of detective work
> > that, knowing that it is the BIOS that has a lot to do with the fans
> > coming on to prevent excessive heat, I finally came to the conclusion
> > that the SP-2 update was somehow incompatible with the original BIOS
thus
> > preventing the fans from coming on when they needed to.  I emailed Dell
> > and here is their response, which confirms what I thought:
> > ..........................
> > Dear Jeff,
> >
> > Thank you for providing the feedback.
> >
> > Jeff, I think we have figured the problem. In this case the
> > culprit might be SP2. as currently there are lot of compatibility issues
> > with it and it is common if after installing XP SP2, some devices stop
> > working. In this case before going to Dell sales and purchasing a
> > replacement fan, I will suggest you to uninstall XP SP2 and look for the
> > issue. Refer to the link mentioned below which will assist you in
> > uninstalling XP SP2:
> >
> >
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090662&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19#Sectlink
> >
> > To update the BIOS refer to the link mentioned below:
> >
> >
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=INS_PNT_P3CT_8100&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=1329&devlib=1&category=1&releaseid=R57195
> >
> > For updating the Video Drivers, refer to the link mentioned below:
> >
> >
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&SystemID=INS_PNT_P3CT_8100&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=1002&devlib=6&category=6&releaseid=R66301
> >
> > The link mentioned above has a file ?NX2K4482.EXE?. Please download and
> > save the file on the desktop. Once the download is complete, please
> > double click on the downloaded file and refer to the on screen
> > instructions.
> >
> > If you need any further assistance, please feel free to email me.
> >
> > Respectfully,
>

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