Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sp2

I have one of those laptops with a stupid wifi switch on it

defmute — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:40:33 -0800

I have the internet switch turned on on my laptop but windows says my internet switch is off. How do i turn my internet switch on? I own a Toughbook CF-52 running SP2 and it comes with a stupid manual internet switch on it.

one day, my wifi refuses to work and i get messages like these from my wifi connector wizard thing and my wifi switch software version thing. neither application allows me to turn the wifi on even though they're both telling me the wifi is off. i've checked my wificard in the device manager and it's enabled and everything. what do i do?

No SP2 for you!

Danf — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:52:32 -0800

Why does my Dell laptop refuse to download SP2 I have a 5 yo Inspiron 2650 that I just reinstalled XP on, from the original disks. Since this is pre-Service Pack 2, I have to do extensive updates. I have done this before several times, and it has always gone well.

This time, everything is fine until I actually try to dowload SP2, and the "preparing for installation" box come, it hangs up, then times out, and then reports a failed download.

I have tried this over wireless, then over my home network via ethernet cable, and finally at work over a T1 (or whatever the hell this fast connection is) with the same failed result.

The machine is still very serviceable, but I am not able to download any good spyware or virus programs until I put SP2 on it and it's not happening.

Anyone else had that happen?

Help me escape from "Welcome to Windows" Purgatory

syzygy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:37:15 -0800

Can anyone help me with a log-in problem after coming out of hibernation on a Dell Latitude D830 running XP Professional SP2? "Welcome to Windows" dialog is shown, but ctl+alt+delete does not bring up the log in dialog. I have to do a hard power down and reboot to get back in to Windows. I've searched around on google for half an hour or so, and although I've come across tons of people who've had various problems with hibernation, logging in and booting up with XP Pro SP2, I haven't found anything on this one yet.

FYI - this happens when the laptop goes into hibernation while it's on its docking station.

I could disable Hibernation and Stand By, but I'd prefer to use them both, in order to be a little more green.

Wireless Internet Stops and Starts After SP2 Installation

ktoad — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:03:35 -0800

My internet is stopping and starting and it's driving me nuts. I'm running Windows XP on a slightly older (3 or 4 years) machine. We have a wireless router in the house running Roadrunner cable service. My device is an Edimax EW-7128g wireless antenna I got through NewEgg awhile back. Works like a charm. Read on for a description of the problem... Up until recently I hadn't really felt the need to update XP. The system worked, I had other virus and firewall protection. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as they say. But then the last month or two I couldn't get an external drive to appear via the USB ports, so I decided to finally get SP2 to see if that fixed the problem. Immediately after doing all of the latest XP updates, my internet imploded.

Now, I get about 15-30 seconds of internet access as usual, followed by 30 seconds of no internet at all. I updated the wireless drivers and any other drivers I could see that seemed connected to internet devices, all to no avail. I'd really like to get my internet back, without reformatting and starting all over again if possible. Thanks for any help you can provide, my MetaBrothers and MetaSisters.

Automatic still image capture of a video file on Windows XP SP2

nickerbocker — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:54:04 -0800

Automatic still image capture of a video file on Windows XP SP2. What software tool would I need to automatically generate a sequence of still images from a video file that are spaced something like 5 minutes apart?

My two video formats are MPEG2 (w/ .MPG extension) and WMV. My camcorder generates MPEG2 files on its HDD but I'm going to be running this through a WMV encoder so that I can have compressed files ready to put up on the web.

If I could open the video file with a program, select from 01:00:00 to 02:00:25 and generate a still image in JPEG or some format at 5 minute intervals then that would be just perfect. (Those parameters could change...for instance I may want every 10 minutes or something...)

Last video question I posted here had some really good answers that really helped me. Lets see if we can make it 2 for 2 :). Thanks for your time.

Remote Desktop keeps freezing from home to work only

the_binary_blues — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:48:38 -0800

Problem: Remote Desktop freezes after the login screen and refuses to allow client to connect to the server computer. This problem only occurs from the home ip to the work ip but not from any other ip address to work. I have a client that has dell p4 Windows XP pro SP2 server on a static DSL IP that they remote access using windows remote desktop from home on their Sony VAIO Intel Centrino Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and time warner cable high speed. IT has worked for 2 years and it quit working monday. Here is the problem they can no longer remotely access the server from home it will work for any other connection including a twc one but not from home. At home they can remote to test servers I setup at alternate ip addresses but not to test servers at the work ip or even the work server.

Things I have tried:
1. reset of all equipment on both ends
2. Verification of the correct configurations on the routers
3. Checked the MTU settings on both routers 1492
4. Turned off themes and bitmap caching in remote desktop
5. changed the screen resolution to be 800x600 at 256 bit color on the laptop and in remotoe desktop and made the remote server match
6. turnned of the firewalls on the dell and disable norton 2006 on the laptop and all of its features. nothing.
7. DId the obligatory scans for spyware and viruses using hitman pro for spyware and running all of those tools in paid mode. Scaned for Viruses with AVG, Avast and Antivir
8. checked on MS technet they said I needed to upgrade to the newest version of terminal services. I did it did not help.
9. I changed the MTU on both sides to 1492 since that is the suggest from SBC for PPOE dsl connection prior it was 1500 in both locations
10. I installed tightvnc and they still cannot get home access for the computer it will connect, prompt for a password and freeze after 1/2 of the screen is loaded and die which is better than remote desktop that wont even load the screen

::EDIT:: I just tried putting the server in the dmz on the router still no good. I genuinely believe it has something to do with somehting one of the isp's has changed. Nothing new has been installed on the computers in ages other than windows updates.

I found this article and I have a almost the same problem but I cannot get his results
Remote Desktop
http://www.quest4.org/etc/rda-blackscreen(no_login).htm

I just don't know what else to do I am working the search engines and not really finding much helpful

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated its killing me here

Weird error box while working in docs folder

moonbird — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:56:22 -0800

Here's a weird error that I only get when I'm in My Documents or Windows Explorer (so it seems)... I'm stumped. Is it my processor getting screwey? It keeps popping up once I start working in the folder, but nowhere elso on my system. (I did google this and only came up with one site in Russion and one in Spanish). And I am reminded of the IT Crowd: "Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again." Didn't solve it.

Thanks in advance as always.

Is Vista right for me?

smithmac_99 — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:06:31 -0800

Is Vista for me? There's a lot I'm still running XP SP1 because my motherboard (648FX-A) doesn't get along with SP2. When I installed SP2, about 18 months ago, it wouldn't boot and I lost everything on my hard drive...so I backtracked to SP1. I contacted my computer manufacturer and they told me that Microsoft was working on a patch for my motherboard but I haven't even researched it yet. My computer should be able to run Vista, it's a P4 3.0 gHz with 1 GB of ram and tons of free hard drive space and a 256 MB of onboard video.

Here's my question, will Vista run well on my machine? Can I upgrade to vista from SP1? Should I try and install SP2 again?

My Bluetooth Dongle seems to lock up XP SP2

govtrust — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 10:45:28 -0800

My Bluetooth dongle locks up XP SP2. The device is KINAMAX BT-USB USB 2.0. The computer is a Compaq Presario 6000. I have tried installing useing the newest BlueSoleil drivers 2.3 and disabling the windows drivers. Once they are installed it pairs its self with my plantronics 320 headseat but the computer will intermittently freeze up. No error messages.

Overzealous firewall

martinX's bellbottoms — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:28:13 -0800

Why is the firewall in Panda Antivirus blocking my internet connection? I recently installed SP2 (better late than never) and ever since then I haven't been able to get onto the internet when I have the firewall in Panda Antivirus (2006 edition) enabled. Yes, I made sure that I didn't have Windows firewall running at the same time as the Panda firewall.
The rest of the antivirus software is still working, and my subscription won't expire until March.
Does anyone know how to fix this (or have a suggestion for a free firewall)?

What's wrong with my computer?

pullayup — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:52:07 -0800

Wireless networking problem with a Thinkpad t40/Cisco 350 mini-pci wireless card. Windows XP sp2, latest versions of everything, as far as I know. Every ten minutes or so, regardless of the router, authentication, etc. my laptop drops its wireless connection as if the signal/access point have disappeared. It will fail to detect any wireless signals until the card is disabled and re-enabled in the device manager, which is the only thing that seems to fix it. Disabling/enabling, repairing the network connection and attempting to reauthentcate don't. Eventually, however, I get a bluescreen with the message:

DRVR_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (it's only visible for about 3/4 of a second before rebooting, so that may not be exactly right)

It works fine for ten minutes or so after rebooting, then craps up again. Failure may be dependent on use: if I don't make any connections over the wireless link, it doesn't seem to lose it.
Sometimes, when I'm looking at the Wireless Network Connection Status window, it suddenly displays a totally impossible number of packets sent, like 2 million and something.
All of this has been happening ever since the card was installed--that is, it was never worked.

Sometimes (depending on the security type, I think, but I don't know that much about wireless security) it will fail aquire an IP address through DHCP, resulting in the message "this wireless connection has limited or no connectivity," and behaves in the same manner as above when I assign one manually.

I'm totally stumped. Wire network works fine. Searching for similar problems on the web has led to explanations accusing sp2 of "corrupting the TCP stack," but none of the suggested fixes have made any difference--though I haven't moved back to sp1 yet.

Anyone got any notion what's going on?

Will XP2 break my computer?

Wet Spot — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:35:18 -0800

Should I install XP SP2? This MS page lists "programs that are known to experience a loss of functionality when they run on a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer." Included are three programs I use on a regular basis:

PhotoShop CS 8.0 ("Program installs, but will not start.")
Norton SystemWorks 2004 - GoBack32 2004 ("If you install this program, you receive the "DRIVER_OR_IRQ_NOT_EQUAL" error every time your computer starts.")
ZoneAlarm 5.0.590 ("When you try to remove ZoneAlarm, you receive a Stop error message or your computer restarts before the uninstall program finishes.")

Elsewhere I've read the SP2 breaks all Adobe help pages. I use Adobe Framemaker all the time; if there is issue with this program it will be a real problem.

I've held out for this long, but an organization I often work with won't let me connect to their network unless SP2 is installed. Is it going to break my computer? Any experience with SP2 with these programs?

How to get an External Hard Drive to show up in WinXP SP2 again?

mdbell79 — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 15:26:37 -0800

How can I get an External Hard Drive to show up in WinXP SP2 again? I have a 60GB Western Digital hard drive in an ADS tech USB enclosure. It worked up to a few days ago, when it abruptly stopped showing up in My Computer. The drive was assigned disk letter I:, which is still skipped by all my other devices (iPod, Canon printer, etc.). The drive shows up in Device Manager as a 60GB Usb Device under Drives, but does not show up in the Disk Management utility.

So... why isn't this showing up in My Computer? The drive is formatted and is less than 20% full, I'd imagine. It's mostly used for data backups and disk images of files I'd need if I had to reinstall Windows.

Automated Bluetooth file transfers

tommasz — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:54:04 -0800

Is there anyway to automate Bluetooth file transfers on Windows SP2 using the Microsoft Bluetooth software? (This is a followup of sorts to a previous query of mine.) I couldn't get reliable Palm hot syncing with the Widcomm Bluetooth software and so went back to the default SP2 drivers. But the Microsoft Bluetooth software is dumb, and simple things like file transfers require far more steps than with the Widcomm software. Is there any way to keep the reliable MS driver but get more functionality?

Why my Windows XP laptop slows down overnight

flyby22 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 06:50:35 -0800

I have been noticing a problem with my work laptop which is running XP SP2. If left up and running all night, then on most mornings i find out it is running very sluggishly with 100% CPU utilization (from the graph). First I thought may be it is firefox with its large number of open tabs. But I am not so sure anymore. killing firefox does not help. Also when I look at the CPU column in task manager i cant quite figure out what is causing that 100% utilization. None of high numbers on the CPU column look suspect. Obviously I am missing something here. One thing I am not 100% sure, and there may be something to it, is that I may have seen this problem more often when I am using wifi instead of wired LAN at home. But I need to verify this. After this happens I usually have to reboot the machine after bringing it back to work. I am able to suspend the machine and bring it to work and plug it into the work LAN. But unless I reboot it it really runs slow. Just logging out does not help. I would like some advice on how to figure out what is causing that 100% utlization and why this strange behavior. I was suspecting some trojan activity..but I am not very sure. Of course if I suspend the machine before I go to sleep at night, everything is fine in the morning. Also i never see this kind of behavior during times when I am using the machine..from morning till i go to sleep (may be except when the virus scanner is making its weekly runs).

Why can't I connect to my network using WPA?

gfrobe — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 01:43:06 -0800

Just reinstalled my OS and can longer connect wirelessly to my router using WPA. Things were getting a bit sluggish on my computer so I just reinstalled XP with Sp2 and all updates. I have a US Robotics 5416 wireless PCI card in the computer and until now, have never had any problems with it. However, after the OS reinstall, it will no longer connect to my network using WPA-PSK security. After reinstalling the OS, I installed the same driver as before (the most up to date from USR website) and have done everything the same as before i.e. SSID, passkey phrase, channel) but it just won't work. It just keeps scanning and for a second it says "authenticating" but then it just goes back to scanning.

When I turn off security on the router, it connects OK. Can anyone tell me why WPA would work absolutely fine yesterday but won't work today? I've tried resetting router to factory defaults but that also didn't work.

Thanks.

XP Processes

punishinglemur — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 16:06:58 -0800

Windows XP SP2 says: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process." How can I find out what "another process" is?

Changing Windows XP SP2 Product Key

sixdifferentways — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 17:07:59 -0800

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to change the product key for a copy of Windows XP Pro SP2 that has already been activated? [MI] We deployed several new desktops this week that were imaged from images that someone did not strip the OEM license info from. All of the machines are legitimately licensed to use Windows and have the product key sticker - but of course Windows is using the number from the original image.
I've searched quite a bit, and cannot find any Microsoft documentation on this (big shock, I know) - and have not found any other sources that provide a solution. There is a documented procedure for changing the product key on a WXP SP1 machine by editing the registry or using a VB script, but this procedure doesn't work on the SP2 machines. Instead of the activation wizard popping up and letting you enter the key, it simply shows the "this copy of Windows is already activated" message.
My supervisor wants me to remedy the situation, even though technically we are probably covered legally. Any easy fixes short of having to re-image the user's machines?

Do I have to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 now?

Blue Stone — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 05:27:59 -0800

I was going to hold off installing XP Service Pack 2 for a few months. Whilst I use Firefox rather than IE6, the jpeg vulnerability is listed as affecting XP itself. Do I really need to installing it as soon as possible? Is everyone else installing SP2 now?

My Windows XP Pro can't find drivers automatically - what gives?

Space Coyote — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 13:50:04 -0800

Brokenwindowsfilter - My XP Pro SP2 box no longer automatically installs hardware. Yesterday I plugged in a plain old USB mouse and the hardware wizard came up, but after doing its thing it said that it couldn't find the driver. I had to tell it to manually look in places like windows\infs\ and windows\system32\drivers to find the files. Anything I can do to get it working again without doing a re-install? (The same thing happened with a USB keyboard when I tried it.)

SP2?

damnitkage — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 02:31:27 -0800

SP2 be or not to be? That is the question...

XP Service Packs

loquax — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 06:36:02 -0800

So is there anywhere I can get my hands on the XP service pack release today? Without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to join the Microsoft club? I have a feeling it will be a mess, and I want to know what my friends and co-workers will be getting themselves into. Thanks for the help!