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Vista SP1 Update Locks Out Some Users

Posted by kdawson on from the lather-rinse-repeat dept.

Echostorm writes with word that Windows Vista SP1, which began rolling out via Automatic Update, has left some users' machines unbootable. The update loops forever on "Configuring updates: Stage 3 of 3 — 0% complete. Do not turn off your computer." "Shutting down"... restart and loop. Echostorm notes having found traces of what sounds like the same bug in early beta releases of SP1. It's unclear how many users are affected. So far there is no word on a fix from Microsoft.

39 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. You can't make this stuff up. by kellyb9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    They actually DO beta test their software, right??????????

    1. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      WE actually DO beta test their software, right??????????

      There, I fixed that for you.

    2. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by CrazyTalk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, yes. In fact, those of us inside Microsoft (I'm a Vendor, and not on Vista team) have had access to SP1 for over a month.

    3. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by Fred_A · · Score: 5, Funny

      They actually DO beta test their software, right?????????? They did test it in .au and even did a survey to see what people thought of it.
      Oddly enough everybody thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    4. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think their test setups are entirely Hetero, dude. However, it's rather difficult to have every possible machine configuration represented. I mean, think of the permutations! Why won't anyone think of the permutations?

    5. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by CSMatt · · Score: 4, Funny

      You must be ne...

      Oh wait. Never mind.

    6. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ya know, that's Aussieland. Sliced bread was introduced last year there.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by rsmoody · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just a few days ago with OS X 10.5.2. Several users were complaining of being stuck at the BDOS during boot, slow booting, etc. It seems that there are quite a few issues with 10.5.2, I myself have noticed apps starting much slower since the update. However, for the most part, it's very usable for me. Others however cannot even run some critical apps and has brought them to a complete halt. Not good at all. From what I have read and the trouble I had with using the Software Update version of the update, they needed to test more. I had to use the combo updater just to get the thing to install at all. Now, mod me over-rated.

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      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    8. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Funny
      "I'm not the author of the grandparent post, but the constant spew of memes only adds to the overall noise and lack of actual content. I don't see how something that is chanted 500 times is still funny. It becomes trite, expected, and tired."

      In Soviet Russia, memes spew you....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    9. Re:You can't make this stuff up. by gallwapa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A friend of mine works at MS... his entire job consists of setting up different lab machines for testing scenarios. All day. Every day.

      So, yes. They have quite a large testing environment going on. I know you were kidding, but...

  2. Taking a leaf out of apple's book? by KublaiKhan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know that they're said to have copied the concept of a GUI from apple (who, yes, stole it from PARC) but I didn't think Microsoft would follow the iBrick update also.

    --
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure dome decree
  3. ROFLMAO by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 4, Informative

    About 10 minutes before this popped up, I got my first client call with this symptom.

    Ahhh, Microsoft. Thank you for all the work you throw my way!

    The only thing I can confirm so far is yep, Safe Mode don't work.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    1. Re:ROFLMAO by BoomerSooner · · Score: 4, Funny

      Has safe mode ever worked?

    2. Re:ROFLMAO by ari_j · · Score: 5, Funny

      Has safe mode ever worked? Yes, but it was called DOS back then.
    3. Re:ROFLMAO by jsiren · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Has safe mode ever worked? Yes, but it was called DOS back then. These days it's called Ubuntu.
      --
      Usage: km/h for speed (kilometers per hour); kph for very slow impulses (kilopond hours).
  4. SP1 prevents Vista from booting? by goldspider · · Score: 5, Funny

    So in other words, it IS an improvement!

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
  5. Win a T-Shirt! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Funny


    Q: Vista SP1 gets locks up the machines after update.

    A: [x] Fiction (wins a T-Shirt)
        [ ] Fact (truth but no T-Shirt to you bad boy.)

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  6. Vista is imitating Apple Again! by TrippTDF · · Score: 4, Funny

    this time, it's with "One Infinite Loop"

  7. Ye who lack faith by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Eventually the loop will stop, and the installation will complete. But only if you BELIEVE!

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  8. Regression testing, people by plopez · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, sounds like a version issue. An SCM (Software Configuration Management). Seriously, I worked for smaller companies that were serious about versioning and regression testing. Is it my imagination or does MS seem more and more like a software organization that is out of control?

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    1. Re:Regression testing, people by porkThreeWays · · Score: 4, Funny

      Seriously guys, seriously.

      --
      If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
    2. Re:Regression testing, people by cliffski · · Score: 5, Insightful

      more likely they are a software company rolling out tens of millions of copies of an O/S onto completely random hardware. I'd be amazed if there were not a few problems.

      --
      DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
    3. Re:Regression testing, people by tlhIngan · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seriously, sounds like a version issue. An SCM (Software Configuration Management). Seriously, I worked for smaller companies that were serious about versioning and regression testing. Is it my imagination or does MS seem more and more like a software organization that is out of control?


      It appears that each little division of Microsoft is their own little fiefdom. Take a common DLL - comctl32.dll (common controls). Windows ships with one version. Office ships with another version. Applications (using Visual Studio Redistributables) ship with a third version! Each has features that aren't in the others, so Windows apps get one look, Office another look, and 3rd party apps yet another look.

      In addition, the OS team forked the compiler they use from the development team. It makes sense in one aspect - all developers have a stable toolchain. However, if the dev team breaks something, instead of the Windows team making a big stink, people who use Visual Studio do.

      As far as anyone's concerned, Microsoft might as well be split up into separate companies - they more or less act that way anyhow. Code's taken from one team and forked, improvements aren't folded back in, etc.
    4. Re:Regression testing, people by BUL2294 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Bullshit... The amount of hardware variability has declined over the past 15-odd years due to consolidation and Microsoft's insistence...

      * How many CPU makers are out there today? 2. (Transmeta is dead).
      * How many companies make chipsets (north/southbridges) today? 4(?)
      * GPU makers? 3.
      * BIOS vendors? 3(?)
      * Sound cards? 2 (Intel & Creative)
      * Expansion interfaces? 2 (PCI, PCI-Express)

      Now, look back to 1993-1995. How many no-name brand BIOSes caused problems? How many brands of VGA chipsets were there? CPU makers? (Think Intel, AMD, Cyrix, NexGen, C&T,...) How many expansion interfaces were there (ISA, VLB, PCI, MCA). How many brands had their own incompatible hardware, where Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS had special switches for (AST, Everex, IBM PS/2, etc.) All of these worked well with DOS/Win3.x and Win95.

      No, this is Microsoft's way of saying "we don't know what's wrong with Vista!"

      --
      Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
    5. Re:Regression testing, people by AstroPHX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Your funny math makes my brain hurt.

      The number of vendors is a horrible measurement. Try variants on for size:

      How many CPU variants does one of the two manufacturers currently support? Try over 125. http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUResult.aspx?f1=&f2=&f3=&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=& Oh, and that's just for the desktop.

      GPU? NVidia has 38 families of chipsets. At ~5 products for each chipset, you're over 190.

      What about all of the other hardware on a motherboard? Bluetooth, USB, Firewire, network drivers and modems are some of the largest contributers to OS development overhead/headache; tell me, have you ever tried to load up Feisty Ubuntu using a Broadcomm wireless device?!?

      By the way, this doesn't include all of the half-assed components people drop onto their computers like humping dog memory sticks or coffee warmers let alone all of the out of date drivers people have installed on their systems (have you checked your BIOS rev lately?).

      This isn't "Microsoft's way of saying 'we don't know what's wrong with Vista,'" it's Microsoft's way of saying, "we're trying our damnedest to clean this up, but you idiots keep pissing in the pool."

  9. It's not on windows update by Megor1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can't download SP1 yet from Microsoft, in fact its not due out for weeks...

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    Everyone that disagrees with me is a paid shill
    1. Re:It's not on windows update by nicklott · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Who modded this Offtopic? The summary says "which began rolling out via Automatic Update", which is just wrong. Admittedly they might want to have caught this a touch earlier, but it's not public yet, nevermind auto updating people's machines. OSS FUD I say...

    2. Re:It's not on windows update by nicklott · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In fact, all the posts to the thread in the article were made after this article was posted to slashdot and by posters with a post count of 1. They talk about SP1 on auto-update (which the original post didn't) yet that can't possibly be true because that's not the case. And oh look, echostormfury is one of the posters, could he perchance be related to the Echostorm who posted the story? I smell bullshit...

  10. Don't Panic!!!! by molex333 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft will be releasing a worm to fix this problem early next week!

    --
    Somewhere in a dark place you will find:
    www.m1
  11. Brick?!? by gardyloo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sorry. I can't believe I read a summary about a computer problem without it being called "bricking". What the hell is wrong with the world?!?

  12. For those who say "Get a Mac" by Radhruin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something similar happened with the 10.4.11 update as well.

    1. Re:For those who say "Get a Mac" by Khuffie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except for a major difference: unlike the 10.4.11 update, this is NOT a public release and contrary to what the summary is, is NOT available on Windows Update.

  13. That's some keen fucking reporting by sharkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Echostorm writes with word that Windows Vista SP1, which began rolling out via Automatic Update, has left some users' machines unbootable.

    A forum post from last month about issues with the Vista SP1 Release Candidate (prerelease code, just to let Echostorm know). SP1 does not go out via auto updates until next month, and is only officially available to select system builders and beta testers now.

    It's unclear how many users are affected.

    I counted 5, including the guy who yanked his power cable and trashed his filesystem.

    So far there is no word on a fix from Microsoft.

    It might possibly be fixed in the RTM version of SP1. Who knows? Certainly not Echostorm, who is having a poopie because he hosed his own PC and is trying to drum up a whine-fest about it. Definitely not kdawson either, who posted this because, well, it's kdawson.

    This is taking slashvertisments to the preschool tantrum level.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  14. Repair disk fixes vista problem by BroadbandBradley · · Score: 4, Funny

    you can download a disk image, boot from the disk, and start being productive. It's a proven fix that worked for me.

    Vista Repair Disk

    I used it as soon as I started having problems with Vista on a new work computer and it's been smooth sailing ever since.
     

    --
    "The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
  15. Somewhat reminds me. . . by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Funny

    of the situation years ago when a patch went that killed ones network connection. The solution from Microsoft? Download a new patch to correct the situation.

    Um, yeah.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  16. Vista SP1 isn't public yet, unless you pirate it. by Coopjust · · Score: 5, Informative

    Vista SP1 isn't available publicly yet, unless you hop on The Pirate Bay.

    Microsoft placed 6 weeks between code finalization and public release for 6 weeks of driver testing; some drivers were not properly written, and MS wanted to work with hardware manufacturers/OEMs to find hardware with problems. Everyone bitched about how technical users should get it early.

    Then these same people download SP1 from an unauthorized source, and bitch when it breaks their system. They downloaded an update without letting Microsoft work the kinks out, and they didn't get the update from MS. No automatic download was involved in this.

  17. Re:Popping Sound by Bob9113 · · Score: 4, Funny

    a machine that looked exactly the same but now made poping noises.

    Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua...

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  18. automatic updates? by leuk_he · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe MS said they would not roll it to fully automated updates till they fixes some driver installation problem that was displayed in the RC.

    They however failed to tell what drivers were affected, and how you can manually fix it. Yanking the power cord certainly is not the method MS would recommend. It htink you need the install disk and run some kind of recovery mode. (that is how it worked under XP.

    The linked forum post is referring to a RC, not to the RTM.

    http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/02/11/windows-vista-sp1-availability-for-technical-customers.aspx

    "For broad availability, we are still planning to release in mid-March, since we want to be sure that everyone has the smoothest experience possible.". You can have it earlier if you are want to touch buttons....

    windows update is only pushing

    the final two of three prerequisite updates needed to install Windows Vista SP1

    basically it says you still need 2 more reboots before you can have sp1 automatically.

  19. ASUS P5N-E by nick_davison · · Score: 5, Informative

    It may well not be SP1.

    A very large number of owners of ASUS P5N-E motherboards are reporting the same issue simply with recent updates. It's quite likely the SP1 update is simply triggering the same issue.

    Here's a google search on the issue. You'll notice a common thread is that P5N-E owners have the issue, users of other motherboards don't see it.

    It's been happening since mid January, from what I can gather, and I'm not finding any solutions to it yet.