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Microsoft Pulls Vista SP1 Update

1shooter writes "news.com reports that Microsoft is withdrawing SP1 for Vista. Nick White, Microsoft product manager blogged 'We've heard a few reports about problems customers may be experiencing as a result of KB937287,' wrote White. 'Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further customer impact while we investigate possible causes.'"

37 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Amiable Caucasian by Stanistani · · Score: 5, Funny

    >Nice White, Microsoft product manager...

    Could some please inform Dave Chapelle of this person's name? ...and videotape his unedited response?

    1. Re:Amiable Caucasian by TyIzaeL · · Score: 3, Informative

      The article actually says the person's name is Nick White.

    2. Re:Amiable Caucasian by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hope he has a daughter named "Snow"

      --
      It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
    3. Re:Amiable Caucasian by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      ["Nice White"] The article actually says the person's name is Nick White.

      Don't tell me, Microsoft OCR for Vista(TM)

    4. Re:Amiable Caucasian by Fex303 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm a Microsoft Vendor, and have access to the MS phonebook via Outlook...
      While you're checking, what's Steve Ballmer's direct line? I just wanted to share some, uh, customer feedback with him.
    5. Re:Amiable Caucasian by spun · · Score: 3, Funny

      Do you find it wisable when I mention my fwiend at Micwosoft, Nice White?

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    6. Re:Amiable Caucasian by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's his wife's name? Memowy. Memowy Weaks.
      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  2. What? by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What happened to problems with KB938371? Their little Windows Update updater that paves the way for the SP1 update is causing big problems here where I work- I'm looking at 3 machines right now that it's refusing to install on.

  3. They need to think about this differently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they imagine Vista to be a horrible cancer, and SP1 to be chemotheraphy, then this all seems better. Sure, it's going to make some sick and die, but for a few, it's going to be a cure for their problems. I say let it out and let people take their chances.

  4. NOT SP1 by ilikepi314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I saw this on the firehose last night and it confused me then, it should have been edited.

    The problem is not SP1, but rather an update for Windows Update/installation that is being installed in anticipation of SP1 next month. It's a required upgrade to run SP1, but it is not SP1 itself.

    1. Re:NOT SP1 by gravis777 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I totally agree. This is about an update that was released on Windows Update, and then withdrawn. SP1 has not been released yet to the end user.

      This update just installs updates, and is a PREREQUESIT to SP1. Much as you have to install the Microsoft Genuine Advantage tool in XP before you can install Internet Explorer 7.
      Slashdot really needs to start validating their sources

      http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937287

    2. Re:NOT SP1 by Rary · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you cannot install this update because MS has pulled it, how can you install SP1?

      You can't, whether you install this update or not, because SP1 has not been released yet. It's scheduled for release next month.

      SP1 is stopped for now.

      SP1 has not even started yet. This is yet another /. article seemingly about SP1 which actually isn't about SP1 becuase SP1 hasn't even been released. This is about a prerequisite to SP1.

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

    3. Re:NOT SP1 by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Informative

      Read the article next time.
      The release next month is for general public, that does not mean it is not available.

      Vista SP1 is already available to subscribers to the Microsoft Developer Network but won't receive a formal public release until mid-March.

      That certainly looks to me like there were people able to install and run SP1.
      They now cannot install SP1 even if they wanted to.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  5. Not a shock... by Kev647 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Poor Microsoft...why can't they seem to get things right from the beginning? With all that money and power, they should be able to develope higher quality software. It just doesn't make sense why they wouldn't or can't.

    1. Re:Not a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The money goes to
        Marketing Marketing Marketing
      not
        Developers Developers Developers

    2. Re:Not a shock... by Macthorpe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because you can test on ten thousand combinations of software and hardware and still hit less than 1% of the possible system configurations that exist?*

      *Numbers from my arse - you get my point, though.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    3. Re:Not a shock... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Informative
      Yeah. Look you pack of yapping three inch tall dogs even blessed St. Job's stable of magic coding elves riding glowing pink unicorns can't seem to get things right half the time.

      Recent OS fix creates problems.

      Recent OS fix creates problems.

      Recent OS fix creates problems.

      Hell, just read Mac Fix it and weep (a lot of us Mac users do). Quit yer bitching.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Not a shock... by Macthorpe · · Score: 5, Informative

      Let's entertain your ridiculous position for a moment.

      Novatech currently sell the following parts:-

      28 different AM2 motherboards.
      21 different AM2 processors.
      111 different PCI-E graphics cards.
      17 sound cards.

      So far, we have 1,109,556 different combinations of hardware you can build. That already exceeds my "10,000 combinations is less than 1% of the possible hardware and software configurations" comment.

      Bear in mind that we haven't covered:
      SATA/IDE hard drives
      DVD writers
      PCI cards of all types
      USB devices
      Anything from Intel whatsoever.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    5. Re:Not a shock... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Informative

      What ten thousand (or let's just say "significant") combinations?

      How many different CPU manufacturers do you have?
      Three common ones - Intel, AMD and VIa.

      How many different GPU manufacturers?
      Hmm, off the top of my head? Nvidia, ATI, SiS, Intel, Matrox...

      Now, how many different chips from each? Several dozen at least.

      How many mainboard chipsets? ...

      Again, off the top of my head - Intel, Via, AMD, Nvidia, SiS, plus loads of no name Tiawanese ones I have seen in the past 2 years.

      And how many different chipsets? Intel alone has several dozen that they have released over the past 5 years....

      If you manage to extrapolate a thousand combinations out of those, without going back more than, say, 5 years (because who the heck has enough time on his hands to install Vista on a machine this old?), you have been very, very creative.

      Sorry, thats easy to do.
  6. Re:The irony, it burns. by ubannoying · · Score: 5, Informative

    What burns even more is that the MS Product Manager's real name is Nick. It was a typo.

  7. Others by locokamil · · Score: 5, Informative

    KB943899 plays havoc with laptops with misconfigured AHCI devices as well. This isn't reduced performance or anything trival like that; we're talking about full blown "cannot find boot device" BSODs on reboot.

    I had to turn off automatic updates to stop the update from installing.

  8. Re:The irony, it burns. by KublaiKhan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looks like a case of autocorrection by the MS Word spellcheck to me. ;-p

    As regards the last Vista-SP1-related-problem article, I found this that mentions said problem and how to solve it, if anyone needs that.

    --
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure dome decree
  9. Classic MarketSpeak! by brennanw · · Score: 4, Informative

    They're pulling the service pack because one of the pre-requisite patches you need to install before the service pack can even be applied is causing hard disk errors and requiring re-formats, although you can use the Vista CD to repair those errors, unless you paid for the downloadable version which doesn't come on a CD, and it only affects a minority of users in "unique circumstances" to begin with.

    I love these guys.

    --
    Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
    1. Re:Classic MarketSpeak! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      causing hard disk errors and requiring re-formats ... and it only affects a minority of users in "unique circumstances" to begin with. I love these guys.

      In other words, Russian Roulette is not problematic because it is only harmful under "unique circumstances".
  10. Curious - Why? by Bob9113 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So there was a story about TechNet users wanting, and being denied, early access to SP1 -- apparently specifically so they could do battle testing. I don't know much about TechNet, but I'm guessing those are pretty much the most tech-savvy bundle of customers Microsoft can easily assemble. Why did Microsoft decide to skip the public beta phase with a bunch of expert customers with diverse operating environments and go straight to the world at large?

  11. Re:Possible causes by Elbart · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean upgrade to XP, right?

  12. Hardly limited to unique circumstances by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Note the last paragraph of the article: `According to Microsoft's White: "This problem only affects a small number of customers in unique circumstances."'

    I find this a rather incredulous claim considering that in my part-time job providing support to laptop users at my university I had two users with the problem on the same day within an hour of each other. Entirely different laptops, but both fixed with a system restore to before the updates.

    1. Re:Hardly limited to unique circumstances by Shados · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, considering universities have a decent amount of people, that the update will be installed on a large number of users at exactly the same time....that you didnt get 200 people at the same time bitching about it means that its a rather uncommon issue. Not uncommon ENOUGH. But uncommon.

  13. SP1at by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 3, Informative

    of course, the quick fix will be SP1a temporary.

  14. RTFA! by Techogeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's NICK White, not NICE white. Typo in the /. write-up.

  15. Well... by brennanw · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... I suppose that depends on how you define winning the game. :)

    --
    Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
  16. Re:The irony, it burns. by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's what I hate about Microsoft products. The stupid program assumes you're stupid. The stupid program forces you to do things backwards.

    Microsoft seems to design for the developmentally disabled, and does a bad job of even that. And they can't seem to learn from their horrible mistakes. Did they learn from Clippy? Hell no, now they have the stupid dog on their XP search. If you tell the damned thing to gho away it comes back the next time you do a search. Yeah, I could probably google for a hack to fix it but damn it, I shouldn't have to.

    Linux never does that shit to me.

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  17. Re:The irony, it burns. by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Yeah, I could probably google for a hack to fix it but damn it, I shouldn't have to.
    Linux never does that shit to me."

    So true. I've been using Lx since approximately Mandrake 5.1 (ask your dad), and have never had to, um, google up a fix for anything. Nope. Not once. Except of course 3-5 times a week.

    NB: it's well worth it to me.

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
  18. Re:"Nice" White? by e4g4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    C'mon guys, the e isn't anywhere near the k on the keyboard! Yes, but they both require a middle finger - I know my middle fingers get a little twitchy when I talk about Microsoft.
    --
    The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
  19. Re:Windows Update downloaded SP1 on my PC last nig by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SP1 was waiting for me this morning as well. I haven't yet installed it though. I have Ultimate 64. For me, stability has never been a concern and I am running an overclocked e8400 with 8gb of RAM. The system is very smooth. I haven't had any problems running games.. and the few games that I have run in DX10 are pretty nice looking compared to their DX9 versions. If you read the rhetoric on Slashdot you'll think Vista is a complete failure. I decided to try Vista for this new build, despite reading this rhetoric, because I knew that a great majority of the Slashdot posters who post about a Microsoft product have not in fact used the product. Slashdot readers are actually more herdlike and less independent than one might think.

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
  20. E and K by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

    C'mon guys, the e isn't anywhere near the k on the keyboard!

    I use a dvorak keyboard, you insensitive clod!

  21. Re:The irony, it burns. by C+R+Johnson · · Score: 4, Funny

    For a couple of months two years ago, I was troubled by a noise that my XP laptop would make.... sometimes. Shuuck-Shuuck. Like a slow camera shutter.

    I searched my system and google in vain of finding what this was.

    Then one day I had the search window open and sitting on top of the desktop and I looked at it at just the right time. There was the answer.

    The f-----g dog scratches his ear.

    --
    The alternative to limited government is unlimited government.