Reality Check: Windows Update and SP2

I spend a lot of time reading what other people have to say about Windows. Through the years, I’ve found that a lot of the most common advice from so-called Windows experts is misleading or flat-out wrong. In Windows XP Inside Out, Second Edition, Carl, Craig, and I directly addressed many of these myths in sections entitled “Reality Check.” (You might be surprised by the number of myths we shatter in this book!)

One of the most common rants I’ve read lately is from experts advising experienced Windows XP users to turn off Automatic Updates and handle the job of patching Windows by downloading updates directly. This is a Very Bad idea. Here’s why.

After my recent post on overcoming SP2 problems, I received an e-mail message from an old friend who works on the Windows team. He makes a good case for why every Windows user should have Automatic Updates turned on.

By way of background, the two most common killer problems that afflict SP2 are caused by (1) a piece of rogue software called TVMedia, which causes a blue-screen (STOP) error when you restart your computer after installing SP2l; and (2) an outdated BIOS on a computer running a Pentium 4 chip based on Prescott C-0 processor stepping, which causes your computer to hang when you restart after installing SP2.

It’s important to note in both cases that the problem is external. The real solution is updating your BIOS or getting rid of the spyware, but that’s cold comfort when your computer has stopped working and trying to install SP2 was the last thing you did.

OK, Microsoft identified these problems within a very short time after releasing SP2 to the world and came up with fixes to prevent the blue-screen errors and hangs. I’ll let my friend at Microsoft explain what happened:

Windows Update (WU) and Automatic Update (AU) can detect a machines configuration (regkeys and files installed) which is how we know when to offer specific security updates, when they have been installed, etc. (privacy note: WU downloads a blob of data that describes the fixes available and their respective requirements and the local machine actually scans itself, its not scanned by the server.) As soon as we became aware of these two issues in August, we immediately put “safety blocks” on WU and AU so that SP2 would not be offered to anyone with either of the two conditions you note, and documented it in a KB article.

Then, as we developed, tested and signed off on the specific fixes later, we then posted those fixes on WU/AU, and modified the detection logic. Thus, if a customer has tvmedia or the problematic Pentium chips, the updates are offered up front, instead of SP2. Once they are installed where needed, SP2 shows up via WU or AU. So a simple test is to go to Windows Update if you see SP2, then you dont have an issue. If you dont see SP2, but see one of these two packages, install it and then go back to WU. For the AU customer, this will happen automatically on the first day, the updates are installed, and on the next day, SP2 starts downloading.

Each of these updates is only offered to machines that needs them, not to the general population. This is one of the reasons we encourage average users to install SP2 via WU/AU, in addition to the download size savings.

Ironically, the people who have Windows Update and Automatic Update disabled are MOST likely to be bit by this issue. The nightmare scenario, in fact, is for an expert user to try to outsmart the system by downloading SP2 directly and then installing it manually. If you try to do this on a system that is afflicted with either of these problems, and you didn’t install one of the two patches designed to prevent the problem, the results will be ugly.

For those who prefer to be conservative about patches, it is easy to configure Automatic Update so that it downloads any necessary patches but doesn’t automatically install them. Instead, you get a notification in the taskbar alerting you that new patches are available. Click the icon to see the full list, read all the details, and decide for yourself whether you want to install them.

SP2: no performance problems

I often grit my teeth when I read “expert” advice on performance that has no relation to external reality. That’s why I was very happy to see one Web site perform a comprehensive set of system benchmarks aimed at answering the question, “Does Service Pack 2 slow you down?”

They ran 108 separate benchmarks, with a heavy emphasis on gaming-related tests. The SP1 machine had better performance scores on 63 of the tests, while the SP2 machine was faster on 42 of the tests. If you’re into this sort of thing, you can look at all six pages of charts and graphs. Or you can skip to the conclusion:

The test PC equipped with Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 was an average of 0.5% faster than the same hardware with Service Pack 2 installed. The percentage difference between faster and slower is insignificantly small. Less than 2 or 3 percent in some benchmarks could be dismissed by most but when gamers are looking to squeeze every extra frame out of their machines…it may count.

One-half of one percent is statistically a blip, especially when the test results are distributed in both directions. I’ve personally installed SP2 on a whole bunch of computers and this test matches my experience. If you see a noticeable slowdown after installing SP2, look elsewhere for the cause.

SP2 troubles? Some help…

I’ve heard from several people about problems they experienced when trying to install Service Pack 2. These are the two most common problems:

Your computer freezes while trying to install SP2. This seems to be caused by a specific hardware problem, which is described in this Knowledge Base article: Your computer stops responding when you restart to complete the installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2. There’s a patch you can install before attempting to update to SP2. If you’re stuck midway through an incomplete installation, see the instructions at the end of the article.
Your computer gets stuck in a restart loop with the error message “This application has failed to start because winsrv was not found.” This one seems to be related to a particular piece of adware called TVMedia, according to this Knowledge Base article. (Mary Jo Foley wrote a story in eWeek earlier this month with more details.)

Other problems I hear about are typically related to outdated and unsigned drivers. If you have a Compaq or HP computer, you can find all the update information you need here. Dell owners should read this page carefully.

If you haven’t yet installed SP2, now is the time to do so. If you’re looking for a checklist to help make sure you’re doing it right, this page from Windows MVP Jupiter Jones is a good place to start. Here’s the short version: Check first to see if your computer has any compatibility problems. Scan for viruses and spyware and eliminate anything you find. Download the full SP if possible, or order the CD from Microsoft. Do the upgrade!

Update: You’ll find some more resources on my SP2 index page.

SP2 problems

In response to my recent post asking why people are waiting to install SP2, Steve Smith writes:

On my home system, I installed SP2 not too long after it came out (which has been my practice in the past for other fixes and updates)

The install proceeded uneventfully, I rebooted as instructed but the machine hung on the starting Windows screen. Going into diagnostic mode showed the hang occurring when the agp440.sys driver was loaded. My ASUS motherboard BIOS is current and I have fairly standard components on my system.

Google XP and agp440.sys and you’ll see that my problem is not uncommon. I have yet to find a solution. I had to reinstall the entire OS and all of my apps to recover. Not something I want to do again anytime soon.

Yes, I agree. That sucks. I’ve actually seen this happen in the past, long before SP2. In my case, the problem was caused by a faulty video driver. To solve it, I had to go into recovery console and disable the agp440.sys service, as described in this KB article. It is not a procedure I recommend for beginners.

For what it’s worth, I had similar problems when trying to use Roxio’s Easy CD Creator, shortly after Windows XP was released. The program installed an incompatible driver which hung the system, and it could only be fixed by booting into Recovery Console and manually removing the driver.

The problem in both cases was caused by a poorly written kernel-mode driver, not by Windows XP or a service pack. Installing SP2 just made the problem appear. The distinction may seem academic to someone dealing with the mess Steve saw, and most people will not have the patience or the knowledge to fix the problem using Recovery Console. Instead, they’ll reinstall Windows, cursing the whole while.

A recent issue of Scot Finnie’s newsletter mentions a similar problem in a somewhat oblique fashion:

A couple of days ago Microsoft released “Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB885894)” designed to solve what’s probably the most common installation problem with XP SP2: A freeze part-way through the setup process, leaving you with a failed installation. If that happens to you, Microsoft is offering this 760K download. You install it, restart your machine, and you should be able to complete your XP SP2 installation successfully.

Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB885894)

Note: This installation bug fix is poorly named. “Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2” sounds like it’s something everyone should download and run, but that is not the case. It’s only if you run into trouble with a hung installation.

I don’t know if this is the same issue, but it sounds like it could be.

At any rate, I stand by my advice that installing SP2 is the smart thing to do. I recommend you have a full backup first, of course, and I also suggest that you check all installed drivers to see whether any are unsigned. Those are the ones that are most likely to cause problems. You can use the Verifier utility (which we discuss in Windows XP Inside Out Deluxe Edition), but be careful with this one!

Update: I have more information about two specific SP2-related problems in this post.

Gee, few problems with SP2

CNET News.com reports:

A new study released this week from consultant AssetMetrix found that the typical company can expect at least some SP2 compatibility issues on about 10 percent of its machines that run the software.

“There will be some, what I would consider, transitory issues,” said Steve O’Halloran, managing director for AssetMetrix’s research arm. “In most cases the software just needs a little configuration (change) and the incompatibility goes away.”

Transitory issues. A little configuration change. Sounds pretty good to me. Don’t you think so? From the same story:

[C]omputer makers say the upgrade has not resulted in the support headaches that they had feared.

“We would have expected our call volume to increase significantly,” said Bob Cote, vice president of client services at Gateway. Instead, Cote said that Gateway is getting fewer than 100 calls per day related to SP2.

Many PC makers credited the results to advanced planning and Microsoft’s listening to their advice to stagger the release of the software upgrade. …

A Dell representative said the company was prepared for an increase in support calls, but so far has seen only a brief spike. “We saw a little bit of an uptick when the service pack first became available, but call volumes today are within the norms,” Dell representative Jennifer Jones said.

Gateway’s Cote said most of the support calls have been general inquiries, with customers trying to decide whether to upgrade or wait. “We’re recommending that they go ahead,” he said…

Note: I found this entry via a blog entry at Dan Gillmor’s site, headlined “Windows Service Pack: More issues.” Funny. I would have written a different headline.

Q&A: SP2 and performance

Reader Mark Roberts asks: “does sp2 make winxp boot slower. I think i am experiencing same. “

Mark, I’ve read hundreds of first-person reports on SP2, and I have not seen any reports of performance problems. In fact, a few people say they think some things are actually faster, and that’s my experience as well.

If you’re experiencing slowdowns, you may have an auto-starting application, service, or driver interfering with startup. I would use Msconfig’s Startup tab or a similar utility to disable as much as possible and see if the problem persists. Then start adding items back a few at a time and see if the problem reappears.

Order SP2 on CD

You can now order the Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD. I recommend that you get one of these CDs, even if you already downloaded SP2 and installed it yourself. You can use the “official” CD to install the upgrade on computers belonging to friends and family members who don’t have high-speed connections or who are technically unsophisticated and afraid of the process.

There’s no charge, by the way, not even for shipping and handling. Currently, the CD is available only for the English language version of SP2. Other versions will be available next month.

The decline of the PC press

I used to be managing editor of PC World, so I think I have some right to say that a story now running on the Today @ PC World blog, Win XP SP2 Halts 15% of Systems, Survey Says is irresponsible nonsense. I don’t know where the author went to school, but he needs to go back and learn some of the fundamentals of journalism. Here’s a quote:

System administrators who have been installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 on their own PCs and on test systems are reporting the results of their practice runs to the SANS Institute Web site–and the failure rate seems to be pretty high.

While the vast majority of the 752 people who published feedback (as of this blog entry) had no problems, 15 percent of these competent technology professionals complain that severe problems prevent the PC from being used after they installed the service pack. About half of those say they had to rebuild the entire system from scratch after they ran SP2.

Let’s go through a few things here:

First, this survey is not statistically weighted, so generalizing with the bold headline “SP2 Halts 15% of Systems” is unsupported by any evidence. On the contrary, the survey’s respondents are, by definition, going to be weighted disproportionately in the direction of those with problems. Sysadmins and computer users who have trouble-free experiences with software do not go out on the Internet looking for information about that software. The group in a self-selecting survey such as this one consists disproportionately of people who had problems, went looking for answers, and found this survey.

Second, see there in the second graf where the author says “15 percent of these competent technology professionals complain…”? Go and read the survey for yourself. Do you see anything that required a test of technical competence? This survey is open to the public, and characterizing the respondents with any degree of accuracy is impossible. Even the site’s sponsor, the SANS Institute, acknowledges that “we will not verify submissions for accuracy (we just can’t).” A reporter interested in accuracy might say that the site has a reputation for attracting sysadmins with more technical knowledge of computers and networks than a general-interest site such as PC World’s, but that’s about it.

In fact, that whole “technically sophisticated” thing cuts two ways. In my experience, power users are more likely to experience problems with any upgrade using any operating system. Why? Because they’re willing to use bargain hardware, install unsigned drivers, and experiment with all sorts of software.

I’d be willing to bet that many (not all, but many) of the specific problems reported by the respondents to the SANS survey involve blue-screen errors. Those errors are almost certainly caused by faulty drivers (hardware or system-level software, such as AV or CD-burning software). A less-likely scenario is that the blue screen is caused by a faulty hardware component such as a bad RAM chip, but my money is on a bad driver. Anyway, installing SP2 didn’t cause the problems they experienced; it simply exposed those problems. The bad driver was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. What they need to do is figure out where the driver is that’s causing their problem and replace it with a proper version, after which they can install SP2.

But anyone reading this story, especially if they focus on the headline and don’t think about the details, will assume that there’s a 15% chance that installing SP2 will hose their system. That’s nonsense, and PC World shouldn’t be spreading that message around.

SP2 now on Windows Update?

According to Brian Johnson, Service Pack 2 is now available via Windows Update. If you’ve been waiting, this is your opportunity. Unlike the full download, the Windows Update version is tailored to your Windows version. It’s still large, but it is considerably smaller than the full download.

Update: I just checked on my unpatched test system and WU is still not showing availability of SP2. It is available via Automatic Updates, however. I’ll keep you posted.

SP2 rollout delayed

Mary Jo Foley says Microsoft Pushes Back Automatic Delivery of SP2:

August 16 was set to be D-day for the automatic delivery of Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

But at the last minute, the Redmond software vendor decided to push back by at least nine days the Windows Update/Automatic Update launch date for its collection of security fixes and features. Microsoft cited customer demand as the reason for the delay.

So if you’re waitig for Automatic Update to kick in, you’ll need to wait a bit longer.