xp update BSOD

[pachinkofan]

Ok, well, after nearly 3 days of intermittent reboots on the pc, [bsod, seemingly memory stack errors only happening when online] it turns out there's a possible incompatibility with an update on xp.

update 977165

Had tried everything, hardware, software, memory checks, reseats, cleaning out the motherboard, and eventually got online long enough to realise it was update related, so blocked the the WAU... file in comodo firewall so I could actually search for a solution.

Just in case anyone else has been having fun.

Still don't trust that that was the answer, but will keep my toes crossed that the pc behaves the rest of the night. I've changed windows update to ask me what to install [control panel, security settings] so I can tell it to ignore this update when it decides I want it again

[if you hear a scream later, it'll be me looking at a blue screen while curling up in a small ball and gibbering...]

EDIT:... gibber ...
G>

[frank1]

I've turned off the auto update on mine as it insists on down loading SP3. Like yourself I'll decide what I want

[MickLL]

I've turned off the auto update on mine as it insists on down loading SP3. Like yourself I'll decide what I want

A genuine question. How do you know what you want? I certainly don't have the expertise to decide if a particular update is OK. So where do I turn to get that information?

MickLL

[Scphoto]

When you set it to manual you'll get a description of the update and the option to select/deselect

[MickLL]

When you set it to manual you'll get a description of the update and the option to select/deselect

Forgive me but that's a less than helpful answer. M'soft description will say 'security patch' or something. It won't say 'BTW this may kill your machine'. My question remains - how do I know if I want an update or not?

MickLL

[Norman]

You really should allow SP3 to install. Some security patches that came out after SP3 require that SP3 is installed. I have had XP Pro on my home PC and on a few hundred business PCs that have had ALL the MS updates applied. None have had a BSOD because of an update. You occasionally find a badly written 3rd party driver can cause an incompatibility but that can hardly be blamed on MS.

[Scphoto]

Forgive me but that's a less than helpful answer.

Sorry,

M'soft description will say 'security patch' or something. It won't say 'BTW this may kill your machine'. My question remains - how do I know if I want an update or not?

Each update will have a info link to explain what it does.



The link on the above picture goes to here

Microsoft* can't state 100% that all deployments will work and not cause issues. The position I take is to make sure you have a valid backup before any patches/updates.


*or anyone else

[Roy5051]

And always ensure a Restore Point is created before installing the updates - this is normally done by Windows Update automatically.

[MickLL]

Thanks - I wasn't 'having a go'.

All the advice is welcome. However I was really referring to Frank1 (I think) who said , " Like yourself I'll decide what I want ".

In a rather roundabout way I'm asking/suggesting that there's no information available to enable you to decide whether to refuse an update or not so Frank's position is a bit random if he refuses some but accepts others.

(Not getting at you Frank - just trying to understand )

MickLL

[frank1]

Hey Hey don't hassle me man, but seriously. My problem was my Wacom tablet wouldn,t work with SP3 . Though the Wacom forum said they didn't know of any issues. I had already uninstalled
SP3 and my tablet now works fine.
Though after the uninstall I kept getting the BSOD. So I went to the Win Update and rather than use the express option I used the custom one. Also after taking advice here I had googled the error number on the BSOD.
Then found the update for that and downloaded it. NO more BSOD. I just check the cross button on the updates, if it looks ok I go for it.
I turned the auto update off as it just keeps trying to download SP3.
To be honest I don't really know what I'm doing half the time and the other three quarters I'm just doing against the wind. Though thrusting to system restore keeps my pants clean

[BigWill]

Interesting because I just got a "blue screen of death" on a newly built PC tonight running XP pro. I ran the "fix it" from Microsoft but it appears my computer is compatible with the named microsoft update, so back to the drawing board there! I have a feeling it may have been something to do with software I had just installed (Power DVD 8.0) which came free with a DVD rewriter drive i had just installed in the PC? Not sure though. It only did it once as I shut down the PC and it hasn't done it since so (fingers crossed!) maybe it was a one-off?

BigWill

[Scphoto]

........and i've not chosen to install any of those updates on the Windows 2003 Server just yet. It's currently deleting 6,500,000 inbox entries for a database.

[pachinkofan]

Still, I see there's a v2 of the update out now...

G>
[still working on it, prob hardware as well... pc's only 5 years old ]

[pachinkofan]

early days, but I think I should have RTFM on this one, seeing how things change for my wireless options after XP2.

G>

[pachinkofan]

Well, fingers crossed it was just my speedtouch wireless usb adapter going. Turns out I'm not alone, so it looks like it was either a driver/software clash with windows, as both dongles did the same.

Got a pci wireless card installed now, so fingers crossed it lasts

G>