Microsoft fixes Vista SP1 update problems, not soon enough for some

It looks like at least some of those that got their hands on the Vista SP1 update one way or another got a bit more than they bargained for, with DailyTech reporting that the update process wreaked some considerable havoc on some users' PCs. Specifically, the SP1 update process took it upon itself to automatically install a prerequisite Windows Update, which apparently caused some folks' PCs to dive into an "unbootable loop," the only solution to which is a complete system restore. For its part, Microsoft has now pulled the prerequisite update in question (which apparently means it wasn't much of a "prerequisite"), although that'll likely be of little consolation to those that have already seen their PC put through the ringer.

[bo sneb @ Feb 20th 2008 1:41PM]

LOL MS rules!

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ Feb 20th 2008 3:01PM]

LOL i don't know why you got a neg vote... ummm obvious joke, people!!

glad i wasn't an early adopter this time!!

[Tony @ Feb 20th 2008 5:45PM]

I like jokes as much as the next guy; but aren't jokes supposed to be funny?

[bo sneb @ Feb 20th 2008 5:53PM]

these forums are filled with a bunch of MS fanboys. i bet they got my joke and they just don't like it. everytime i make a marginally negative comment to MS they all get their panties in a bunch and rate me low. but who can blame me? MS is staffed by a bunch of boorish morons! let it be known!

[Prokanda @ Feb 20th 2008 7:28PM]

isn't the idea of a company.... to make money? come out with a product that mostly works well?

windows does what you need it to do most of the time... play games, work on spreadsheets, browse the web.

the only people that complain about MS are either A) Cheap, B) not into tech (i.e. macs) or C) have some under-dog holier-than-thou complex about having an OS by a big corporation (i.e. penguin fans).

the only reason that MS comes under such scrutiny is because they are HUGE and make one of the most popular products on the planet... of COURSE there are going to be haters in droves over their products.....

....but the bottom line is: MS is a successful company that makes several decent products.

you just want something to complain about... making "jokes" that aren't funny, ironic, or interesting. you got rated low for it. go back to your broken linux install that doesn't even properly detect your wireless keyboard and has no support.

deal?

[bo sneb @ Feb 20th 2008 8:56PM]

no deal! actually i wouldn't call it a joke so much as a snippy comment. i used the term "joke" loosely in my next post cause the other guy called it so. and quite frankly i don't care if you're amused.

but i'd like to thank you for proving my point

[Jack Storm @ Feb 20th 2008 9:46PM]

Actually bo, i think you proved prokanda's point.

[Sam Winter @ Feb 21st 2008 6:10AM]

@Prokanda
1) Most of MS's products do NOT "mostly work well".

"the only people that complain about MS are either A) Cheap, B) not into tech (i.e. macs) or C) have some under-dog holier-than-thou complex about having an OS by a big corporation (i.e. penguin fans)."

Thats total bullshit. I am neither cheap nor have any intrinsic bias about large corporations.
Now about the "Not into tech"... That would be me if you disclude the 15 years of experience as an avid computer/tech "enthusiast", 5 years of admin'ing Windows and *nix servers, and about 3 developing web and traditional applications. I have run every version of windows back to 3.11, and have used many distros of linux, the BSDs, and Mac OS 9/OSX.

And boy do I critize Microsoft.. and really fucking hate clueless fanboys. Many other people do as well. Why you ask? Because they routinely show their incompetence in a field they should be experts in. Because of their better success with the developer and corporate market, it seems that they completely take advantage of their home/consumer customers and put out shitty products at high prices. Anyone that's been around windows versions as long as I have know the unreal amount of time spent troubleshooting various problems with every version.

I have just become so sick of it that I am moving to *nix and OSX fulltime and never looking back. As witnessed by the continous fanboy screeching about the issues, I'd have to wager that those who are "cheap" are actually the ones driven from Apple products, and not too them.
At the same time, an appreciable chunk of recent Mac converts are enthusiasts, IT pros, developers, and other technically inclined who are just sick of Windows and "seeing the light".
Just because OSX makes day-to-day functions and operations much easier than the nightmare of windows for common folk does not imply that the underlining system is something less advanced in either capability or operation. I would take anything with *nix underpinnings over anything MS churned out in a heartbeat.
There are plenty of people who love all things MS and can't wait for the next Vista update. Are they somehow unintelligent, not technical, cheap, left-handed, or any other non-sense? No, they simply prefer a different way to do things. That's just fine with me.

[Jon Doe. @ Feb 20th 2008 1:41PM]

Good. There is a reason why MS hasn't released this to consumers yet.

[Aguiluz @ Feb 20th 2008 4:51PM]

I do hope they fix that "Calculating Time Remaining" thing on file copying and moving. It is so damn long!

[jakem @ Feb 20th 2008 5:10PM]

Yep, it's fixed.

[jo @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:31AM]

Got an "unbootable loop" on 20th after a normal & official Windows Update (so caught this SP1 "pre-requiste" update in the process, even if I was not updating to SP1), spend the 21th evening to restore my laptop. Thanks MS to challenge my Zen attitude once more ;-)

[NHAnimator @ Feb 20th 2008 1:41PM]

Word to Microsoft: Square One.

(Okay. That was two words.)

[happy_penguin @ Feb 20th 2008 1:42PM]

Oh for christ's sake are they ever going to get this right or are we just going to keep hearing about sp1 for another year. :rolleyes: I am not touching Vista until this shit gets fixed.

[Manuel @ Feb 20th 2008 2:38PM]

Thats the idea of a Release Candidate.

[John @ Feb 20th 2008 5:44PM]

SP != RC

[SpoofGuy @ Feb 20th 2008 1:45PM]

i believe it's W-ringer

[Homeboy @ Feb 20th 2008 1:47PM]

Anyone here who can help with the disgusting Vista bug I'm suffering from? Weirdly enough my laptop doesn't recognize flash drives and memory cards. It's like I'm rocking Win 95 or something. My laptop mysteriously doesn't seem to have the drivers for plug-and-play drives!

[telepheedian @ Feb 20th 2008 1:57PM]

32-bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=51F0EF25-280B-4613-A600-C61224BACD1C&displaylang=en
64-bit:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1FD9BBC8-624E-442D-A36A-169C4B942BEF&displaylang=en
It's what happens when the driver store gets corrputed somehow, will also be fixed when SP1 finally comes out.

[Kip Granson @ Feb 20th 2008 2:41PM]

This can also happen if you have Nero installed. Nero causes a problem and hoses up the detection of storage devices. For once, this isn't a vista problem 100% of the time. We just bashed our heads against the wall looking for a solution to that problem.

[Ian @ Feb 20th 2008 8:42PM]

ok i want to know why this guy was down ranked? all he did was ask a question, i admit it probably isnt the perfect spot for it but it has some relevance, and its not like he was even flaming anyone. what gives?

[gimmeslack12 @ Feb 20th 2008 3:21PM]

MS just can't win with Vista can they? Just like I tell my boss Go Mac!

[Pierre @ Feb 20th 2008 2:29PM]

Lol! This is just ridiculous.

Do you know how many people are switching to Mac or coming back to XP because of Vista? This is not going to help.

Now it's set, I'm staying with my mac...better live with bugs on a good OS than on a bad OS where the update to fix the bug screw up the buggy system ;-)

[mattclarkie @ Feb 20th 2008 1:51PM]

I don't know if I should thank these people for showing-up the problem, or laugh at them for trying to beat Microsoft by obtaining the update in a, shall I say, unofficial manner.

[Froggy @ Feb 20th 2008 2:09PM]

I'm sporting the RC1 of SP1 and have no problems. update went fine.

look, i'm not saying MS does not have problems, but let's face it, if you run out to get a beta version (or any version before the official release) you should not be complaining too loudly if you end up having to restore your system.

[blueeyesm @ Feb 20th 2008 1:53PM]

'Specifically, the SP1 update process took it upon itself to automatically a prerequisite '

automatically what? there is a word missing.

[Nando @ Feb 20th 2008 1:53PM]

My co-worker was telling me about that on Monday.

He said that he updated his Vista laptop on Saturday and spent all day Sunday reinstalling Windows and programs because the System Restore point trick didn't work. He lost everything he had in that laptop...but he had some files backed up.

Way to go, Microhard!

[mattclarkie @ Feb 20th 2008 2:01PM]

If he had partitioned his HDD into a Boot and a Data, he could have wiped the Boot partition and installed a fresh copy of Vista without losing a file on his Data. I did that a few weeks ago when I decided to replace my Home Premium x86 with Business x64, and it was a simple case of just telling vista to use the Data partition to find Documents instead of the default on C:.

[Nando @ Feb 20th 2008 2:03PM]

That's a sweet idea! I'll suggest it to him.

Thanks, mattclarkie!

[Wack Attack @ Feb 20th 2008 2:52PM]

Your co-worker is a retard. Who installs a buggy release candidate for a service pack on a machine with important data, without backing up or moving it? He deserved it that naive son of a bitch. Wait people. This hasn’t even been released yet damn.

[Naveed @ Feb 20th 2008 3:02PM]

Ive been doing the same thing for a while but i got this one annoyance with Vista in that regard; maybe you can help me out. If i create a link to my data partition (E:) on the start menu and then click on it, it takes me to "My account name"\e. How can I get Vista to take me to M Computer\e? hope that makes sense

[mattclarkie @ Feb 20th 2008 1:55PM]

Can I just say, when MS announced that SP1 was to be sent to manufacture I said I would wait a few days after the official release to see if any issues arose because I had a Vista update corrupt some files a few weeks ago. A bunch of twats said it was my own fault, something like Problem Infront Of Computer.

Well it seems like MS regularly have issues with updates, I am not saying that MS is bad, but they do have issues, so to all those twats I say. I hope you downloaded SP1 and had this issue.

[Fernando Marques @ Feb 20th 2008 1:57PM]

This is outrageous. I have a brand new Toshiba notebook with Vista and fails booting at least once per day giving a blue screen of death. This company sucks.

[Les @ Feb 20th 2008 2:10PM]

More than likely it's toshiba's fault, or lack of technical knowledge on your part. I have had my laptop for about 7 months, and haven't had a single problem with vista. Granted I got mine from cyber power, so I had no bloat ware to deal with. Big companies fill there pc's with bloatware which consitantly causes problems.

[Fernando Marques @ Feb 20th 2008 2:25PM]

Oh yes ? I work in IT for more than 10 years, and this started after the update two weeks ago. If you love them, go to Redmond.

[Chebwa @ Feb 20th 2008 2:30PM]

lol!

"IF YOU LOVE THEM SO MUCH WHY DON'T YOU MARRY THEM?"

[JohnnyChimpo @ Feb 20th 2008 3:41PM]

Hey we've got 'presidential proof' that you don't need to know ANYTHING about your job to hold it for close to a decade!

I kid. But honestly Vista is bloated by nature. And 3rd party divers and software have been known to break it. I would either play detective and give google a try or get your hands on a different OS.

Bottom line: If you have problems answers are out there if you search diligently and post reasonable questions. But save the venting for your shrink.

[kfast @ Feb 20th 2008 5:45PM]

Toshiba or Microsoft? Im guessing Toshiba or 3rd party has a bad device driver as that is what causes blue screen of death 99.9% of the time. Microsoft gets blamed as its their operating system and the user thinks it crashed but is almost always the device drivers that fail causing the operating system to present the blue screen of death.

[Jon @ Feb 20th 2008 1:56PM]

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU MICROSOFT

[casey @ Feb 20th 2008 2:01PM]

My dad had that problem. He ended up losing a lot of his work documents but luckily most of them were saved on his Gmail account. I'm so sick of Windows at the moment... So sick that I bought a Mac yesterday just because I couldn't deal with their poor products.

[Brad @ Feb 20th 2008 5:44PM]

No you didn't. You probably bought your Mac months (or years) ago.

[casey @ Feb 20th 2008 5:50PM]

Ok, do you want to see the receipt the Apple Store sent me at purchase, smart ass?

[OneLove @ Feb 20th 2008 2:10PM]

I love when early adopters whine. lol.

[Jimmy Jones @ Feb 20th 2008 2:17PM]

me..2 I love when early adopters whine ALOT! -- they're more like what you call PUBLIC RC testers...for the whole public. If some of the early adopters had been smart enough to backup their data or have the appropriate tools, they woulda been able to recover their data back..


@Casey -- M$ just cost you a fortune to buy a MAC. I'm sure you didn't buy MBA ..unless el-jobso just hired your daddy...lol Goodluck switching to MAC. I swear you'll smash that mac on the wall soon and report it on giz or engadget..lol :D

[r3loaded @ Feb 20th 2008 3:05PM]

They're not even early adopters or testers - they're ppl who've illegally download SP1 off "unauthorized sources". Just got my copy off MSDN a couple of days ago, no probs here, Vista is super-speedy.

And to all the ppl put off by the Vista bitchers, remember, the same ppl were saying the exact same thing about XP many years ago, and swore they would stick to Win98 for "better performance".

[FAUguy @ Feb 20th 2008 2:29PM]

This bug is fixed in the Vista SP1 RTM that was posted on th Microsoft Connect site. I've had it for a week now without issue. But I still use XP 99% of the time due to "other porblems".
I don't think I'll ever change over to Vista and get rid of XP. I just hope the next OS is better.

[DarCowAlways @ Feb 20th 2008 2:28PM]

Don't blame Microsoft when their newest Servic Pack crashes when you downloaded it illegally. That just doesn't make any sense. Good thing some of us are waiting for the actual thing, so we can get it legally. ;)

[casey @ Feb 20th 2008 3:07PM]

I failed to mention that my Dad was experiencing those same problems without even downloading SP1 and I felt the need to rant about that since the situations are slightly related. I'm pretty sure he could even care less about the SP... I just know he experienced the same rebooting issues after an automatic update. Sorry for the miscommunication.

[panzerdragoonfan @ Feb 20th 2008 2:31PM]

i know theres a lot of vista hate but i hope everyone remembers that this exact same thing happened when people tried to update to sp2 in xp.

[r3loaded @ Feb 20th 2008 3:10PM]

Thank you! Finally I've found someone who thinks the same way as me and Paul Thurrott. Vista IS the most secure and reliable OS ever made, I've never had a bluescreen on all three of my computers since November 2006. As long as you have recent hardware with good drivers, there's no problem.