Warning to early adopters

[D-Dan]

Just a word based on my (ongoing) experience to early adopters.

I installed the first RC of XP SP3 and joy of joys it was fine. Then the next RC came out, requiring an uninstall of the first. No problem - so you'd think.

Whatever I tried, SP3 RC1 would not uninstall. Getting desperate (not least because when the final release is out - I'll be stuck with a RC) I tried downloading the same one I'd installed again - installing on top hoping it would fix the uninstall problem.

No, and it screwed things up right royally, as they may say.

Not a huge problem, I thought, I have a complete paragon image on my external drive from December - pre RC1 - so I'll restore that. All my personal files are on a separate drive - so they are safe.

Restore went well - with no errors, until I started to boot, and got a BSOD everytime. Tracked that down to a filesystem problem, and so used the tools from Ultimate Boot Disk to repair the filesystem, rebooted, and windows loaded - kinda. In fact, only about 30% of windows was actually there - with the rest simply not available (though it was odd to see a running system with only 8 services running).

Bottom line - I'm still re-installing the system from scratch. Windows is in place and most of my most commonly used apps are there. All hardware drivers are back up & running, and customisations are restored (I hate Windows to actually look like Windows) - but still - weekdays when I only have evenings to play - this is taking an age.

So - a word to the wise - think very carefully before trusting a MS RC.

The one silver lining around this cloud - after 18 months of installing and testing and upgrading, there was probably a lot of junk on my system, though I always kept it clean with various tools (some of which I've lost) so while no quicker, I can be sure my system is much cleaner now.

Steve

[Simon]

Thanks for the warning, Steve.  I think there's some sort of law that dictates, whenever you allocate a time slot for your computer use - triple it!

[drummer]

I'm habitually a non-early adopter of any OS "improvements" but I'm fairly certain that the current release candidate of SP3 is the version that'll be released as the final version.

Easy to dismiss as FUD, but the imminent release of SP1 for Vista is almost certainly the only reason XP SP3 has been held back (making XP better is not a good advertisement for Vista).

Anyhoo, I've been running the latest (final?) RC of SP3 since December without a hitch, but I didn't install any of its predecessors.  I originally installed it on an XP install I wasn't bothered about losing and could easily restore from an Acronis image but it's been so impressive, I installed it on all four versions of XP that exist in Drummer Towers.  Runs like a dream and there's a significant performance increase on every box its been installed on.

[Rik]

Interesting, Drummer. I wonder if Steve's problems stem from having had earlier versions on the machine?

[Sebby]

You raise a good point, Steve. If we want to be "beta testers", we run the risk of messing things up.

[madasahatter]

I did hear a rumour that the "slight kernel modifications" in SP3 are actually not slight at all - basically the kernel is totally modified to the same kernel as Vista, so you end up with Vista with an XP interface. Obviously, cannot comment on the validity of this 

[Gary]

I did hear a rumour that the "slight kernel modifications" in SP3 are actually not slight at all - basically the kernel is totally modified to the same kernel as Vista, so you end up with Vista with an XP interface. Obviously, cannot comment on the validity of this 

I would doubt that Mad, I have friend who works for M$ in Seattle as one of their architects and he uses a mac but has not mentioned such a change. Changing the kernal of XP would be akin to a new version of Windows Xp and would be such a major re-right it would cause more issues that XP2 with new drivers being needed and major patching on the security front, my mate says there are a few back ported features from Vista but its mainly hotfixes and patches, and I think IE7 is loaded on as well from what he said, although he loves his macs more than windows now Windows 7 is slated for release in 2010, I wonder what that will of will not bring

[Glenn]

I was an IDNet early adopter, not had to re-install yet  the one or two small problems have always been fixed quickly.

[Sebby]

There's always exceptions, Glenn, albeit not many.

[madasahatter]

mate says there are a few back ported features from Vista but its mainly hotfixes and patches

That could well be how the rumour that I heard started then Gary - on the other hand, the word "mainly" is a little vague, and could mean virtually anything