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Microsoft

Microsoft Pulls Vista SP1 Update 268

Posted by CmdrTaco from the undo-undo-undo dept.
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.'"
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Microsoft Pulls Vista SP1 Update More

Microsoft Pulls Vista SP1 Update

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  • Amiable Caucasian (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:03PM (#22503202) Homepage Journal
    >Nice White, Microsoft product manager...

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

  • What? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Brian Gordon ( 987471 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:03PM (#22503222)
    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.
    • "We are sorry, but there is no support available for this product. You should better not have installed it."

  • They need to think about this differently (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:03PM (#22503224)
    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.
    • You've got it backwards mate. If Vista is a horrible cancer, then SP1 is its first metastasis.

      "I'm sorry, but the survival rate we're looking at right now is extremely low. Now we shouldn't give up hope, but I want you to know what we're facing!"
    • >If they imagine Vista to be a horrible cancer, and SP1 to be chemotheraphy, then this all seems better
      What about Vista-ectomy?

  • NOT SP1 (Score:5, Informative)

    by ilikepi314 ( 1217898 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:05PM (#22503256)
    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.

    • Re:NOT SP1 (Score:5, Informative)

      by gravis777 ( 123605 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:27PM (#22503604)
      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 [microsoft.com]
    • It's certainly not required. I've got two machines beside me on my desk happily installed with SP1 without the KB update. We've got a few dozen users now using SP1, and so far not a peep.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ashridah ( 72567 )
        How did you do the installation? I know the standalone download of SP1 (the multi-hundred megabyte monster that it is) automatically installs the three prerequisite updates as part of the install process.

        You may well have them without knowing it.

        As for this article, it's completely bogus. SP1 is still on schedule, and it's precisely that these updates require testing that we roll out these things in stages.
    • WTF? This morning my Windows update pushed KB936330, "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for x64-based systems". Was this a mistake, or has SP1 for Vista-64 been released to the public?

  • Not a shock... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Kev647 ( 904931 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:06PM (#22503266)
    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.

    • Re:Not a shock... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:13PM (#22503380)
      The money goes to
        Marketing Marketing Marketing
      not
        Developers Developers Developers

    • Re:Not a shock... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Macthorpe ( 960048 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:22PM (#22503528) Journal
      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.

      • Re:Not a shock... (Score:5, Informative)

        by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:38PM (#22503772) Homepage
        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 [macfixit.com].

        Recent OS fix creates problems [macfixit.com].

        Recent OS fix creates problems [macfixit.com].

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

        • 1. Apple does not have the resources that Microsoft does, at least in the way of a development team.
          2. Your point is meaningless because we all agree that Apple's software isn't perfect; Even despite the (usually admitted) fanboism of many, not many are clueless enough to argue that Apple's software is perfect.
          3. Therefore the original point remains valid: With Microsoft's available resources, they should be able to perform the required testing to ensure quality of their software. We won't hold Microsoft

  • Others (Score:5, Informative)

    by locokamil ( 850008 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:08PM (#22503310) Homepage
    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.

  • Classic MarketSpeak! (Score:5, Informative)

    by brennanw ( 5761 ) * on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:09PM (#22503330) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:Classic MarketSpeak! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:16PM (#22503434) Journal

      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".

    • 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,
      Wrong, you can boot into safe mode and do a restore just like you can do with the Vista "CD".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by brennanw ( 5761 ) *
        I suppose that depends on exactly how thoroughly this patch can screw up a hard drive. The advantage of booting to the CD is that it avoids the hard drive altogether, loads the recovery tools, and then lets you have a go at it.

    • CD (Score:2)

      by Z34107 ( 925136 )

      you can use the Vista CD to repair those errors, unless you paid for the downloadable version which doesn't come on a CD

      Some poster way up the page linked to a fix for those without a CD. Here's the short version:

      1. Press F8 to boot your computer into safe mode.
      2. Start -> run -> rstrui
      3. Select a restore point predating the bad patch. (The installer should've made one.)
      4. Turn off automatic updates and reboot.

      Anyone "savvy" enough to install Windows over the tubes should know about safe mode, the

    • 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.

      What about all of the people that buy brand new computers with Vista and don't even get an OS install disk?

    • They're pulling the service pack because one of the pre-requisite patches you need to install...
      They aren't pulling the service pack. They are pulling the update for the listed KB. The service pack is still available.

  • '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.'
    It's Vista. Just downgrade to XP. Problem solved. Profit!

  • Curious - Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bob9113 ( 14996 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:12PM (#22503376) Homepage
    So there was a story [slashdot.org] 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?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Taelron ( 1046946 )
      I'm one of the Technet users that got a hold of SP1 after we all rioted. They sent it to their vendors and business/corporate customers but wouldnt release it to the Technet and MSDN networks. Considering we have to pay $500 plus a year for our subscriptions, we were highly ticked off we couldnt get access at the same time as RTM like we do with every other product (though ironically, Home Server isnt offered to us either).

      I downloaded it and installed SP1 on a Vista Ultimate 32bit system, it took an hour

  • Hardly limited to unique circumstances (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:17PM (#22503448)
    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.

  • SP1at (Score:4, Informative)

    by harvey the nerd ( 582806 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:17PM (#22503452)
    of course, the quick fix will be SP1a temporary.
  • SP1 was waiting for me this morning. The installation took quite a while but it appears to have worked OK. This is for Vista Home Premium x64 (I needed 4GB+ RAM support). Maybe it'll be a little less unstable now. Vista had me seriously considering giving up video games so I could run Linux on my workstation instead (yes, I know about Cedega/Wine). Come on Epic, where's your UT3 Linux client...

    Anyhow, either I just missed the cutoff or Microsoft hasn't really suspended SP1 distribution. I didn't RTFA.
    • 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.

  • RTFA! (Score:3, Informative)

    by Techogeek ( 1148745 ) on Thursday February 21, 2008 @12:22PM (#22503522)
    It's NICK White, not NICE white. Typo in the /. write-up.
  • I was about to install SP1 tonight, after downloading it from MSDN. Does this mean I should hold off, or does it only affect people who were going to get it over Windows Update? The write-up seems a bit unclear.
  • At least it's doing something right, then!
  • So much for the ol', "I'm just gonna wait until the first service pack irons out all the major bugs," people eh? That sure turned out well :P
  • I always wonder why they initial it with "KB"? Does that mean kick butt? Or should they really be "BK"?

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