Are you looking for a way to completely wreck a busy day’s schedule? Well, look no further! I have discovered the perfect way to totally submarine yourself at the worst possible moment. Nothing will set you back further, or totally wreck a busy day’s schedule, like clicking the install button on a Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Update.
Microsoft is beyond erratic. What kind of update requires users to search for solutions for problems that did not exist prior to the update? Seriously. What sort of software update results in the screenshots displayed below?
The first new problem created by the Service Pack 2 update was a major one. My PC actually failed to start. That’s a serious issue. Thanks for the great update Microsoft!
The second new issue created by the update followed the fail to start error. I’m not even sure what this error is because half the text ran off the left side of the screen! Even if the error message would have been legible, I still have no idea what it is! And the even bigger question is “Why should I have to know?” This is supposed to be an update! Updates are typically supposed to improve a product, not tank it.
So, it goes. I’ve had it with Microsoft and Windows. As soon as I can do it, I’ll be switching over to Apple. This day was completely wasted on the so-called improvements Microsoft made available for me to download and install. Thanks again, Microsoft. You are horrible.
Related posts:
I have had a similar experience, with windoze. I’ve decided I’m buying an 20″ refurbished imac w/ cs4. Life will be perfect after this. It’s decided!
I … am … jealous! Good move, Dean. It’s a solid investment.
I still planning to use linux/ubuntu which I have almost customized to perfection (might be a bit of an exaggeration), but I’ve tried and it just isn’t fully capable of all out web/graphic/print design…for one adobe doesn’t support it, nor does all those indie $40ish mac apps like coda and espresso. For what i’m doing and going to do, it’s a necessary evil (I believe in open source, but isn’t going to work for serious design). Yea, i’m excited though, should be fun.
If the computer is failing to POST, then it’s a problem with the BIOS or hardware, not the software installed (i.e. Windows). It could be that Windows was trying to flash upgrade the BIOS and failed, which would explain both errors.
Chris – That makes sense, but why would A Service pack update cause this? I don;t even understand why Vista would be trying to update the BIOS? I look into this. Thank you!
You know what they say.
Once you go Mac, you never go back.
Or something like that.
LOL! Yeah. here’s my dream: Windows intuitive UI with OS Leopard stability. I get around so much better in Windows and I honestly can’t stand trying to figure out how to use the mac os!
Is that too much to ask for? Is it?
Actually, a windows update would not cause a machine POST failure. Because of the wide variety of motherboard and bios types, and because they would have to enusure that they contained the manufacturer’s latest BIOS revision so that they wouldn’t overwrite a newer version, which is way too much work for something that is not their own product, Microsoft would never attempt to do anything of the sort. It almost seems like a case of bizzare coincidence, that your hardware itself might be failing, causing the problem, and the windows update is a red herring as far as the problem goes. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that something on the motherboard failed, and when the machine rebooted and couldn’t get started because of the failed/failing part, it reset all BIOS settings to failsafe defaults. At failsafe defaults, the part is most likeley disabled, or the part is acting in a sort of legacy mode that doesn’t cause the machine
to fail. When the machine loaded up with failsafe defaults, the configuration change was probably enough to send windows into a tizzy. If this happened in the opposite direction – windows didn’t load and THEN the machine failed to POST, I’d wager that the failing part caused the windows problem, and shortly thereafter went kaput, causing the POST error. The next step to take is when your machine is booting, see if there is an option to enter a boot menu on the POST/machine logo screen (usually f10 or f12 key). See if the boot menu has a diagnostics option on it, and run the hardware diagnostics to see if they can identify the problem.
Ray – I have no idea, man. It was weird. All I know is I had to reformat everything and all is fine now.