SP4 (and HP) (Cross-posted)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Patrick Tritz
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Patrick Tritz

Sounds several people are having similar problems. We "upgraded" all of our
Win2k machines in one of our depts. (and the file/network server) to SP4,
and since then, some of our non-server machines have been experiencing some
of the "new features" of SP4. For 3 of our PCs, everytime the user tries to
print to their networked printer (an HP 4100N), they experience severe hang
time before they can change their options or even print. There has been
some complete freezes that required reboot, but most of the hangs clear up
after 2-5-10 minutes, depending on the individual machine. After installing
SP4, we've also noticed a lot of delay in network, email, and internet
functions. For two other machines, their CD burners now have limited
burning abilities.

With the 3 machines that are having the printer problem, all 3 seem to have
experienced the first severe "event" near simultaneously this past Friday
morning. Thinking it was a virus or some other malicious logic, we ran
scans and turned up nothing. Prior to this, one of the machines was acting
this way already for the 1.5 weeks before last week and last Friday, but the
problem seemed to have disappeared after several nonessential programs were
uninstalled earlier last week. Crazy thing is that none of the other SP4
machines seem to be experiencing the same printer issue. Also, the 3 said
PCs seem to print fine when using other networked printers.

Anyways, I got onto HP's help chat today and they said that they haven't had
time yet to really study SP4 and determine if they need to release any new
drivers/patches. For our print problem, we had to: (1) download the latest
driver; (2) install it as a new default printer on LPT1; (3) and try to run
a test print. (4) At the same time, leave the old driver/printer
"installed" on your printers menu. (5) If the new driver doesn't print, try
printing from the old driver. For us, this worked. For one machine, we
went ahead and deleted the old driver/printer; on another, we left the old
driver/printer on in addition to the new one. For the 3rd machine, the new
driver initially fixed the issue, but later in the day, it resumed to it's
former bad state. (6) Set the old driver as the default and go upon your
merry way until it breaks down again. For two of the machines above, they
seem to be working fine even later this PM.

If any MS folks are reading this, why!? Will there be any future patches to
fix the problems wrought by SP4, like a SP4a as some have suggested?
 
On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 21:20:55 -0500, Patrick Tritz wrote:

=>If any MS folks are reading this, why!?

Why, indeed. I have some apranoid ideas about this, but I won't post them
here.

But why on earth did you upgrade? I can't understand people who fix what
ain't broke. Really. WHY did you do it?

Try backing out to SP3 or even SP2 -- unless of course SP3 and SP4 actually
fixed something vital.
 
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