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Dell Dimension 4400, failed WIN XP upgrade to SP2
I know its old but I just use it for email and genealogy. I'm not unhappy with it the way it is but going online I need to keep my anti-virus program up and running well. Most of them now want SP2 installed and the MS Windows automatic update had downloaded the files some time ago to install. I just kept prograstinating and now need/want it installed. I completely removed my anti-virus program and made sure nothing else was running and then tried to install the SP2, it failed. MS said to check Dells downloads and drivers to see if one was needed, it said there is a 4400_A06.EXE to flash the bios. I've printed out the directions but this seems beyond my capabilities and if there's a problems I don't think I'd be capable of fixing it and don't want to lose my work though it is backed up to Carbonite now. Any thoughts on this or words of encouragement?
Thanks
jackshack
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May 17th, 2010 09:00
The most common things that prevent this update are the auto-protect feature of the anti-virus and malware. Do you get any error messages during the attempt? If you haven't had any virus trouble lately you might not have removed all the anti-malware software that you were running.
I would suggest two things; first, don't use the update that was automatically downloaded. Download the full package so that you can burn it to CD or write it to a memory stick and install it off-line. You will find it here: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Update. You will note that it says it's for installation on multiple computers but it works fine on an individual machine. Better yet, since Microsoft is terminating support for Windows XP SP-2 in July this year, install Service Pack 3. You will find that here: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Update. I recently installed this on three machines, both on existing installations and one as a fresh update of a new installation; the machines with existing installations required around 1.5 to 2 hours to install this update, while updating a brand new Windows installation required less than thirty minutes.
I've done this on both an existing installation and as an update to a fresh installation; performing the update on a fresh installation is by far the easiest approach, but it requires you to wipe the hard drive and install everything from scratch.