That's really not very responsible of them . . 99% of the issues reported here and elsewhere, are due to pre-existing spyware, trojans, junkware or out of date drivers.  There is little likelyhood of a update for SP-2, other than the usual periodic releases as in the past. 

As Max said, clean up the pc prior to install and check for new drivers and you are unlikely to have issues.

wrs

That wasn't good advice you got from the Dell rep. Prepare your system for Sp2 by cleaning out your IE cache, do a disk cleanup, chkdsk, and defrag, run an online AV scan at housecall.trendmicro.com, run updated scans of AdAware and Spybot, run Belarc and MS's qfecheck, limit your running programs using msconfig and go offline before you install SP2. Also disconnect all unnecessary peripherals before starting.

I agree with above responders.  I recently (last weekend) installed SP2 from CD.  It went without a hitch.  I did follow the advice as also given above about updating, defraging, back-up data; and keeping a lot of things crossed, including, but not limited to, fingers, legs, arms, eyes. 

I ran Ad-aware SE twice and was so impressed that I purchased the 'pro' program.

Good luck,

B4runo

DIMM 4400
BIOS – A06, date 6/12/02
Win XP Home Edition, SP2
Pentium4 2.0AGHz
1 GB DIMM RAM
80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Iomega 80GB External HDD
XFX GeForce FX 5700LE 128MB DDR 8X AGP w/ TV & DVI
17�, 1702FP Digital Flat Panel Display
Belkin F5U508 USB 2.0/Firewire PCI card 

I emailed Dell support this weekend asking if it was OK to install SP2.  This was the response:

"Thank you for contacting Dell eSupport and Services (ESS).

We appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

If I understand the issue correctly, you need to know if you should install Windows XP Service Pack 2 in your Dell system.

As per the information provided by you, I request you not to install it, as we are currently experiencing a large number of calls due to an error that is occurring while installing Service Pack 2.

At this moment WindowsXP Service Pack2 is not tested and validated on Dell systems and we do not recommend it as of now."

Dell is sending mixed messages. Their FAQ about SP2 spouts its benefits. It can be seen here...

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_svcpacks&message.id=320

Perhaps they are simply trying to keep the number of support calls on a manageable level...

Please see the link below.

I like to add to the list of suggestions. Disable/turn off everything in your task bar before installing it (i.e. anti-virus programs, real player, etc) and temporary turn off your screen saver and power options. I've installed it on my Dell Dim 4550 with no problems.