I wanted to pass on my experience with installing the SP2 update. I downloaded and installed it this past Sunday. I ran into a few issues but stayed with it and got a successful installation.

I downloaded the update through the Windows Update website. The download took about 10 minutes. I started the installation which ran for 35 minutes and seemed to go fine. After the reboot I discovered the following issues:

1. I could not in any way access the Internet through AOL or Internet Explorer.  I tried numerous solutions to no avail. I disabled my firewall,  changed configuration settings on both browsers, reconfigured my cable modem and tried AOL's fix it for me.
2. There was not any sound from the speakers. A check of the sound card properties indicated there wasn't one installed.
3. When I clicked on "My Computer", all I had was a white screen with the flashlight icon indicating something was being searched for. A five minute wait produced no change.
4. The computer would not start in safe mode even though a normal boot of Windows wasn't any trouble.
5. I rebooted the machine several times to see if any of these problems would fix themselves which didn't happen.

Faced with these issues and who knows how many more, I uninstalled the update using the add & remove programs in the control panel. This returned my computer to it's previous state before the update was installed. I then disabled all un-needed programs using "msconfig" including the firewall and virus software. I reinstalled the update using the same download. This time it installed in less than 20 minutes. After the initial reboot not one of the above mentioned problems were present. I have checked all of the installed programs and most of my saved files. I haven't found one thing out of order. I chose to disable the Windows firewall and stay with Norton.

I hope this might help a couple of the people who are struggling to install and run this important update. 

 

Dimension 4100 Bought January 2001
Windows XP Home
866 Pentium 3
512 Ram
Western Digital 60 gig Hard Drive
Western Digital 120 gig Hard Drive
GeForce FX5200
Creative SB Live
Digital Research DVD RW
RCA Cable Modem
HP Deskjet 932
HP K-60 all in one
Canon Scanner