Winxp SP3 (atapi.sys)

ApexMirage

The install thingy is telling me i should back up my important info and whatnot before i upgrade from sp2 to sp3. Is there any real danger to it? I dont have a way to back up 200g worth of stuff, so i'm just hoping it's a "theres a chance for the install to fuck up, as with any piece of software, so we're warning you so you cant sue us" instead of "theres a decent chance that your OS will croak"

Anyone heard of problems upgrading to sp3? am i just paranoid?

milath

Really it's just Microsoft trying to cover their own ass. I've done tons and tons of upgrades and never had a problem. It's highly unlikely you'll have an issue. Not impossible just highly unlikely. SP3 is mostly just a culmination of security updates and such that you'd probably be getting through Windows Update over time. There's some other additions, but that's the meat of SP3.

If you want to be on the safe side, back up the things you simply can't live without on a DVD or CD. Like important documents, save games perhaps, favorites/passwords, that sort of thing.

illig

milath wrote: »

Not impossible just highly unlikely.

Agreed....

that said, i'd really suggest backing up your information anyway... your 200GB of information is stored on a mechanical device that can fail catastrophically (or be damaged/destroyed through carelessness)

ApexMirage

I think its actually more of an issue of knowing wtf i had on there, as opposed to the irriplacability.

Is there a way to take somekind of picture of my drive, as in a way to let me browse through the drive to see what was on the there, without actually be able to view the contents, like a skeleton or something.... Is that even remotely possible?

Ruckus

I have seen SP3 screw up an install, but not irrecoverably. My parent's HP Media Center PC did not take kindly to it and got bluescreened during boot.

Luckily I was able to get into Safe Mode and uninstall SP3, after that it worked fine (except with only SP2).

As far as I know, there were no major tweaks or changes made to their OS after installation, but I have a feeling the problem probably has to do with the OS image HP used for that system.

Trentus

If you open up a command line window and chuck this in it should spit out the directory tree of C:\ on your desktop (assuming the current directory is C:\Documents and Settings\User)

tree C:\ /F /A >> Desktop\tree.txt

Is this the sort of thing you're after?

ApexMirage

Trentus wrote: »

If you open up a command line window and chuck this in it should spit out the directory tree of C:\ on your desktop (assuming the current directory is C:\Documents and Settings\User)

tree C:\ /F /A >> Desktop\tree.txt

Is this the sort of thing you're after?

I went ahead without this, but it will be great to know for the future, thanks

As for the install itself, it error'd and is now asking for atapi.sys. I dont have my XP cd handy though, so what are my options? =/

Ruckus

ApexMirage wrote: »

Trentus wrote: »

If you open up a command line window and chuck this in it should spit out the directory tree of C:\ on your desktop (assuming the current directory is C:\Documents and Settings\User)

tree C:\ /F /A >> Desktop\tree.txt

Is this the sort of thing you're after?

I went ahead without this, but it will be great to know for the future, thanks

As for the install itself, it error'd and is now asking for atapi.sys. I dont have my XP cd handy though, so what are my options? =/

asking for atapi.sys where? like, at boot?

AtomBomb

Do you have Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% installed on your PC?

milath

Well, damn. I'm glad I put that qualifier in my assessment earlier. :P

The post above is asking about Alcohol and Daemon Tools cause a quick Google brought up this from MS Support:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884675

Take a look and see if that doesn't help.

ApexMirage

Hmm yeah I do. Thanks guys. I'm not home to try it right now but I dont doubt this is the cause.