Posted on 03/03/2008 4:19:24 PM PST by upchuck
[NOTE date of article, Feb 20, 2008]
Responding to reports of endlessly rebooting PCs that flooded support newsgroups last week, Microsoft said on Tuesday it had pulled an update designed to prep Windows Vista for Service Pack 1.
Although the update -- actually a pair of prerequisite files that modify Vista's install components -- has been temporarily pulled from Windows Update, Microsoft has not yet produced a fix for users whose machines either won't boot or reboot constantly.
"Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further customer impact while we investigate possible causes," said Nick White, a Vista program manager, in a post to the company's blog Tuesday afternoon.
White downplayed the problem. "So far, we've been able to determine that this problem only affects a small number of customers in unique circumstances. We are working to identify possible solutions and will make the update available again shortly after we address the issue."
According to White, Update 937287 was the cause of the problem. In a support document, Microsoft describes that update as one for Vista's installation software, "the component that handles the installation and the removal of software updates, language packs, optional Windows features and service packs." Along with a companion update pushed to users starting Feb. 12 and another that was offered to machines running Vista Ultimate and Vista Business in January, the guilty update is required before Vista can be upgraded to Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Shortly after the two prerequisites hit Windows Update last week, users began reporting problems on Microsoft's support newsgroups. Most said that the update hung as the message "Configuring Updates Step 3 of 3 -- 0% Complete" appeared on the screen. When users rebooted hoping to clear the error, their PCs went into an endless cycle of reboots. A smaller number of users said that their computers refused to boot normally.
Some users have been able to regain control by booting from a Vista install DVD and selecting the "Restore from a previous restore point" option.
What's it doing in there? It's uncertain whether Microsoft knows exactly why Update 937287 is hammering PCs. Even after White posted the company statement to the Vista blog, Darrell Gorter, a Microsoft employee, was asking users to send him system logs. "I still need more log files for the investigations that we are doing," Gorter said in a message on the support newsgroup. Late last week, Gorter made a similar request on the same message board.
Also unclear is the actual extent of the problem. Although White called the number "small," the traffic on the Vista SP1 newsgroup is heavy. One thread had been viewed more than 35,500 times by late Tuesday.
But the problem is not new. Computerworld has found messages describing the endless reboot problem dated Dec. 13, one day after it first offered a Vista SP1 release candidate to the general public. That build of SP1 also required the prerequisite updates, including 937287.
Microsoft was not available for comment Tuesday night to answer questions about whether, and if so how, the snafu will impact its plans to start offering SP1 to most users next month. Currently, only beta testers, Volume Licensing customers, and subscribers to TechNet Plus and Microsoft Developer Network have been able to download legal versions of the service pack.
That will change in mid-March when SP1 is set to land on Windows Update as an optional update, and again in mid-April when Microsoft said it would start installing SP1 automatically on most PCs running Vista.
Vista/Me
I wonder if MSFT can do anything right anymore?
Perhaps the Peter Principle is running amuck through Microsoft?
[raucous laughter]
Can’t wait to see the PC Man, Mac Man commercial for this gaffe.
Another reason I’ll stick to XP.
Can hardly wait to get home.
MS should cut their losses, chuck the whole VISTA stuff and work hard on getting XP Sp3 right.
There, fixed.
First the IBrick and now the MSBrick.
Could these guys be any dumber?
We'll hang Steve Ballmer from a sour apple tree!
They'd better get it right or I'm gonna be mighty cranked off when I'm forced to install it and it breaks my new box. The RC2 has been showing up in my suggested downloads for Update lately. I'll pass until it's mandatory. Even then I'll wait until all the reports are in.
There’ll be no new computers in my home until Vista is history.
I hear ya.
I just bought a copy of Win XP Pro. Put it on the shelf. This summer I'm gonna build me a Win machine that (I hope) will last five years.
Hopefully by then MSFT will have released Win V7 and Vista will be a forgotten memory like Win ME. LOL
I’d call a Vista machine that reboots constantly, or not booting at all an improvement. They probably pulled the update because this feature was supposed to be saved for release with SP1.
Glad I didn’t make the leap.
Why not give Linux a try?
Microsoft has really opened the door for Apple.
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