Tried removing SP2, what a disaster!!!

keepthereceipt

I accepted the automatic update of XP SP2 mid last month and become increasingly fed up with deteriorating performance.  My machine is a good spec but was running slower than my old laptop.

Last Friday I did something which I now regret and tried removing SP2 in Add/Remove Programs.

Worse still it failed!  The machine rebooted before it looked like completing and I couldn't restart.

I rebooted from the original XP CD and took my only option of setting up XP again.  I've got the system back, but at pre SP1 levels.

Now I can't get my ADSL working.  The machine is missing Dial Up Networking!

1. Pipex support have not been helpful and have no solution, apart from recognising the problem.
2. The pc supplier promise to send me an XP CD with SP1 incorporated, which may help.

My advice to anyone is stay clear of SP2 until all the problems have been ironed out.  Turn off automatic updates, if necessary.

I'm told I need dial up networking in order to get ADSL running, but when I try and create a manual entry, this option is 'light grayed' and not available.

HELP Please!!!

woo

there should be an option to add dial-up networking in add/remove programs from control panel under add / remove windows components.

keepthereceipt

I'm happy to say that it's fixed. I put SP2 back on, using a CD that came with a magazine.

Now I can concentrate on building another computer. This will be the first I've put together and I'll share my experiences.

Joe_Bloggs

Let us all know what you need the PC for and the components that you are going to use.
J_B.

keepthereceipt

As a kick off, this is the sort of spec I'm considering:-

1). AMD Athlon 2800 processor or thereabouts
2). motherboard with on board everything (video, sound and NIC) but sockets should we wish to add a video card later.
3). 512 DDr ram, possibly even 1Gb
4). 120 or 160 Gb 7200 hard drive.
5). a CDRW drive and DVD writer - unsure if separate or combo. Always found 2 separate drives useful.
6). 17" TFT - going rate seems to be around £200.

I've only just started having a look around and there is a lot of information on the net - buildyourown.org.uk, microdirect, ebuyer, dabs, etc. I'll also consider buying complete if the final sums don't undercut somewhere like europc.

Perhaps my experience will be of interest to others and I'll start a new thread to report progress.

Joe_Bloggs

You must as you say start a new thread. Perhaps you could list the use to which the PC will be put. I am in a similar situation. I have two PCs, one is quiet that I use as a PVR. The other is a tired old thing that makes too much noise and is destined to be components once more.
J_B.