Xp Sp2

[MrCoffee]

I have a problem

I had XP home edition installed on my PC, SP2 & updates. Now Home edition really really bugged me so I decided to upgrade to XP professional.
Poped XP prof CD in drive and ran compatability checker and it says cannot upgrade version of windows installed is newer, or some such.
So I think fine and uninstall SP2, and sure enough the upgrade goes ok.
Now i'm trying to reinstall SP2 and it starts up ok but it freezes at the "Checking for necessary space" stage. There is plenty of space on the drive, CPU is at 100% with process fixccs.exe


Any ideas how I can get this to work? I've tried doing the install from safe mode too but same thing.

 

[MrCoffee]

Anyone? i'm a bit stuck here, i've tried installing sp2 from an sp2 CD and ive tried using windows update but windows update gets as far as installing windows genuine advantage validation and there is "an unknown error" to quote microsofts useful messege..

 

[superdave1984]

Don't know if this is an exact fix but you can try it.
Download and run fixdb.bat
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm#C...Service_Pack_2
Scroll down to the "Cryptographic service and related errors" section

 

[EricB]

delete the hard drive with powermax and do a fresh install

 

[fixal0t]

MrCoffee... you said you were trying to "reinstall" SP2?
Were you installing from a file? Or from the internet.
I ask because SP2 for home and pro are different, sounds like you were trying to install home SP2
Please clarify if not the case...

what I've done, and many have suggested is, install a copy of winblows with SP2 slipstreamed, the SP2 update is notorious for problems.

P.S.- going "genuine" wont fix anything... it'll cause more issues than resolve

 

[MrCoffee]

MrCoffee... you said you were trying to "reinstall" SP2?
Were you installing from a file? Or from the internet.
I ask because SP2 for home and pro are different, sounds like you were trying to install home SP2
Please clarify if not the case...

I was installing SP2 from a microsoft SP2 CD but none the less I have now admitted defeat and am preparing to do a fresh install. BTW I have used the SP2 CD on both home and pro systems with no problems.

delete the hard drive with powermax and do a fresh install

Sadly seems to be my best option... The home installation went through a lot, its been going for about 4 years on 2 different file systems and 3 different hard drives, its survived hard drive failures and boot file corruptions and malware infestations and now i think its time to put it to rest.

 

[ChrisLLorca]

I wish I could have found this forum sooner, to post the solution to the problem you described. The problem when "re" installing Service pack 2 is that there is an abundance of files which versions do not match. FixCCS.exe is a program that runs in the background during the installation of service pack 2 that tries to correct file inconsistencies and other errors prior to the installation. This will consume 100% of the CPU, will slow your system down, and you will never be able to complete the installation, thus you will not be able to update your computer, and get patches, etc.

I have posted the solution on my website, which has detailed instructions on how you prevent fixccs.exe from running. If you are able to stop it from running, then you will be able to install SP2 without a hitch. The instructions can be found at http://chrisllorca.com/knowledgebase/service_pack_2

If you need any additional help, feel free to email me. I don't mind helping people out.

I can't stand when people think that telling you to "format and reinstall everything from scratch" is an actual solution. Hopefully you have not already formatted the system, but by the looks of it, you may have already done so.

In any case, if someone finds this thread later down the road, they will be able to find my solution... which by the way, was also mirrored on Michna's SP2 troubleshooting guide which was previously linked in this thread.

Best of luck to everyone.

 

[EricB]

I can't stand when people think that telling you to "format and reinstall everything from scratch" is an actual solution. Hopefully you have not already formatted the system, but by the looks of it, you may have already done so.

there nothing wrong with sweeping the closet out (reinstall), as long as you save the clothes (data) that was in it.

as a matter of fact. I probably reinstall windows 10 times a year on my machine. I just backup my application data folder and my documents and media are already on other partitions

 

[ChrisLLorca]

I'll agree with you that it is good to reinstall from time to time, but we are not common users. Common users rarely backup their important data, which is why you and I have jobs. Also, when you have the option to avoid having to reformat and reinstall windows and start from scratch... it just doesn't make sense. I don't ever tell my clients to reinstall windows unless I/we've exhausted all other possible solutions.

Also, this seems to be a helpful forum where people try and post solutions and work arounds to technical problems, and personally if I were someone looking for a solution and came across "delete the hard drive with powermax and do a fresh install" I wouldn't consider it very helpful.

I came across this thread because it showed up in yahoo when searching for the FixCCS.exe issue and I want to make sure that enough people know that there is a solution to the problem and they don't have to reinstall if they don't feel the need to do so.

Also, the problem with installing Service Pack 2 could happen to anyone, it could even happen to a freshly installed Windows XP installation if anything corrupts a couple files, FixCCS will eat up all of the CPU and you won't be able to go beyond phase 1 of the installation.

My solution is tried and true, and I've had many people thank me personally for the solution because it saved them from having to reformat.

Obviously, this is my first post on this forum, and you seem to have plenty of posts under your belt, so I'm not here to start any internet wars, I just wanted to make sure that people were aware that there is a solution to this problem, and it is not all that difficult to perform.

 

[EricB]

I'll agree with you that it is good to reinstall from time to time, but we are not common users. Common users rarely backup their important data, which is why you and I have jobs. Also, when you have the option to avoid having to reformat and reinstall windows and start from scratch... it just doesn't make sense. I don't ever tell my clients to reinstall windows unless I/we've exhausted all other possible solutions.

Also, this seems to be a helpful forum where people try and post solutions and work arounds to technical problems, and personally if I were someone looking for a solution and came across "delete the hard drive with powermax and do a fresh install" I wouldn't consider it very helpful.

I came across this thread because it showed up in yahoo when searching for the FixCCS.exe issue and I want to make sure that enough people know that there is a solution to the problem and they don't have to reinstall if they don't feel the need to do so.

Also, the problem with installing Service Pack 2 could happen to anyone, it could even happen to a freshly installed Windows XP installation if anything corrupts a couple files, FixCCS will eat up all of the CPU and you won't be able to go beyond phase 1 of the installation.

My solution is tried and true, and I've had many people thank me personally for the solution because it saved them from having to reformat.

Obviously, this is my first post on this forum, and you seem to have plenty of posts under your belt, so I'm not here to start any internet wars, I just wanted to make sure that people were aware that there is a solution to this problem, and it is not all that difficult to perform.

I just learn something new. we welcome newcomers with new ideas

but then you just now dissed my idea. when in reality my solution was better than yours. MrCoffee has been around here long enough so I hope that he has his data back up.

now he is going to throw xp pro on top on a machine that already has xp on it and possibly sp threw on top of that too. there is a chance that he can get a bsod and lot of conflicts. it really is simple to backup his data and reinstall windows from scratch. as long as he has his app data folder his setting will be fine when he copy and paste them back over. he can put his data back too

now both of our answer are right. mine isn't better than yours. but I did that to show you how you just treated me (I do have valid arguments in my point though). I take offense to you trying to come on here as a know it all and diss my answer when it was right too.

windows put something in the bootsector to not let you install a older copy of windows over a newer onewhen you boot from cd. by deleting the harddrive with powermax it destroys all of that info in the boot sector to let install any version of xp that you want. an xp cd can't do that. this particular answer has helped lots of people here on this forum

your idea would not work anyway without him copying the content of the xp cd to the hdd so he can rename the file

we welcome you to the forum, but don't come on here treating us like we are stupid because we have a different idea than you

sometime a
fresh install is better than getting a headache trying to solve a problem without reinstalling xp (which I can do too)

BTW I have a guide (2 actually) that make reinstalling windows a very easy and simple process in case you have problems.

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=126882

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56137