Hi again medicman. Good words from hairymon above
I know your post above was in reply to DRcrewchief, so I hope you don't mind me replying again. I'm sure DRcrew will come back to you as well.
The consensus seems to be that you must be fully prepared before you install SP2 and there have been a number of threads on this issue before.
Roddy, another poster in these forums and like me self taught said the following in one such thread;
[Quote]: You have to be completely prepared for SP2 which means. Spyware free, Adware free, virus free BEFORE you install SP2, Also go to this link from Microsoft which also has links inside of it that will tell you what to do to prepare, including programs that are known to have problems which you may have to patch BEFORE you install SP2. Also go to your computer manufacturer's web site to see if any programs that came with your computer (non Microsoft programs) that need some sort of a patch BEFORE you install SP2. After all of the above, you should have no problems. Here is the Microsoft link. Hope this helps.
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/6794/en-us/ [/EndQuote] Thanks to roddy.
His post, (and the link he mentioned), is here;
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=46086&messageID=545742
There's a lot of work to do, unless you are one of those fortunate people who "do things" and they work out right every time. Essentially they are;
1] Update all of your Anti-Spyware,Anti- Adware, Anti-Trojan, and Anti-Virus software, and do complete computer scans to ensure you are completely free of infection. For good measure you could also do a free online scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com
2] Make sure you have all of the Windows critical and other windows updates installed, other than the SP2 update.
3] Clear out all your rubbish files, like temporary folder files, temporary internet files, history files, Recycle Bin. You can use the Windows utility "Disk Cleanup" for this, found in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools.
4] Back-up all your important files. Difficult this if you do not have anywhere to back them up to, like a 2nd hard drive, or 2nd computer, or recordable CD's, but better for safety reasons if you do. Back-up, (make a copy), of any documents you want to save, email address book, favorites folder from Internet Explorer, (or bookmark folder in Firefox), email settings, internet connection settings, (for people on dial-up).
5] Check Microsoft's web page, (given in roddy's post), for any incompatible programs, and also check your PC manufacturer's web page for any advice they have about upgrading to SP2.
5] Run Scan disk, (or now known as Check Disk, or Error Checking), reboot the computer on completion then run Disk Defragmenter, reboot again.
6] Set a Restore Point. The SP2 installation does anyway, but it is good to be safe.
7] Re-visit Windows Update, and download and install the SP2 update. Or if you have the CD, follow the instructions and install it from there.
I cannot guarantee that this will solve your NIC and internet connection problem. Hopefully other people will have more advice for you. But this is the advice I took and used for myself last weekend when I installed SP2 and I am sure it helped me with a relatively trouble free install.
Good luck, and I hope you can soon get this sorted out. I will be checking back often to see what progress you have made.
Mark
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