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Home > People > James Stables > Blog

Service Pack 1 stories: How has SP1 affected your machine?

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Our readers reveal how their PC has reacted to the SP1 update
By James Stables on 03 April 2008

Service Pack 1 in its various incarnations has been around for quite a while now, and if you haven’t downloaded it yet, then check Windows Update today.

While there has been a lot of hype and expectation surrounding SP1, you might be curious to know how it benefits your PC.

We asked our readers how their PCs reacted to the upgrade, and here’s what they had to say:

Jordan MacDonald:

“I’ve been using Service Pack One since the beta release a few months ago. Although sleep and hibernation speeds have been dramatically increased, boot up times however slower.

“The new slide functions in the Sounds configuration tool is good for making sure your sound levels are at what you want.

“Before the upgrade, I had a thirty second start-up, from pressing the power button to desktop, but now it’s almost over a minute. Overall I’d say upgrade, but only if you don’t mind waiting a few seconds more to start-up.”

Gary Duffield:

“I installed Windows Vista SP1 on all the PCs here at Duffield Towers and can honestly say that nobody has noticed. Nobody in this case is a 39 year old wife and a 9 year old daughter. I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe that cartoon animals and flowers would appear around my PC, Mary Poppins style.

“Although it’s hard to quantify, a PC upgraded from XP to RC0, RC1, RTM does seem to spend more time running – but it only hung periodically previously. The big and obvious difference is that a DTV card I’ve had but was unable to install as Windows Media Center blue screened now seems to work.”

Ernie Hartley

Been using SP 1 for a bit now and to tell you the truth I have not noticed any of the claims Microsoft have touted. It has not sped up my machine or made the networking more robust.”

Paul Freer

“I installed SP1 (64bit) last week, with no installation problems at all. I also ran the beta for quite a while and had no problems with that.

“It has definitely improved the data transfer speed, and the system does seem to be a little quicker and more responsive. I may be the odd one out, but I’ve never had a problem with Windows Vista!”

Have you noticed any differences after installing SP1? Comment and let us know!

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Comments


m8150n
I installed Vista Service Pack 1 when it became available to the public. The installation went without incident and since I have noticed an overall increase in system responsiveness. I have read some horror stories about others experience however, I have seen that the vast majority of folks has been similar to my own. This is par for any software, OS or application. It would be impossible to put software on 5,000 computers and expect a 100% success rate.
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03/04/08 | 09:33
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Val
Decided to go ahead and install it after all .... all seems fine except a couple of home videos I made a few days ago are now very jerky if I play them ( these are the files I had left on hard drive and not burned to DVD ) also some small videos which were made with Nero now won't show on Nero Show time at all !!! .... Val
0 Votes 03/04/08 | 02:05
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04/04/08 | 10:06
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IronMan
Val don't use Nero Showtime to watch anything. I recommend klite codec pack installed on your system it plays almost all known audio and video formats :)
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27/04/08 | 09:04
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brkkab
it's about time Microsoftit has also changed my Windows Experience Index from 4.3 to a measly 2.3 . Service Pack 1 has slowed my computer down drastically. It's about time Microsoft stopped worrying about Yahoo and Google . It's long overdue that they improve there own products first . Other than Aero , Sidebar and Media Center , XP is better . Vista's so called better Security is beginning to prove that it's breakable and not that much of an improvement . My suggestion to Bill , Steve and the rest of Microsoft is to woory about improving there products better for the End User first , then if if time permits it woory about Yahoo , Google , Nvidia . etc . I doubt this will ever happen as Microsoft appears to not care about it's millions of end users .
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06/04/08 | 12:48
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tech702
I've been using the RC1 version on my laptop until the final version came out and have had no problems so far. I've notice improvement in my startup and shutdown times. Overall SP1 has not caused me any problems and I would recommend it to anyone.
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07/04/08 | 01:45
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Percistratus
I installed the service pack on my Acer Aspire 5101 machine and some media players stopped working. Windows Media Player did not recognise mp3 and wma files, Windows Media Centre could not play any video and iTunes could not produce any sound. In fact Windows could not porduce any sound.
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07/04/08 | 09:34
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oliboop
Windows explorer 7 seems to freeze a lot since the SP1 was downloaded. Anyone else - or a solution - to this problem?
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08/04/08 | 03:50
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joro959
Yeah, sometimes installing the IE8 better and an update can fix this.
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11/04/08 | 10:59
markster
yes simple solution do what i did. uninstalled SP1 completely then everything works.
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04/05/08 | 08:48
planetdom
mmm i noticed my internet connection is a lot slower and crashed a few times,this would have to be the first problem i have ever had with vista,i do get anoyed with xp users putting down vista saying it is rubbish,it a big inprovement to xp
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09/05/08 | 10:50
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almo
OK.. installed the SP1... and my system kept crashing, crashing crashing. Every day, about 5 minutes after a cold start up it would die.... no blue screen of death.. nothing.. just... BLINK.... Gone. Then.. ok for the rest of the day... I put up with it for a week or so and then rolled back with system restore to the point BEFORE the SP1 update. Since then, no problems at all. No crashes. So I guess.... no sp1 for me eh>

Almo in Canada
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08/04/08 | 03:54
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xtreem0
it may be your graphics card. My graphics card began to crash on me (blank screen or frozen desktop yet system is still running). Usually this means that your graphics card is malfunctioning.
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22/06/08 | 08:14
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Timvasvi
I have a self built system over 3 years old. Running Vista has always been a lot smoother than a lot of people expect for a system of that age. The only problem I used to have was a strange loss of connection to the internet. While MSN and certain p2p programs such as BBCi player would remain connected to the internet, I would not be able to browse the web using any web browsers and my weather gadget would lose service.

Since installing SP1, the problem has simply vanished and I am now running a near flawless set up which amazed one of my friends. In his words "Wow, your PC is responsive, why aren't any of mine like that?" and he has recently purchased a brand new Dell machine.
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08/04/08 | 03:54
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cmccall45
I installed SP1 on both my laptop and desktop. I've noticed that my wireless connects much faster on the laptop, boot times are longer on both machines especially the desk top which takes as long as 60 seconds to boot where as before it was up and running in about 20 seconds. Its a little dissapointing, i was expecting faster computers but wound up slower.
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08/04/08 | 04:12
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jim3000gt
after installing the upgrade my lexmark printer no longer works, everything else seems to be just the same as before with no difference noticed
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08/04/08 | 04:26
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floitered
I installed sp1 on my desktop. The only problem that i have witnessed, is a slowing down of my internet connection in both IE 7 and Firefox browsers. It took longer to download web pages. I have subsequently uninstalled it. And things have returned to normal. May try again at later date.
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08/04/08 | 05:38
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poor1
Upgrade no problem at all.
Disappointing that the Beta feature to create a Recovery Disc was not included in the final version.
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08/04/08 | 06:05
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Researcher
SP1 is a Breeze to install in under one hour which included downloading Etc,. don't now what all the hipe was about at all!!!
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08/04/08 | 09:07
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lolleypop
I installed SP1 last friday, no problems, MS suspected my audio card was in compatable, I thought I would try it still. Everything is working great. The only thing I have not tested is the printer? Download total time 1.5hrs
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08/04/08 | 09:23
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Sylder
I have tried to get Windows Update to advise that SP1 is available to download. I have checked everything in all the KB notes issued I have checked every driver and all are updated but still cannot get Windows Update to say the SP1 for vista business edition is available for down load. Help please
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08/04/08 | 11:00
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geofflegg
Seems the majority have installed Vista SP1 with no problems.
I tried to install it 8 times with no success.
Managed to get through set up 1 & 2 with no problems but after reboot the computer would freeze at the start of stage 3.
Finally decided to reformat and reinstall vista. Then downloaded all the updates including SP1.
This time it installed correctly.
Still do not know if this was a Vista problem or a software conflict.
Microsoft support were of No help.
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09/04/08 | 04:25
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Jive Turkey
SP1 fixed a networking issues I had. Previously I was unable to successfully share any folders that weren't on my primary hard drive. Unfortunately it also broke my sound card and bluetooth drivers, but a reinstall fixed both.
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09/04/08 | 09:02
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kingalfred
I installed SP1 on my self assembled Desktop PC and it installed without any hiccups, it took just over 1 hour to install.I have had no problems while using my PC for all everyday uses.No problems with the internet nor Windows Live One Step up to press. Altho` I have not noticed any improvements in speed in general I am quite satisfied with the installation, if only for the extra security imorovements.
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10/04/08 | 12:58
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ajf355
I installed SP1 when it first became available to the public, I was hoping to experience all the speed & software benefits from it as had been promised. The only thing that I found different was the fact that I can now run a few of my XP programs like GTA:Vice City except it doesn't run some of the sounds. over all there seems nothing wrong with it, plus it installs some fixes for the compatibility ssues with many XP programs. Install if you want to use more software but, you don't mind waiting longer for vista to start up.
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11/04/08 | 08:38
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vmuscat
My computer was not affected, as Windows Update has not downloaded it yet to my computer.
I read on the Microsoft web site, that it is better to let Windows update do the installation
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11/04/08 | 12:42
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rpang11
When I updated to service pack 1 my computer keeps saying my windows is not genuine.
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11/04/08 | 11:54
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brkkab
If your computer had the original Vista version , you need to re-validate Vista again aafter installing Service Pack 1.
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15/04/08 | 11:39
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rpang11
brkkab i'v tried it but its still not working???
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16/04/08 | 10:54
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ajayvee
The install of SP1 went smoothly and I didn't notice any speed changes or problems. My Windows Experience has gone down from 5.1 to 4.8...don't notice anything though.
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17/04/08 | 01:30
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elgroper
When i saw the vista mag with a free sp1 on the disc i bought it immediately only to find no disc in the mag as there was some sort of problem ,so i went to windows vista site and downloaded it from there and although it took a while even with wireless broadband it was error free i installed it and found after it rebooted my laptop for the final time i had lost not only my internet connection but also my home network disappeared.So i did a sytem restore and that fixed it,i then got hold of the tech guys and they said that it could be i downloaded the American version instead of the uk version which by the way is alot different than our version,and also they said that all i had to do was get my windows up date to do it as it was a lot smaller than the full package.so i did and alls well that ends well,for the most part anyway.
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17/04/08 | 07:27
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Offshore
Is the Vista SP1 disk,which didn't make it to issue 16, the same as the download version Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave0.exe (all 434.5 MB of it)?
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24/04/08 | 03:34
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debs37
I installed vista sp1 and my pc crashed, i phoned up medion to help as it was a new machine, and they told me it was the sp1 i installed, it will currupt your pc, so dont install it, i had to do a system recovery.windows tells you its an inportant update but its not the case.
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24/04/08 | 10:20
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Teacherman
There have comments on the web at large that Vista SP1 does/will not work with certain Intel chipsets especially hose in Laptops. Many people have said that they have no trouble with SP1? Is this because they are not installing on Laptops. I have tried everything to Install SP1 on my Rock XTreme 770 with no success at all. However, I have installed every vista update sent out by Microsoft. Somethings not right somewhere.

Teacherman
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24/04/08 | 11:38
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colin
SP1 was installed auto. with windows upgrade on my laptop now my bluetooth will not work. I have tried to reinstall the drivers only to be told there is no bluetooth device can anybody help me as my laptop came with vista ultimate already installed and no windows disc i had to back up to dvd first and have all the drivers backed up but this dose not work as i have stated earlyer.
THANKS COLIN
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26/04/08 | 04:37
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dave53
I have an OEM Vista Ultimate with SP1 included in it. Clean install on a new laptop. Around the end of March it started random reboots. I formated today and reloaded and it still randomly o hardware conflict and all current drivers, everything works fine, except the reboot problem. Anyone know of a fix for this?

david
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26/04/08 | 10:08
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markster
i have a simple fix. uninstall vista reinstall with XP. that will sort all your problems out.

good luck
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27/04/08 | 10:39
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silvervista
I have a Toshiba laptop which came with Premium installed and a Dell desktop with XP which I upgraded to Premium. Windows update is run daily on each of them. Three weeks ago it offered me SP1 for the laptop. It installed with no problem. Not much change, but I notice it now repairs an occasional wireless problem which previously needed a restart. I hope when both are updated the problem will disappear altogether, but that's another story, which I will post separately. I also experienced start-up repair yesterday following a power-cut. Excellent, much better than all this safe mode stuff!
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27/04/08 | 08:38
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silvervista
Not sure why I said power CUT, I actually powered off manually instead of shutting down (brain failure) but the positive about start-up repair still applies!
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27/04/08 | 10:01
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silvervista
Three weeks after success with SP1 on my laptop, I was still waiting for 'update' to offer it for my desktop. Nothing. I went through all the advice; all optional updates installed, all drivers reported as 'up to date', though when I went to HP's site for the scanjet 4370 I found there was an update. After duly installing it (and fixed an on-going scanner problem in the process) - Still no SP1 from 'update'. So I ignored that and after backing everything up I got the download manually. It took a while to download 435MB but once complete it installed smoothly and after a thorough workout I can report that my PC is AOK.
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27/04/08 | 09:00
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markster
i have updated to service pack 1. wow what a big difference not. now my machine seems to boot slower and generally run slower. strange. microsoft cock up again.

down with microsoft. god know what misfortunes we will have in windows 7, i hate to think.
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27/04/08 | 10:37
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brkkab
Vista is my last Microsft o.s. Mac or Linux HAVE to be better. I'll never spend $600.00 upgrading components and the o.s. to wind up with a computer that is slower than when I purchased it with less ram than it has now. I have 2 gigs ram and ready boost drive and my pc is still slower than XP with 512 mbs. ram or Windows 95 with 24 mbs. of ram . In my opinion Windows 95 was better than both XP or Vista.
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28/04/08 | 03:59
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Ace07
Well installed SP1 my god how long to install come on SP2 on XP 10 times faster and that was 3 times bigger.

After it install Sound where did that go. Hours to fix it finaly got it back. So dream scene well that stop completely when to pick the dream scene and then memory dump/blue screen restart then black screen advise unexpected shut down report that sent to MS well thats as good as a hole in the head you know. Had to activate windows again wouldnt do this over the internet had to call MS and asked loads of questions why I was activating again and thats there fault. Windows media player well that was brillent best in the world wouldnt play anything at all so ended up re-building the whole computer and installing updates and SP1 again and call MS once again before installing all my programs before Vista decided it was going to work how it should do. But apart from that seem ok now.
Ace07
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29/04/08 | 10:52
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tonyw
SP1 appeared on updates today,so I downloaded it,then discovered it had killed my recently installed printer!! it also killed all the restore points on system restore,so I could,nt roll it back!so have now uninstalled SP1,and had to reinstall printer and drivers!! will do without SP1!! its still showing on pending updates,anyone any idea how I can remove it??
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01/05/08 | 08:12
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joro959
SP1 has been removed from Windows update as a serious problem has been found. So to be on the safe side I've unistalled it from my sytem.
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02/05/08 | 10:44