SP2 + ZoneAlarm hosed my new zv5000z

Well, its barely been 24 hours since I got my zv5000z, and I installed SP2, which worked fine, even after multiple reboots and installing other stuff on there. Then I installed ZoneAlarm, and then after the first reboot, goes straight to BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Can't even get into windows! [ ]

I use SP2 + ZoneAlarm on my desktop (P4 system), my old laptop, which my dad uses now (Compaq 906US -- AthlonXP 1600+), and it works perfectly.

Anyone else run across this problem? Or anything with SP2 in general? And can offer some insight?

I guess I'll have to use the system restore discs. There's an OPERATING SYSTEM disc, two DRIVERS discs, and one or two APPLICATIONS discs. Do I just insert the OPERATING SYSTEM disc and boot it up?

Some help would be greatly appreciated! [ ]

 

No need for that. Boot in safe mode (hit F8 during Windows startup) and kill ZoneAlarm. IIRC there's a new version of ZoneAlarm that'll play nice with SP2.

My assumption would be that ZoneAlarm is tripping Data Execution Prevention, which Athlon 64's have and P4's don't. Usually it's previously undetected worm infections that cause surprises like this but a few programs that didn't follow Microsoft's rules about declaring self-modifying code (a rarely used trick) will do it too.

 

Hmm.. ok i'll give that a try. the DEP safety didn't quite occur to me. I am using 4.5, and looked on ZA's site and see that there's 5.0

I'll give 5.0 a try, and report results back here shortly.

 

The OS CD is bootable. Install that, then the drivers, SP2, the current processor driver from amd.com, then the apps. It's tedious more than anything else. It's definitely more flexible than the usual restore CDs. I did a full reinstall when I swapped in my Hitachi 7200RPM HD (GREAT upgrade).

 

Ok thanks Brianstretch... it worked. Installed the latest Zone Alarm, and seems to work fine!

Phew saved me there.

In any case, just for future reference in case i REALLY hose the system, how would I go about restoring everything?

my old laptop had 4 restore discs, which seemed like an automatic version of Ghost, just pop em in one at a time, and 20 mins later, fresh Windows XP.

This new laptop doesn't seem to have that. It comes with the discs i mentioned in the last post.

Thanks.

 

How do I get rid of all the previous data?

Also, if I don't want all the pre-installed junk, then I can skip the APPLICATIONS CD right?

Thanks for all your help [ ]

 

The OS CD will let you partition and format the drive however you like. Yes, you can skip whatever applications you don't want.

 

shinryuu,
Before reinstalling XP and SP2 separately, I would recommend creating a slipstream installation CD. www.tomshardware.com has a recent article that shows how to create a bootable Windows XP with SP2 installation CD. It takes no time at all. And the OPERATING SYSTEM CD included with your laptop should work - the OS CD included with my HP zx5078cl worked. At the end of the process, you should be able to create one bootable CD with one installation program to run in order to install Windows XP with SP 2 all at once.

Jeremy

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Jeremy,

Thanks for the tip! I had done it a bit ago with my Desktop (for which I have XP Pro), but wasn't sure if it would work with the CD supplied by HP.

I'm definitely going to do it that way! Thank you for the informatioN! [ ]

 

jxtx: Thanks! I just tried it and it appears to work. I'm burning the CD with Nero right now.