Bill et al.,

I inquired of our I.T. group about the advisability of installing SP2
when it came out. The response was that it might be fine for standalone
desktops doing wordprocessing, email and netsurfing, but the 'new and
improved' security features could likely present a problem for any PC
that interfaces with instrumentation. I have decided to follow the old
adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Good Luck,
Carl

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Mr. Carl G. Johnson
Research Specialist
Dept. of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
123 Fye Laboratory, MS#4
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543-1543
USA

Tel:  508-289-2304
Fax:  508-457-2164
[log in to unmask]
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William Mark wrote:
> Hello
> I thought I would pass along my excellent adventure.....
> We are running WinXP Isodat 2.0 for a Delta EA system.
> I downloaded and installed the WinXP SP2 update since it is a critical
> patch. This lead to some issues and I was wondering if anyone has
> seen any problems doing this.
> While I could still control everything through the Aquisition window,
> when I used the Instrument control window I had no response from the
> Conflo Ref1/Ref2 at all. The system would also crash during the final
> steps of a Mass Calibration.
> I am not sure if the SP2 patch is causing problems with Isodat 2.0
> directly (blocking communication with the spec), the National
> Instruments GPIB Card or the Dell computer this is running on.
> I would get various Microsoft error report messages which provided
> reams of Techno gobble-de-goop - but no real insight as to what was
> happening. Opening the new Microsoft Security window caused a total
> computer lock-up.
> Other WinXP (non-mass spec, non-Dell) workstations have patched
> just fine with no problems.
> I have since rolled back the SP2 update and all Isodat functions seem
> to be back to normal.
> I haven't been able to find any word on using or avoiding the SP2 patch
> anywhere, so I am curious to hear from anyone out there regarding
> Isodat 2.0 or the WinXP Masslynx 4.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bill Mark
> Isotope Technician
> Environmental Isotope Lab
> University of Waterloo
> Phone (519)-885-1211 Ext 6747
> FAX (519)-746-0183
> http://sciborg.uwaterloo.ca/research_groups/eilab
>