Is there a way to remove(back out) the first update SP1? Had to reinstall FSX. After re-install it ran smoothly. So installed SP1. Now load times very long and severe stutters. Just want to see if going back to basic program still works better in these areas.==================Well found that SP1 can be removed as a normal program is. So removed, ran FSX and was smooth. Reinstalled SP1 and some stutters but not bad and are eliminated by setting FPS to less than what you get normally.Went ahead with SP2. It started and said it was caching files. Suddenly it said it was rolling back the action. It quit telling me the update was not installed. Retrying gave same result.System: XP-SP3, 2.5ghz DualCore, 2gbs memory. nVidia 8600 256mb. No addons for FSX installed or selected.FSX on C: along with Windows. Page file on E:

Is there a way to remove(back out) the first update SP1? Had to reinstall FSX. After re-install it ran smoothly. So installed SP1. Now load times very long and severe stutters. Just want to see if going back to basic program still works better in these areas.==================Well found that SP1 can be removed as a normal program is. So removed, ran FSX and was smooth. Reinstalled SP1 and some stutters but not bad and are eliminated by setting FPS to less than what you get normally.Went ahead with SP2. It started and said it was caching files. Suddenly it said it was rolling back the action. It quit telling me the update was not installed. Retrying gave same result.System: XP-SP3, 2.5ghz DualCore, 2gbs memory. nVidia 8600 256mb. No addons for FSX installed or selected.FSX on C: along with Windows. Page file on E:

Hi Dick,After you installed SP1, did you shutdown and restart XP before attempting to upgrade to SP2? You should if you didn't as this is usually required to complete an installation (even if the software program doesn't tell you to shut down and restart). I believe your problem is associated with not having the latest .net framework which is required for successful installation of some software. Here's a link to the Microsoft troubleshooting website where you might find more answers to your installation issue: http://support.microsoft.com/search/defaul...mm=1&res=20. I checked over at FSInsider.com and couldn't find anything relating to your problem. Also, make sure you defrag your harddrive whenever installing FSX, upgrading to SP1 and SP2, or doing a repair. For some reason, FSX files and folders are scattered all over your harddrive after an installation and this may be the cause of your long load times and severe stutters. You don't indicate the type of CPU installed, just that it's 2.5GHz and dual core. Is it a Intel 6600 or an AMD brand? In any case, it doesn't look very powerful. You only have 2GB of memory and that's not much in this day and age. Your video card is right on the borderline with only 256MB of memory. You should still be able to run FSX but don't look for much in eye-candy!! I see no problem with your page file being on Drive E but in your performance settings, make sure your system is set to "System Managed Size". I found that setting your own virtual memory size can cause issues especially in FSX since it's a memory hog. Hope this helps!Best regards,Jim Young

Nudata,Have you tried to use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utilty yet?I would recommend that you uninstall SP1 again via the control panel, run the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, then install SP1, Start FSX, and then Install SP2, and Start FSX.Windows Installer CleanUp Utility Located Here

Well, after muttering several obscure incantations and curses, as well as FSX reloads, I was able to get SP2 to load. I am guessing that it was one of the many registering settings used by Microsoft for FSX. Anyhow thoroughly cleaned the registry with reboots between three cleanings. Used two seperate programs. I started out with 72fps but soon dropped to 37 with more robust clouds and more objects. No autogen. That is a killer. Will load UTX (ultimate Terrain) and some aircraft and go watch TV while I de-frag. Just as a benchmark I de-fragged before my last FSX reload which is totally no need but was curious. After the reload of basic FSX over 10,000 files were fragmented. Will clean that up with Ultimate De-Frag which also places specified files, such as FSX, in the outer bands of the disk for faster transfer rates.Thanks,

Well, after muttering several obscure incantations and curses, as well as FSX reloads, I was able to get SP2 to load. I am guessing that it was one of the many registering settings used by Microsoft for FSX. Anyhow thoroughly cleaned the registry with reboots between three cleanings. Used two seperate programs. I started out with 72fps but soon dropped to 37 with more robust clouds and more objects. No autogen. That is a killer. Will load UTX (ultimate Terrain) and some aircraft and go watch TV while I de-frag. Just as a benchmark I de-fragged before my last FSX reload which is totally no need but was curious. After the reload of basic FSX over 10,000 files were fragmented. Will clean that up with Ultimate De-Frag which also places specified files, such as FSX, in the outer bands of the disk for faster transfer rates.Thanks,

Yes, I just used Ultimate Defrag and have been defragging the past 2 days. The first day I left it on all night as it said it needed 22 hours to complete. Woke up the next morning and it was stuck on a .XXX file inside Ultimate Terrain USA. I removed all the .XXX files today to another hard drive and it just completed a total defrag. Glad you were able to get SP2 installed.Best regards,Jim Young

I always used to give the advice to install SP1 start FS and load a flight before installing SP2.Doing this however damaged my install recently, the its ok to install sp1 then start fs, as long as you do not have any addons that require sp2, like ut2 etc.I think to avoid issues shut down your pc between sp1/sp2 if you like, but i would not recomend starting fs with only sp1 installed , if you have addons that require sp2.I always used to start fs between sp1/sp2 install, but recently starting with only sp1 installed caused two fsx to run when i click the icon.This is not a problem if you doing fresh fsx install, in this case i would start fsx between sp1/sp2, but when you got addons installed and you just want to fix a bug, i would not try to start fsx till sp1 and sp2 are both installed.

Well, after muttering several obscure incantations and curses, as well as FSX reloads, I was able to get SP2 to load. I am guessing that it was one of the many registering settings used by Microsoft for FSX. Anyhow thoroughly cleaned the registry with reboots between three cleanings. Used two seperate programs. I started out with 72fps but soon dropped to 37 with more robust clouds and more objects. No autogen. That is a killer. Will load UTX (ultimate Terrain) and some aircraft and go watch TV while I de-frag. Just as a benchmark I de-fragged before my last FSX reload which is totally no need but was curious. After the reload of basic FSX over 10,000 files were fragmented. Will clean that up with Ultimate De-Frag which also places specified files, such as FSX, in the outer bands of the disk for faster transfer rates.Thanks,

Remember, you are dealing with the Windows O/S ... the most advanced random error generator in the Universe.