How to repair MDAC in XP SP2?

[Roy]

Prior to SP2, the fix for corrupted MDAC/ADO situations was to simply
re-install MDAC. My customers are remote (to me) end users, and I'd say I see
MDAC/ADO corruptions at a rate of about 2 or 3 out of every 100. This fix was
workable as most end user/consumer seem to be capable of downloading and
running and MDAC/ADO installation when given a link. Why there seem to be so
many corrupt MDAC/ADO situations is a different topic....

XP SP2 seems to have broken the ability for an end user/consumer to resolve
this problem when it occurs. Any attempt at re-installing MDAC results in the
message:

MDAC 2.8 RTM is incompatible...

The only solution I've been able to come up with is to remove SP2,
re-install MDAC 2.8 and then reapply SP2. So far, I've found this solution to
exceed the pain threshold of my end users... they typically just curse and
quit using whatever software was failing... hoping, I think, that someday
their software will work again.

I've seen many posts dancing around this topic that last several weeks, but
nothing definitive in the way of a fix or even an acknowledgement that this
current situation with SP2 and MDAC/ADO is a problem.

What's the plan and timeline for resolving this?

[Roy]

(reposted as requested by ngms...@microsoft.com...)

[Kevin Yu [MSFT]]

Hi,

First of all, I would like to confirm my understanding of your issue. From
your description, I understand that you were unable to install MDAC 2.8 RTM
on an windows xp sp2 machine. If there is any misunderstanding, please feel
free to let me know.

Based on my research, this is a known issue. Since Windows XP sp2 contains
a newer version of MDAC, re-installing 2.8 seems to be downgrading. So it
is by design to prevent users from installing MDAC 2.8 RTM on a sp2
machine. Currently we have no better workarounds.

HTH.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."

[Bill]

[Bill]

I am probably one of your clients. I have three PCs with xp sp2. Two of
them I downloaded the service pack and installed the update. The third one
is newer and came with SP2 installed. As a result I can not uninstall SP2
and this is the one that is getting the MDAC errors and the only one that
will not run the software.
It looks like my choices are to wait and see or buy someome elses software.
This seems unfair to developers like Roy but I have a business to run and I
need the software in question to run
Why isn't the latest version backward compatable?
Regards
Bill

[Kevin Yu [MSFT]]

Hi Bill,

I think there might be some misunderstanding here. The latest version of
MDAC isn't imcompatible. Roy is trying to repair damaged MDAC. However,
since the MDAC contained in SP2 is a newer version, we cannot roll back to
MDAC 2.8. The new version of MDAC is compatible with 2.8. The error only
shows when you're trying to install MDAC 2.8 on an SP2 machine.

[J. Clay]

I would like to add some info here. MDAC 2.81 in SP2 breaks the ability of
the Borland Database Engine (BDE) to work with more than one connection if
ADO is involved. We have a large Access Project (.adp) that is highly
integrated with Goldmine (SQL Version). I cannot allow SP2 to be installed
on any of our computers as as it breaks the integration. It has been
discovered by others that integrate w/Goldmine that if you can open the BDE
in the app that uses ADO, BEFORE you start ADO all is fine, but in my case
since my primary app is Access, this is not an option.

I have played around with a test machine and replaced the msado15.dll file
with an older one. (VERY painfull process, since XP continually tries to
repair itself). With this file replaced, the integration will work.

Jim

"Kevin Yu [MSFT]" <v-k...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8rFKxMkw...@cpmsftngxa10.phx.gbl...

[Trev]

OK, how to repair a copy of MDAC 2.8 on WinXP with SP2 installed

first, locate the mdac.inf file in c:\windows\inf right click and
install
when prompted for a location, point to
c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386 then when promtpet for the XPcd,
either load the cd or point to c:\i386

hey presto, this reinstalls / repairs MDAC 2.8

:D

"J. Clay" <jim@N0_LCPmugs_Spam.com> wrote in message news:<OKhXuyo...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>...

[Roy]

Thanks Trev.

Hope this works, as I've heard today from a customer, with a new PC, that he
doesn't have an option of uninstalling SP2 - apparently the machine was
never SP1, so there's nothing to revert to. But he still managed to corrupt
ADO, somehow, so there goes my hopes that SP2 would make some headway on
preventing this problem to begin with.

[Roy]

Here's the feedback I got from the customer... looks like it worked, but
wasn't pretty:

Re-installing MDAC did the trick, with a few glitches along the way.
MDAC.INF didn't exist, but MDAC and MDAC.PNF were in the INF folder. When I
tried to do the install, I had to search for almost all the files the
installation required, and then put the path in. The installer couldn't find
much of anything on its own. All of the files were all on my hard drive
except for one Read Me file that I couln't find anywhere.
My Windows disk is only a recovery disk from (insert large consumer computer
company here) and wasn't of any use in the installation. After MDAC was
re-installed, the application worked fine.