Originally Posted by jephree

That's easy for you to say!

I've been looking closer at Bear's link:

Bear's Link

Gearsec was installed by some program outside of windows, therefore if you don't recognise any of these programs (listed at that site), it appears that all you need do is to uninstall the driver that's driving gearsec.

That process is also covered in the above link by downloading the three part trouble shooting tool. The following are just two snips from the above link:

"If, however, you no longer use any software which uses the GEARSEC driver, then set the Startup Mode of this service to Disabled on the Services tab of The Ultimate Troubleshooter."

"This service is essential for the software that installed it. Thus if you have any of the products mentioned above or on the following webpage, http://www.gearsoftware.com/partners...egic/index.cfm, then you need this service to be running."

Just BTW did this error just occur after sp2? was it gone after the uninstall of sp2? if so it would appear that whatever program installed gearsec has a compatability issue with sp2.

Also go to Start > Search & type in gearsec & see what shows up.

Any Help?

I'm a novice with pc's but I understand what you say .... I've checked Bear's Link and also the Gearsoft strategic partners and the only name I recognise is Powerquest .... I've got both Drive Image 7.0 and Partition Magic 8.0 .... does this mean I can't set the Startup Mode of the GEARSEC service to Disabled as you suggested as the Powerquest apps need the service to be running?

Also:- this error just occured after SP2. It was gone after the uninstall of SP2. I conclude as you suggest that there is a compatability issue with SP2 and presumably it's the Powerquest apps?

Question:- Should I uninstall the Powerquest apps to see if the message disappears? But if I want to use them how do I fix the problem?

ok... well we got it narrowed down pretty good.

On December 5, 2003, Symantec Corporation acquired the technology and interests of PowerQuest Corporation.

Symantec/ Norton has had known compatability issues with sp2.

here is part of their site but I don't see anything at first glance relating to our issues, however I have heard tell of a Symantec update to deal with sp2 that I have not seen yet. Just thought I'd post this while I keep looking about

Welcome to the Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Information Center

I'd suggest just living with the annoyance untill we can find the issue
or; uninstall sp2 & pick it up a little later. (if you continue to run with all the updates prior to sp2 itself you should still be rather secure). I would venture to say that the problem is with Symantec and sp2 rather than your machine.

Originally Posted by jephree

ok... well we got it narrowed down pretty good.

On December 5, 2003, Symantec Corporation acquired the technology and interests of PowerQuest Corporation.

Symantec/ Norton has had known compatability issues with sp2.

here is part of their site but I don't see anything at first glance relating to our issues, however I have heard tell of a Symantec update to deal with sp2 that I have not seen yet. Just thought I'd post this while I keep looking about

Welcome to the Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Information Center

I'd suggest just living with the annoyance untill we can find the issue
or; uninstall sp2 & pick it up a little later. (if you continue to run with all the updates prior to sp2 itself you should still be rather secure). I would venture to say that the problem is with Symantec and sp2 rather than your machine.

I checked the Symantec XP2 service information centre for problems involving Drive Image or Partion Magic but there was nothing listed. All the known issues are about Norton antivirus and firewall products but I don't have either, I'm running McAfee Internet Security 5.0.

If I uninstall SP2 will Windows go back to XPSP1 or just XP - how could I install SP1 now that Microsoft have released SP2 and I don't have a CDROM. Maybe it's best to live with the annoyance while you're still looking - I'm looking too. Thx for the help.

I see Partion Magic as a No Problem but I don't see Drive Image anywhere yet.

I would think that uninstalling sp2 would take you back to the point before you installed it. Therefore I would think that you would have sp1. As to all the pre-sp2 individual updates I do not know, tho if they are erased I would think that they would show up in windows update.

You already uninstalled once... did you notice any changes?

Anyhow this little program will let you know what's what with all this:

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

And just some more links to ponder:

Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide for Windows XP Service Pack 2

Collect information about the Windows XP SP2 installation and about your computer

Originally Posted by jephree

I see Partion Magic as a No Problem but I don't see Drive Image anywhere yet.

I would think that uninstalling sp2 would take you back to the point before you installed it. Therefore I would think that you would have sp1. As to all the pre-sp2 individual updates I do not know, tho if they are erased I would think that they would show up in windows update.

You already uninstalled once... did you notice any changes?

Anyhow this little program will let you know what's what with all this:

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

And just some more links to ponder:

Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide for Windows XP Service Pack 2

Collect information about the Windows XP SP2 installation and about your computer

Success - I uninstalled Drive Image and so far the error message has gone so Gearsec must be part of Drive Image but now I can't run backups! I really want/need to backup as my pc got badly trashed by a virus about a year ago and I lost lots of data so as a result I now backup to avoid a repeat. Hopefully you can advise me what to do to solve the problem now the cause is known.

Originally Posted by bewin

Success - I uninstalled Drive Image and so far the error message has gone so Gearsec must be part of Drive Image but now I can't run backups! I really want/need to backup as my pc got badly trashed by a virus about a year ago and I lost lots of data so as a result I now backup to avoid a repeat. Hopefully you can advise me what to do to solve the problem now the cause is known.

I reinstalled Drive Image but the problem message returned. Looking on the Powerquest (Symantec own them now) website there was an update stating - Updates Drive Image 7.0x to Drive Image 7.0.3. Drive Image 7.03 provides resolutions to numerous problems with previous releases of Drive Image 7.0 - installed and SUCCESS, no message anymore!!

Thx for your help and support - hopefully the problem is resolved.

Glad to hear the issue is resolved thank you for letting us know