EVE Online

Eve Patch Cripples XP

Posted Sep 17, 2008 by Indelible

Post your Comment (7)

It appears that the smooth patch that everyone had hoped for, for todays Trinity update for Eve Online, did not go quite as neatly as planned, with CCP reporting that the patch was breaking XP.

The patch contained a line of code that was deleting boot.ini from Windows XP. For those fo you who aren't aware, boot.ini is required for your PC to boot, and without it, you need a boot disk to get back into your OS.

Please do not reboot your computer without reading this information and determining if your system might be affected.

(Note that Windows Vista is not affected)

If you are only using the Classic client or installed the Premium client using the full Premium installer than you are not affected.

If you upgraded from the Classic client to the Premium client, using the content upgrade, then please read on.

Check the root directory of your hard drive and see if you have a boot.ini file, if so then you are not affected. The file is normally hidden so you need to click Tools : Folder Options : View and select "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" to be able to see it.

You can also check for the presence of this file by clicking Start : Control Panel : System : Advanced : Startup and Recovery : Settings (third button down). Windows will alert you if the boot.ini file is missing.

If there is no file then please read the following articles:

Microsoft Articles

Contents of a sample boot.ini:

[boot loader]

timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional Edition"
/fastdetect

More information can also be found here.

We are working on a solution for this and will have more information as soon as it's ready.

*** New Info @ 0800 *** Read this post for an alternative way of replacing boot.ini. - Mindstar

We apologise for this and are working as best we can to find a solution.

Sharkbait

Eve Online Development Team

It appears now that the offending line of code has been removed from the servers and no problems should be encountered whilst patching.

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  • Limited said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    "oops"

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  • Triz0101 said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    .... ROLF thats so funny, dont they have a test sever?

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  • Flisher said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    Hum... was that an easter egg from an angry staff member?
    Why the hell a game would touch this file? Why would a game even look a it?

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  • Snuffsis said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    This happened because when you are updating the installer is trying to remove /boot.ini, while its not intended for the deletion of the windows boot.ini, it happens, its actually meant for eve's boot file. just a simple mistake,a big mistake, but nonetheless a mistake xD

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  • Electrofreak said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    Of course there is a test server. However it seems that rebooting wasn't a part of the QA process.

    The test server build of EVE (at least for players) is run from a separate folder generally in the root directory of the computer and thus probably did not produce this result.

    A big mistake certainly. I'd like to note that the code was fixed fairly soon after the patch was released and I didn't see a whole lot of people effected.

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  • asp said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    Wow... This is probably when you're happy not to be in the US as a company. Really shouldn't name files the same as critical system components in the root directory. This kind of stuff happens but talk about bad press.

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  • Zinor said 
    Thu, Dec 6 2007 10:43 AM ()

    Ouch, glad I don't reboot my computers :)

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