Windows XP SP3 (service pack 3) Install problems!
After the release of Windows XP SP3 there are thousands of people who are facing various problems. The problems are from installation of SP 3, to post installation problems. All these problems occur because people really don’t follow the correct way of installing the service pack :
In order to ensure that you don’t face such a problem please follow these steps -
1. Download the service pack 3 from here (official microsoft download) (direct link).
2. Restart the computer and boot the computer in safe mode.
3. Install the SP 3 from there.
Note : If you don’t know how to boot in safe mode, then simply exit all the third party software and especially antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware etc.
Please note : Some people who are using Norton internet security are reporting that it’s giving false positives after they install SP3. It’s telling ctfmon.exe as a keylogger. It’s just a false positive and you should ignore that alert from Norton internet security.
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Thanks a lot four your valuable information about how to install sp3 , i was trying to install for the last 15 days but i was unable to do this , your explanation is very good .
Thanks
After installing SP3 to a Gateway laptop with an Intel wireless card I was unable to access my wireless network. (Also installed SP3 on two desktops without any problems). I spent hours on the phone with the internet company, upgraded the wireless card drivers, upgraded my wireless modem firmware, changed setting after setting after setting, rebooted what seems like thousands of times (modem and laptop) and nothing worked - until I uninstalled SP3 and VOILA!! instant connection.
Wrong you are Bucko! I did a brand new install of XP w/SP3 as a second operating system and boy, DID IT SCREW THINGS UP - BIG TIME!!! Not only was the initial install screwed up, but it screwed up my initial version which was on a completely seperate drive! It also screwed older copies of Internet Explorer installed with the various operating systems I have installed on alternate dives. I have spent several days now trying to untangle its screwed up mess. My adivce to those thinking about installing SP3 - YOU’LL BE SORRY!
Consider yourself warned!!!
Had serious problems with my Dell PC. System files were so badly messed up that the HD had to be re-formatted. I suspect it might have something to do with Norton Antivirus 360 conflict. Did same download on brand new PC and the same symptoms appeared: unable to boot normally, again, again and again. By luck I was able to restore to an earlier time period and that was a relief. There is a bad bug with this Service Pack and MS should pay for PC repairs and lost information. Don’t do it. Jaime
WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T!! I clicked on INSTALL (SP3) on the Microsoft Windows Update site, and have now also spent hours trying to unravel this mess. Microsoft strikes (out) AGAIN! When will I learn?
How do you uninstall SP3?
Thank You Guys , I have Been Dieing to install the SP3 but there were always an error at it’s start , NOW im Thankin God That This Error occured :) , Thanks For The FeedBack .. The Hell With Microsoft ……
fuck SP3, it fucked up ALL my steam games and now my pc isnt working right thanks to this shit service pack
To uninstall sp3, you must boot in Safemode and click on the Start -> “Help and Support” and left click on the “Undo changes to your computer with a system restore” and select a previous restore point to get back your pre-sp3 machine.
Doesn’t really help if (after 4 downloads) you click on SP3 file and are told it is corrupted.
I am running broadband and tried download straight and with Download Manager and nothing works.
Usual Microsoft - just laughing up their corporate sleeves.
Gates was the lousiest programmer around but sure learned how to screw customers.
man, I’m having a crazy installation problem with my adobe installs… I keep getting “File Corrupt” errors!! Made me really nervous, and I think it is simply because of sp3. I never had this error before.
I just installed sp3 because I had to reload my entire HDD when the last one crashed.
Wow … to many Anti-Microsoft Fans here :)
Well i won’t comment on your experience, but to tell you, I have installed the Service Pack without any issues.
I didn’t know about the safe mode though nor it would install directly when I clicked on the Setup file.
So, I used Winrar (Zip and Rar extractor), unzip the exe to actual files and ran the Update.exe in the Update folder.
You will get issues while unzipping, but using Winrar, it ignores the error and completes the unzip.
Once installed without any parameters, you will find it in your Add Remove programs if you wish to uninstall it.
Though there are few issues with this Service Pack most of it is superb.
I’ve got issues too! No sound coming out from the speakers anymore. What the heck.
CAUTION IF CONSIDERING INSTALL OF SP3. After almost 2 weeks of troubleshooting one problem after another post-SP3 install (still not resolved), I stumble across this… SIGH. Generally not anti-MS but I’m pretty pissed and haggard these days.
First, for non-tech people like me, point of autoupdate is ease in keeping PC updated. All of a sudden, we’re suppose to DL file first, boot in SAFE MODE?? and then install updates? Prior to SP3 install (and failed install was 1st problem to crop up), never had any problems DL’ing updates from Windows Update site.
Second, after finally installing SP3, have the following problems (none resolved still):
(1) mp3 player not recognized by computer (connected via USB)
(2) keep getting “paging file” error msg, and changes to paging file mem does not stick
(3) now getting “low virtual memory” msg
(4) user settings screwed up - WTH??
(5) virus scan post install deteched Trojan in 43 files - WTF?
Last but not least, can’t uninstall SP3 via Add/Remove. Says a file is missing…
So if someone is really determined to install SP3, CREATE RESTORE POINT! Download file and RUN VIRUS SCAN, then run install. Good luck - need to get back on phone with MS Support.
One more thing… System Restore not working so well either - apparently, SP3 install changed one too many files. Otherwise, I would have gone back to SP2 days.
Sayahid, your sound problem could be a driver issue. In my discussions with Dell Technical Support, they mentioned that some customers lost sound when they updated to SP3. There is a patch that fixes the problem (hopefully yours too).
A survey conducted in late May found that at least 75% of XP users that installed SP3 experienced no difficulties. I installed SP3 from a CD on 20 machines, and have not had a problem yet. An SP3 CD also makes a fresh install less time consuming.
The key to success is to familiarize yourself with the update, and follow Microsoft’s pre-installation instructions (backup files, turn off AV and other running programs, etc.). Some useful guidelines can be found here:
http://www.iaps.com/windows-xp-sp3-installation-guidelines.html
If you have any problems with SP3 installation, Microsoft offers free technical support (866-234-6020).
I have tried several times to install SP3 without success - it hangs during “Finalizing Installation”. Luckily I had a full Acronis clone to go back to, so no damage done except to my sanity. I am not a green newbie - I’ve been in IT for over 30 years. I have followed all the preparation steps prescribed by Microsoft support and all the suggested resolutions - none made any difference ti the outcome. I assume it is a driver compatibility issue, even though I only use Microsoft validated drivers, and will (when I can be bothered) try it again in Safe Mode.
Donald French says that a survey in May found that “at least 75% of XP users that installed SP3 experienced no difficulties.” My response to that is that even if the figure is correct, 75% success rate is, by any professional standards, abysmal - especially when the result of failure is so extreme.
After many years of defending Microsoft against colleagues who swear that Gates is the devil incarnate, I am beginning to think they have shot themselves in the foot this time
Until I find a solution to my issues, all my other machines will be staying firmly with SP2.
XP SP3 finally arrived here (Scotland) on my two very different computers through auto-update. Both machines failed to connect to the internet, but fortunately both have restored to ‘before SP3′ ok.
Which allowed me to search on SP3 internet connection problems and discover the can of worms which is SP3.
For the moment I will stick with SP2 until my youngest son with PhD in computing comes back from holiday - will ask his opinion.
I tried repeatedly to upgrade to SP3 and it kept failing during the install. This is unprecedented, but thank the Lord that it did fail - I got off lightly. If Mr French is correct and one in four XP owners are experiencing problems with this service pack, that’s about, what? half a billion people? SP3 sure is an extraordinary disaster - why isn’t it featuring on the evening news (rather than news of ‘B’ list celebrity antics) - the scale of this mess certainly warrants it.
I just recently installed XP SP3 on my computer. i got no errors, no issues, no hardware/sound problems. everything is running smooth.
I have been fixing computers with SP3 for the last few weeks. Its not very often that I get customers to turn off automatic updates(I have actually been ringing my good customers and warning them to turn it off for the moment so I won’t be overrun)……grrr I will have to start my customers on Linux…My CentOS install is stable as and updates don’t break my computer. 25% failure is shocking!!!!
Very disappointed.
I INSTALLED SERVICE PACK 3 ON A RELITIVLY NEW COMPUTER AND EVEYTHING IS NOW FUCKED UP BIG TIME —–GOOD ON YAH BILL GATES “LETS MAKE SOME MORE MONEY” YOU ASS HOLE
HOW MUCH IS IT GUNNA COST ME THIS TIME?
I have attempted to install SP3 on three different occasions in the last couple of weeks, and have been unsuccessful each time. Judging by the information on this site, it seems I have been fortunate to have the Automatic Update properly restore my systemt back to SP2.
If the 75% success rate cited in a previous comment is accurate, that truly is atrocious. Realizing that there is little corporate enthusiasm in Redmond for continuing to support XP, bringing a lousy SP to market is still no way to treat millions of customers.
I will wait until the issues associated with SP3 are corrected before trying it again.
You probably want to create an ASR (Automated System Recovery) disk and create a bckup on your hard drive before installing SP3. I tried the safe mode install but even though it (finally) installed, it wouldn’t run. I’m running SP2!
I’ve tried 4 times also, same old same old, hangs on ‘finishing’. I give up too, especially after reading all the above comments! It seems that SP3 is about as stable as Vista and that’s really scary!
I work for an OEM that sells machinery with a Windows XP based control. We updated one of those to SP3, which seemed to install the normal way ok. After getting past various driver updates required, we had issues with our own software. Specifically, a webbrowser control under VB was getting automation errors it never got before.
After many hours of experimenting with Explorer and Windows settings and trying dll versions to no avail, we used Control Panel to uninstall SP3. Our software resumed working correctly. We then installed 94 critical updates instead, and our software continued to work correctly.
SP3 is not an option for us at this time. We’ll have to switch to another OS soon enough anyway. Maybe that was the idea . . . . XP had been pretty stable.
Got SP3 last night. My wife woke me up @ 6:45 am to say the computer was messed up. I went out to find it was in looping reboot mode. Went into safe mode-control panel-clicked on show updates box-removed & rebooted. System all fine now. Wtf???? Are they that desperate to get people to move over to Vista by screwing up XP?
I then called my mom & guided her through turning off automatic updates. SP3 can sit on their servers as far as i’m concerned. If I only satisfied 75% of my clients, I would be out of business in 1 year.
DO NOT INSTALL THIS - YOU DO NOT NEED IT!
I have finally battled through installing XP SP3 on my wife’s machine.
If I didn’t have another machine connected to the Internet I would have never
finished this.
Problem 1: The dreaded continuous reboot problem. After the first time (which
System Restore got me out of) I downloaded the whole update (300+ Mbyte), turned off anti-virus etc. Still no good. It turns out that for an AMD machine from
Compaq I have to download and install a fix from Compaq _before_ I attempt to
install SP3. It took me about three installs and roll-backs before I found this
out. Problem partly due to Compaq installing power management software
(or something like that) for both AMD and Intel chips, and partly due to SP3
for activating them both.
Problem 2: Cannot connect to the Internet, and error messages involving missing
entry points in DLLs. It turns out that SP3 has trodden on the software for
the D-Link wireless adapter. OK, go to D-Link’s website and download a driver,
then uninstall and re-install the driver.
Then I still can’t connect to the Internet. It turns out that a security update
that must have arrived just after SP3 has caused ZoneAlarm to deny access to the
Internet. Download a new version of ZoneAlarm and install.
I would classify myself as moderately experienced, but I’m not a guru, and it
took me two days to get through this, with lots of help from the Internet, thanks
to having more than one computer at home. What are people with less experience,
or only one computer, supposed to do? Arrgh!!!
As an IT manager, I’ve had my shop upgrade quite a few machines to SP3. Things went smoothly until last Friday when we upgraded 6 identical Dell D600 laptops. The software and hardware was exactly the same on every machine, as was the update procedure. Three machines upgraded with no problem. Three machines blue screened afterwards, and it looks like we’ll have to reimage them. We’ve tried every trick in the book and they won’t boot.
We are going to build a new master image from a machine that upgraded ok, and then just reimage the rest of our laptop inventory. But this is not a solution for most situations. The quality of SP3 is disturbing. Don’t go there without a backup image of your machine.
John Jackson
Dir. of Educational Technology
Univ of Virginia School of Medicine
Ditto (moderately experienced, still having no success, wasting a lot of time)
Numerous attempts, all failing with “Access Denied”. One of the problems is that there are some registry keys on my machine, where SYSTEM has full access, and ADMINISTRATORS have only read access. Since SP3 upgrade runs as an administrator (not as system — don’t ask me why), this leads to problems updating the registry. (There is a “fix” or workaround for this at Microsoft, but it should be automatic, if it is really recommended)
Now, the interesting thing is that when the installation fails, it attempts a roll-back. But this roll-back fails to restore the system (one symptom: media center stopped working). Upon investigation, it turns out that the installation changed the permission on some registry keys (used by media center), which had “Everyone” with full access before SP3, to more restricted access. The irony is that these keys could not be restored during the roll-back, because of the access restrictions just created by the SP3 installation attempt. So, SP3 leaves the registry in a state which is not compatible with the SP3 installation requirements.
Anyway, luckily, I got system restore (to an earlier time) to work, and managed to get the system, registry, and media center back to working. I really don’t think that SP3 is ready for wide distribution. Not going to try it again soon.
I’ve finally managed how to work out and go back to a restore point after my computer automatically installed SP3. It completely stopped my broadband connection from working, despite my computer saying it was connected!!!
One question though. Is it a bad thing if I turn off the windows automatic download and install feature? i.e. are there updates that I actually need or do they just mess up your computer!!!
After installing SP3 on 2 Dell Optiplex GX270s, 1 Dimension (PIII), an old compaq (PIII), an HP (AMD64), and a Toshiba laptop (P4), all without a single problem, I finally tried to install SP3 on a Optiplex 280 on which I do most of my work. O boy, do I regret doing that. The problem started while “backing up the registry” I kept getting errors about being unable to backup registry keys. So the install failed, and eventhough it claimed to restore the “before” situation. I completely lost my network connectivity. So I downloaded the entire SP3 (300+ Mb) via one of my other machines, put it on the Optiplex 280, tried to install SP3 from safe mode. Same problems. Used registrycleaners and even CCleaner to fix my registry and then gave it another try, same result. I am quite dissapointed to say the least. I’ll end up having to reinstall an image with SP2 and all the software I need for my work. Thank you Microsoft. NOT! Linux is looking better and better everytime I look at it
I just installed windows because my hard drive crashed because i moved my computer 5 feet and just like wiping a computer with windex it was the curse of death. 5 years of my life went down the tubes with all my photos of family and friends. So I reinstalled windows and it offered this thing called SP3 in the updates so I accepted it and it instaled okay, but the critical updates would not install, at least 2 of them and I cant insteall msn msger live. It simply stalls when trying to install the sign in assistant. So I am totally screwed because I am constantly dunned to install things it cant install like updates and it refuses to install msn live which is my life line to my girlfriend away for 6 weeks in europe.
I want to vomit I am so sick over this. All i wanted was to clean up the bed room a little bit and repossition my personal compter 5 feet. And now this. I am sitting with a computer that caused me to lose all my precious belongings of memories and family photos and photos of my pets. I cannot tell people how much I despise Bill Gates and his greedy company. There is no excuse for making software so quirky and touchy. It dont give you a recovery path if you mess up one simple file on a disk. It wont allow you to update things without gazillion reboots.
for 2008 Windows is junk junk junk junk why we pay this guy and company a friggin penny is beyond me. We should of gone open source so long ago because he is not trustworthy. Gates is just like George Bush. he has a profiteering agenda and could care less about little people who use computers.
Anyone know how to get those critical updates installed or scratched off the list or uninstall enough of the things so I can start over without killing about 20 hours of updating and installing necessary programs or lossing the few bits of things I managed to get done?
God, what would be so friggin hard to have one robust core system component to windows that was pretty uncrashable and force pc hardware manufacturers to build stuff around this core. A non rebooting always working super stable portion of the operating system. Why cant that be done?
To: Henry San Diego
Dear Henry…I am sorry to hear about your problems, however, you have far bigger ones than the ones you mentioned. You have stress management issues.
At anyrate, no matter what OS you have, you should always have all or 2 of the following 3 things.
1- System Restore or Goback
2- A backup image(Ghost) or a backup copy of your hard drive
3- Another one mentioned in #2 but offsite incase there is a fire or your computer is stolen
If you had done 2 of the above requirments, you couldn’t blame Bill Gates or George Bush for YOUR problems.
Come to think of it, the only person you should ever blame for YOUR problems is YOURSELF.
And yes, I do know how to fix your problem. Um…see 1 through 3 above.
Hope you get over it and hope you learn some stress management. It will help you live longer.
4-
To uninstall SP3 after 5 failed attempts to install, then using system restore to remove, I found the best easiest and most through way was to boot into Safe Mode, then go to add/remove programs from the control panel, then uninstall the SP3. MS should stop bundling fixes in service packs, and should have each issue as a separate update - or provide a way to reinstall an OS without destroying information!
Who knows if ctfmon *really is* a keylogger? Can you trust ol’ Bill?
I found this page cos I was trying to get my wireless connection to work again after the now infamous sp3. gonna reinstall windows and turn off automatic updates for good
This goes out to Henry in San Diego. First, Henry, ignore all that Jean Shelaque wrote to you in her/his comments; and to you Jean Shelaque –> if you’re not going to help, keep your mouth closed and your fingers off the keyboard, please.
Okay Henry, lets get started. First, you have not lost 20 years of data, you’ve just lost access to it. You can go out to the “Ultimate Boot CD for Windows” website and follow the directions given there (this is all FREE, so don’t panic) so that you may recover your all your data. They also have a forum where you can ask for help in using their free tools. I don’t know if this review site will let me list a website address, but its at www-ubcd4win-com [replace the hyphens with a period] (again, that’s .ubcd4win. preceeded by www and ending in com). I am in no way affiliated with this fine group, but their free product recently saved my butt big time, I can tell you that.
As you go through this process, keep in mind your priorities, and recover your data first!
You may find it helpful to write out a plan that outlines the steps you need to take, and in what order. If ubcd4win is too cmplicated for you [to make their CD yourself], either just order it pre-made from them, ask them if they have a quick fix to recover your data, or go to your local software store and buy a similar product to recover your data –> then after your data is recovered just reformat your hard drive and re-install windows. Then when you go to Windows Update site again, just NEVER accept any SP3 download — Only download service pack 2 (SP2) updates. You can set Windows Automatic Update (in Contral Panel) to “Notify” only, that way you can choose what does and what doesn’t get applied to your system. Then when Update does notify you there are updates, and you go to the update website, just press/select the ‘Custom’ button (rather than their recommended ‘Express’) and check-mark only XP SP2 updates to download. Also you can go out to Windows Automatic Update site, navigate to the SP3 update and check-mark the box under it which says to NEVER notify me of this update again.
And as for your feelings about Gates, I’m with you. As an IT professional for 25+ years I can tell you he wouldn’t last a day with real programmers. If a business programmer knew the software they’d created had even one bug, and released it into production anyway, then that programmer would be looking for another job… immediately. Now that’s the real world of programming, not this crappy, buggy, graphical interface product called windows which Gates has bewitched the marketplace into accepting.
Oh, and one last note to Jean Shelaque and anyone struggling to follow her/his so-called ‘advice’: “Steps 1 thru 3″ are not working on brand new, freshly imaged machines, so it’s highly unlikely they will work on the currently-being-used PCs of the users that have made it to this forum.
Well, good luck to all, and thumbs down to Gates on this one. Oh that reminds me: Bush deserves every email bashing he gets; after all you really are only as good as your word…
Here’s a new wrinkle I’d like to see some feedback on.
I ordered the Windows XP SP3 CD and before going into the installation process, I clicked on the link that says, “What you should know before installing SP3.” Everything in that link refers to Windows XP SP2. (That’s Service Pack Two) There’s no mention of SP3.
Bear in mind that the label of the CD clearly states this is a Windows XP SP3 Update.
After reading all the above comments, I’m surely not going to install SP3 anyway but I’m wondering if anyone else has clicked on that link on the CD for Windows XP SP3 and found it to refer to SP2?
After through lengthy installs only to get an error message and then go through lengthy uninstalls, I used the Microsoft work around mentioned that changes access rights to registry keys. Is that secure? Service pack 3 then installed leaving some problems: 1) No task bar — it came back after I right clicked at the bottom and clicked an item, but it still doesn’t show running applications and has other oddities; 2) Firefox showed no connection (with no time delay for attempt to find page) even though the app for my wireless connection showed a signal — this was resolved I don’t know how, but it works now; 3) No sound — I will try reinstalling drivers — I came here looking for a solution to this; 4) Panda Antivirus warns me “We advise you to restart your PC to resolve incidents in the automatic antivirus protection….” — I have restarted with no effect on this, I will reload the program. So far these problems seem correctable, even if annoying. I am glad I don’t have the problems some of you have.
Edit: After lengthy installs…and then going through…
I am sorry for not editing before posting.
Also copy and paste isn’t working.
I downloaded service pack 3 from windows catalouge and it installed fine but some programs stopped working like flash player, corel draw 12 (still not working), and my TP LINK wireless adaper.
i had to reinstall them to get them working apart from coreldraw 12 which still dosent work.
Im going to try again (before installing any 3rd party software) as i reinstalled sp2, i think its neccessary to install the update as i dont get many security updates on sp2 (10 or so).
ive tried everything to get more updates and prevent installing sp3, but gates is crippling updates to fresh installs of sp2 to force u to sp3.
let me know of any updates to my situation PLEASE: rambo00760@yahoo.com
I have just reinstalled xp and runned windows update, including SP3. No hardware or software problems so far - BUT, windows cant install newest updates it has found.
Following:
–
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3)
Security update for Windows XP med Windows Media Format Runtime 9.5 og 11 (KB941569)
Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB953465)
Update for Office 2003 (KB907417)
Security update for Internet Explorer 7 til Windows XP (KB950759)
–
The yellow update shield constantly tells me i have to install, and when i do. It tells me it couldnt install. I have never experienced this before.
Have any of you guys met this problem??
Thanks in advance
Mikkel
The more I see problems like this, the more I want to go with Mac.
:ugh:
I recently reformatted my computer and put a fresh XP copy on it. Everything was fine til I started installing SP3. It took allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll night to do, for 1. For 2. this update and a few others will not install - Security update for Windows XP med Windows Media Format Runtime 9.5 og 11 (KB941569). It’s a high priority update so I’m highly irked about it. I seriously don’t wanna redo everything all over again, but it’s looking that way.
Installed SP3 and restarted my computer. Windows will not boot. Finally got it to boot in safe mode. Tried to do a system restore, no dice. Not sure what to do next, it is 2am so I will be going to bed now (insert angry obscene word).
Donald can you please tell me where did you find that patch that fixes a problem with sound…f* SP 3..i think the best solution for everyone who has a huge number of problems with this upgrade is to return to SP 2 …
I’ve just installed SP3 on my machine at work, and we’ve lost every single email from Outlook Express! Is there anyway I an fix this?
Thank U for this great tip! Rebooting and installing in safe mode worked like a charm on my Dell laptop, Media Center Edition, and Kaspersky Antivirus.
Before that, SP3 installation seemed to last forever and it kept me trying and uninstalling over and over.
Maybe I should have tried disabling KAV and other 3rd party software first, but didn’t want to.
There are no further issues by now.
Way to go Microslop. I knew something was up with the way this service pack wouldn’t install on my machine. I’ve got a pretty clean machine, considering I just re-installed windows on it. I was going to just let the automatic updates take their course, but wanted to get on with things and was finding that not having service pack 2 was hindering me. I noticed that there was now a sp3 out. So I downloaded them all and was okay until I got to 3.
I think ‘the idea of’ windows is inspired. The company that owns the software? Not so much.
I think Id solve the problem. Simply uninstalling sp3 in AddRemovePrograms, no safety mode. It took a while, and i had to update to IE7 and Mediaplayer 11 again afterwards, but now my laptop runs smoothly again, and have no problems autoupdating windows yellow shield.
So my advise, live without SP3!
I allowed SP3 to install as part of a Windows Update, and the installation seemed to go fine. But, I lost my email account settings (and emails) in Outlook 2003, as well as settings in other programs. Ultimately, I just restored back to SP2. Does anyone know how to allow this update (Update is still trying to push this to me) without losing all the personalizations and settings? Thanks for any ideas.
Woke up this morning and found both of my desktop computers in perpetual re-boot cycles after SP3 tried to install itself last nght. I ended up spending most of the day trying to fix it but to no avail, could not boot either computer into safe mode and could not repair it in the recovery mode suggested by microsoft. I am now reformating two computers and trying to decide do i go with microsoft again or linux this time. I think it is time to try linux for a change. I look at it this way if, i took my car to the dealership for a service and they gave me back a car that did not run i would be calling a lawyer. How does microsoft get away with disabling one fourth of the xp based computers without even a slap on the wrist? Incompetence at best, wilfull misconduct at worst, goodbye microsoft.
One suggestion, which I followed, before installing SP3, un-install all previously installed service packs(as SP3 contains all previous service packs), and then do the installation. As my auto-update is ON, after SP3 release daily it used to try to install SP3 and failing was the final outcome. Finally I got some info from microsoft site about un-installation of previous service packs before start of installing SP3, and it works fine…though it takes nearly 1hr to get installed.
Yet another “me, too” post (from my Linux box because I can’t use the Windows box for now):
I attempted to allow SP3 to install via Automatic Updates. After more than 12 (!) hours it was still sitting on the “Finishing up” screen. The process was running but using 0% CPU so apparently had hung up on something. The OS was unresponsive to my requests to cancel the install or reboot, so eventually I hit the reset button. ~30 minutes of automatic restoring from the failed install followed. I was then silly enough to try it again. > 12 hours later it’s sitting on the *pre* installation process, once again with no CPU activity.
After reading lots of negative comments I’ve decided to leave SP3 off the machine for now. The funny thing is that I just returned from Iraq, and while I was there I updated my mom’s computer to SP3 via remote control software. It went off with out a hitch. Thank God, because if I’d have screwed up her system the way it’s done mine I wouldn’t have been able to just pop over and fix it up for her!
I have succesfully installed SP3 in two desktops and one laptop, but it also gave me a lot of trouble at first (you may read my prior comment above).
My best advice is that you DISABLE your antivirus/firewall sofware before running SP3. And just in case this doesn’t work, you may also run it in safe mode, as it was said.
My second advice is to download SP3 from miscrosoft web site and not through Windows Update.
Same thing here, Winblows updated itself to the SP3 last night and now I can’t connect to the internet. I use a cable modem with a USB cable. Going to try to do a restore tonight and then unsure what to do if that doesn’t work. Luckily, I have a huge external drive to back everything up on, so reformatting is not out of the question………….just a HUGE pain in the butt.
Anyone offer any advice?
There is a documented issue with SP3 that if you don’t install an update to Windows Installer PRIOR to the installation of SP3 you will be unable to install any new auto-updates regardless of their priority level.
Please obtain ALL the other required updates PRIOR to installation of SP3. This won’t solve the installation issues, but it will solve the problem with auto-updates not working after SP3 installed. If you have already installed SP3 and are experiencing this problem, uninstall SP3, reboot, then obtain all the required updates except SP3. Once that is complete you can attempt to install SP3.
I had to discover this through a trial and error, so I just wanted to pass it along.
Thanks to all of you for posting comments! When update asked if I wanted to install SP3, it also said I should first back up my computer. I took that as a warning, went to google, typed in “Windows Service Pack 3 problems” and found this page. Your comments have saved me who knows how much grief. When I next update my automation, it will not include a Microsoft operating system. Thanks again for taking the time to explain your regrets! Microsoft may not care about the nature of your troubles, but I cared to know. If Microsoft can’t change, we can!
My son installed SP3 through automate update to my pc and now it won’t boot at all. I am very lost what to do, I can’t even go to safe mode to restore.
In normal boot it hangs at the loading screen, if I try to go to safe mode, it just keeps restarting.
Anyone can help?
Dear all,
First, I’m sorry to hear of everyone’s problems/issues with this crap SP3 Update. It is simply unbelieveable that Microsoft can get away with this crap. Once people start wising up to their shitty customer support and switch to Linux or Apple, Microsoft won’t try to “shovel” this crap out without correcting the bugs first.
I downloaded SP3 last night and was about to hit the “install” button this morning. I too saw the warning saying, “You should backup your system before installing.” I immediately got scared and hit cancel, and turned off the update permanently.
This must be MS’ way of trying to get Windows XP users to switch to Windows Vista. MS sucks all the way around, and back again.
After i update with SP3, i cannot browse the internet but i can connect to skype. I tried to uninstall SP3, restore system to earlier date and get help from MS but these do not solve my current problem. Really regret update SP3.
Anyone here can offer me some help?
thank you in advance.
Installed it on 6 different PC’s (different CPU/RAM/software etc etc), no problem. 7th one runs through, then near the end says it has encountered an error and must restore backup files. does that fine, no damage done. just gotta figure out why it wont install then all good.
Installed SP-3 and my Outlook Express stopped working. Any suggestions.
Thanks
Yeah, i did a clean install of windows xp home, and once that was running, I proceeded to update to SP3 , (recommended by the windows update page) after it installed, it rebooted, began the loading screen, and immediatly rebooted , ..again and again.. a bootup loop, safemode doesnt even work…..forced to format and reload windows AGAIN … on some threads it claims to be a problem with amd machines, but I’m using all Intel here, so thats not the freakin case, ..I’m running no antivirus, (some claim that ativirus can mess up the install, although what kinda crap software cant install with antivirus running) so thats not the case… I dunno, I’ll try SP3 again, but if it doesnt work again, I’m switching operating systems…for good
After i uninstall SP3, everything back to normal. i am able to serve the net.
Try uninstalling.
I had no option but to format the whole hard drive… Tho it’s clean now :)))
That SP3 tried to come again but no go for my machine again.
downloaded SP3 works fine on 2 pcs but the wireless wont connect onn the laptop HELP
HELP!……..I had just about all of the above and it rendered my Toshiba Qosmio a total wreck! I took it to an approved Tonshiba service center where they removed everything (as per some other above, System Restore didn’t work after SP3!) and scrubbed the hard drives (two raid drives) and then reinstalled my original restore software that came with the laptop. So far so good! Everything works like it did before……..ALMOST!
Now I don’t have SP2 on my laptop now, which is causing some minor problems. Here’s the rub! I have searched for SP2 on Miscrosoft’s website and can only find the SP2 download for “IT network professionals” who are setting up networks? It suggested that regular users go to the Window’s version. I can’t find it anywhere on their site??? I did a web search and found it on another site. Just for comparison, I downloaded this file to a folder and then did the same with the “IT network professionals” just to compare them. They were the exact same file. Same name, same size. OK!………I figured I’d try one. I ran the copy from MS and 75% of the way through unzipping, I got a “corrupt file” message!??? I then tried the other copy and had the same results.
My two questions are…….1) where can I find the right download for SP2 and….. 2) is it possible that after scrubbing the hard drives and completely reinstalling my restore software, is it even remotely possible that there are remnants of SP3 lurking somewhere?
I find it awfully suspicious that it’s not only hard to find the SP2 download and that the two downloads I found BOTH had “corrupted files”!?!?!?………….HELP!……….Please!
No doubt in my mind that there is a poison pill in there to help boost Vista’s sagging sales and poor acceptance!
I thought the idea of automatic updates was so you didn’t have to be a techie. One more affirmation for me to switch to a Mac. My mind wasn’t totally made up yet, but this new service pack has done it. Bye Bye Microsoft, and hello Mac. Unfortunately, even Mac isn’t entirely free of Mr. Gates. It seems he wasn’t so confident in Microsoft, that he purchased 40% shares in Mac. That was the reason I was hesitating on switching, but 40% isn’t as bad as 100%, so off to Mac land I go. Bye Bye PC and see ya windows.
MS update promted me to install SP3, just now. It destroyed my machine and I loss two years of picures which I can never get back. I am F***** Pissed. I have never had a problem before and NOW I am reading all this shit that is happening to people. Real Nice. Too late for me though…………
HEY EVERYBODY–I WAS READY TO CALL BILL GATES TO BUY ME A NEW LAPTOP!!
BUT HERES THE SOLUTION: CLICK ON START MENUE CLICK ON RUN TYPE IN THE BOX(CASE SENSITIVE)—c:\windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
THIS WILL UNINSTALL SERVICEPACK 3–IT TAKES A WHILE–IT’S A HUGE PROGRAM –CLICK NEXT AND REBOOT AND YOU’LL BE UP AND RUNNING BACK TO NORMAL–MAKE SURE YOU GO TO CONTROL PANEL AND SHUT OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES OR IT WILL KEEP COMING BACK!!!–THANK ME LATER!! LINDA
Linda - great tip. After having major issues with SP2, I removed it and was able to connect to to my e-mails, but still can’t browse the internet with Iexplorer. Tried several sites. dll/DNS issues seem to be the cause.
Anyone have ideas on how to get that back?
I’m really glad I found this thread. I did the auto-update on my wife’s machine when it prompted me to update to SP3. All seemed fine at first but noticed soon after that it wouldn’t connect to my wireless network. It kept trying over and over again. Like it was stuck in some cycle. I googled the problem and found all of you with similar problems. So I followed the advice of some of you and uninstalled SP3 using the safe mode and add/remove method. All works fine again. I’m a little upset though. I’ve been pretty comfortable up to this moment with letting the auto-updater do it’s thing. I might have to think twice about that now.
Anyhow. For those of you who want to uninstall SP3 and don’t know how, boot into safe mode by hitting the F8 key during the boot process. This will bring up a menu with several options. One being to start in safe mode which is the one you want. Once in windows (which you will notice looks a little different) click down on your “start” button. Then go into control panel. Then go into Add/Remove Programs. Then once you see the list, scroll down towards the bottom in the “w’s”. You should see Windows service pack 3. Uninstall that sucker. Once this uninstall is complete(which might take a few minutes) you will be prompted to restart. Go ahead. And don’t worry bout the safe mode. When you restart it will boot back into the regular windows mode. And all should be good. Hopefully this helps some people.
I just wish I could have figured out how to fix the problem without having to uninstall SP3. Oh well. I may try again later when Microsoft gets it’s stuff together and fixes it’s problems.
Thank God! After reading all of those errors or faults, I am not going to install sp3 though W A Update manager wants to do it by me.
Thanks u all.
FUCK Microsoft!
Had to kill the computer after the install of SP3 hung at 66% on finalising (After 4 hours!!), The hard drive light was flashing fast but there seems to be no further progress. It’s now rolling back to before I installed SP3. I’m going to hang onto SP2 for as long as I can, Microsoft can stick SP3 where the sun don’t shine for now, no need to fix what is not broke in my oppinion. 25% failure rate is way way too high for a program like this, all the money microsoft makes and they can’t even get this right.
My computer just notified me that it had downloaded an update and asked if I want to install it. After reading this, I definitely don’t. I’ve changed my Automatic Update to Notify only, but now I have a yellow shield at the bottom right of my computer asking me to install the downloaded update. Does anyone know where I might look for the downloaded file to delete it? Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who posted regarding MS SP3. What a mess! I was about to step off in the deep end when a LOUD voice shouted into my ear: “DON’T DO IT! Check internet for comments first.” I’m glad I did. The Gate’s anti-fairy wins one for “The Gipper.”
My new MAC is in the mail. Thanks to BG for encouraging me to deep six MS and Windows.
BTW: Did y’all know Acer/Everex builds an inexpensive system pre-loaded with Linux? One attractive, affordable alternative, eh? Pretty basic and definitely not a gamer.
Okay. So I turned the little bugger off. Now I have a red shield on the task bar whispering to me, “Right stupid- you’ve turned me off but now try to get rid of me!”
Anyone suggest how to remove the file, kill the red shield and safely turn updates back on?
I had the auto update icon for SP3 for a long time. I was thinking about updating for a long time, but after reading all the comments I think I will stick with SP2. Why take a risk. Thank u guys for all your comments
Had to resort to #4 in the list here for removing the half-assed broken install of SP3. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249 Hope that helps some people.
It destroyed all HTTP communication on my machine.
Just finished my uninstall of SP3 using the method above in the microsoft article. Worked like a charm. Everything is back to normal.
A dialog box appeared and had me select it to “Never ask to install this update again”. That’s how you dont get the yellow or red shield.
nevermind… tuned yellow
*turned*
I can happily report that there is a way to remove the yellow shield icon from the task bar and prevent microbabble from bugginmg you to intall SP3. Toddle on over to windowssecrets.com
Check out the article “You’ll get a new Windows update, like it or not.” Go to the article by Susan Bradley titled “Keep unwanted updates from bugging you”. Follow instructions and live guilt free.
No SP3 for me! Thank you all for the info!
As usual I wish I had loo0ked at this thread BEFORE I allowed MS to push me into loading SP3. When I did it originally 2 weeks ago, the computer would non start up. I was able to atleast start in safe mode and used system restore to go back 1 day. All seemed well untill I shut down the computer to restart it after a problem with AOL. It asked if I wanted to run ther updates and although I think I said NO now the computer will not start at all. It only shows 1 screen listing my drives info and at the bottom it says ” A disk read error ocurred press ctrl+alt+del to restart” That only leads back to itself. HELP if anyone can. I am dead in the water now.
I also dowloaded SP3. I have spent 2 Weekends trying to get my Flashplayer to work. I have installed it and uninstalled it so many times. I have done a system restore and nothing works. It seems like Flash has not downloaded properly but when I go to add or remove programmes it is there. I can’t watch any tv progs or videos on-line. I just hope someone can tell me what to do. I am debating whether to uninstall SP3, but don’t know if this will cause me more trouble than I have at the moment.
An employee downloaded and installed SP3 on his Acer laptop. Things were so screwed up, he couldn’t boot, the pc would just reboot itself. i couldnt login to an administrative user to try to uninstall SP3. If you find yurself in this situation, do what i did, i used ERD Commander. i was able to boot and uninstall SP3, returning pc to SP2 and working order. You can google it and find locations to purchase, i think its like $40 give or take.
Thank you all for your input. I wish I would have read this before I installed this horrible SP3 pack.
I tried to update last night only to have my PC become stuck in a perpetual boot cycle. I can’t even get into safe mode. Kind of irritated at the mo…
Nowhere in these hints for installing sp3 do I see mentioned that Service packs must be installed to a clean system. Back up all data, recover the system and install your service pack. This was also true of SP2. Any steps that dont mention this fact are lacking. Also after install of SP3 Automatic updates may be permaently turned on or off. SP3 installed on system at my work and even after uninstall and turning off AU, it reinstalls.
My boyfriend just installed SP3 on his computer and it’s in a continuous reboot cycle. He’s tried rebooting in safe mode, normally, etc. Every option given for rebooting and none worked. The message he gets starts out saying that “We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start properly.” Then there’s a whole page of text. Nothing we’ve tried works. HELP!
My problem:
SP3 was installing, half way through it stops, windows locks up, so I restarted. Then the problems started. I could not go into safe mode, nothing. Because a file was corrupt. So I did a NON-destructive system recovery. Problem is, now all my word documents, pictures, etc are gone. I tryed searching for them, still can not locate them. I am told I can recover them but I have not found out how.
Any help ? Thanks in advance.
I had the same issue of being stuck in a continuous reboot cycle; After installing sp3 none of my startup services were functioning, and it kept making me reboot. It also wouldnt allow me to enter safe mode
The answer is simple: uninstall service pack 3 through the recovery console. You can use any xp disk. Here are the instructions from microsoft - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249. They list several different methods but the only one that worked for me is method 4 through recovery console
Once i removed sp3, everything was back to normal. Just dont update to sp3 yet until microsoft get’s their shit together
Update:
I recovered my files using a free program called “Recuva”
Great program !
PS> Fuck microsoft.
i loaded the SP3, and it messed up isapnp.sys file, AND THE KEYBOARD NO LONGER WORKED. I managed to copy the file from a CD-RW using the mouse, and managed to start the system. the keyboard was not even in the Device Manager list!!! I Googled about keyboard and USB problems and finally made the keyboard work by removing the USB hub and drivers from the Device Manager, and when it rebooted it found new hardware and the keyboard works. I have ActiveSync running for PDA communication and this does not work, perhaps it is something else incompatible with PS3. Perhaps Bill should lower his prices instead of giving our hard earned money to charity.
Ok i have read everything, well mosly, and I have similiar problems when downloading SP3. My dad downloaded the SP3, more like the computer b/c we lost electricty and when it rebooted it added the SP3 onto the computer, and we were stuck in a endless void of rebooting. We couldn’t go into safe mode so we had to go back to a restore point. Found out that many people who live around us had similiar problems. I’m on a different computer, a compaq, but it never installed the SP3-smart computer. I was considering it when I came across this chat and now I have come to a decision. I’ll not install SP3 until Microsoft releases another update that’ll fix the problem or they created SP4. (which i doubt will be soon) The SP3 has been sitting on my computer for almost 4 months. I’ll research some more about this issue to find more info about it.
lol i just want Microsoft 7 to hurry up with it.. i hate all this service pack shit
Amit: Yes, ctfmon is a keyboard logger.