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.
Related posts:
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.