Windows XP SP3 More Harm Then Help
This post was published 1 year 6 months 1 day ago and its content may not be valid anymore.Don’t you love when a patch actually ends up harming a computer more then it helps? Well that seems to be that case with the latest (and much delayed) SP3 build that was released to Windows Update on Tuesday.
Within hours of its release, Microsoft’s Service Pack 3 for Windows XP began drawing hundreds of complaints from users who claim the update is wreaking havoc on their PCs.
The problems with XP SP3, according to posters on Microsoft’s Windows XP message board, range from spontaneous reboots to outright system crashes.
“My external disks are having trouble starting up, which results in Windows not starting up,” complained user Michael Faklis, in a post Wednesday. “After three attempts [to install XP SP3] with different configurations each time, System Restore was the only way to get me out of deep s**t,” said ‘Doug W’.
Another user said the service pack prevented him from starting his computer. “I downloaded and installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals,” wrote ‘Paul’. “Now I can’t get the computer to boot.”Dozens of other posters reported similar problems.
I really think it would be hard to find someone that disagrees that 2006 – 2008 have been Microsofts worst PR years. A botched major OS upgrade, delayed service packs that are faulty when delivered, a laughable media player, shutdown of SPOT, failed acquisitions, and a whole new storage appliance line that actually erases data (with no fix in sight). At least its been a banner year of the XBox team.
Add / Remove Programs > Add / Remove Windows Components is not working on several of our machines after upgrading to SP3. Seems to work on machines where it has been slipstreamed, but not where it has been patched up after initial OS install.
@PER-ERIC BROZ
Add / Remove Programs > Add / Remove Windows (OS)
try that one.
Haha Chad, wish I could! ;) I myself is only running Linux and OSX here at home. But my workplace is still dominated by Windows. Forgot to mention that the trouble we have had is only verified on Norwegian Windows XP.
The error is that Windows Installer (I guess 3.1 which is in SP3) can’t find a function in a dll file. Could probably be fixed by fetching the file from a working system… not tried.
Yeah, I reformatted two days ago and reinstalled Windows. I updated via Windows Update for SP3 and after the reboot, I never saw my desktop again. System restore never worked, so I was forced to reformat once again. I’m currently using SP2.
My laptop on the other hand, is using OpenSUSE 10.3, Vista is on the other partition, but I never booted into it haha.
Maybe this is Microsoft’s way of getting users to change to Vista!
I have hungarian oem xp home, and I have no trouble after installing SP3 so far..
i <3 ubuntu
lol.. edit:
I just fresh installed hungarian oem xp pro, then sp3..
all my DVD drives are gone, XP says can’t start them.. :D
edit2:
it’s okay now, I managed to repair it..
btw, it was related to the new install and not sp3..
so sp3 also works fine with xp pro..
abacus and a Etch-a-Sketch upgrades for everyone…
@CHOWDER
Etch-a-Sketch XP is still better than Vista ;)