For any who are genuinely interested go to www.microsoft.com and search for "XP Service Pack 3 install failure". Look through the results and you will find numerous posts from a number of tech savvy people indicating a variety of computers were adversly affected including both HP and Dell. There were also a few different incorrect software drivers being installed by the MS service pack 3.

In fact many hardware companies advise their users to get their updated software drivers directly from the respective hardware company because MS has had issues with this sort of thing in the past. I never allow MS Windows to automatically search the Net and download updated hardware drivers for that reason.

Finally for those not so inclined to research this on Microsoft's Tech forums the issues are many with SP3. People with many different hardware platforms both Intel and AMD based were adversely affected. From what I've read on Microsoft's web site, there is some sort of issue with MS botching the WDM(Windows Device Manager) which causes the BSOD issues, at least for the first 3 of 33 pages I thoroughly read through.

Some users could not even get into safe mode or their repair console as a result of this botched service pack. If you have any USB devices installed you could have severe problems with this install. There were also work arounds that worked for some users and not others. In short, for some users, SP3 is a disaster!. And that is taken from the MS Tech Net forums at www.microsoft.com.

BigDog:
My experience exactly' except that I was able to restore from my back up. Something told me that *this* time, I SHOULD backup. Glad I listened to me for once.
Also running an HP-AMD system. Hp sux... but it's mostly rebuilt, now.
Auto up date turned off now, too. Vandals couldn't have done worse. Sorry others have had issues with this update/downgrade, but its comforting to know that I'm not alone with this problem.
Like you, I'd like to see something declaring that there is/was a problem and that it has been corrected before I'll ever let MSFT "fix" my H-ighly P-roblematic system again.

TIMe

Honestly....I haven't noticed any difference in anything....just more crap on my pc.

Exactly why I'm not bothering until I absolutely have to.

Any word from Mike yet, I wonder how he made out with SP3 update?   

I did not read everybody's story regarding this situation but I will share what I went through.

After many attempts of trying to find an answer to my question, which was "Why is windows XP pro update SP3 such a pain in the ass?"

I thought that it was installed correctly and then, as usual, went to download any/all updates that may be needed to go with windows XP pro after installing SP3. After spending two days, going through Microsoft's knowledge base (and any thing else I could get my hands on), I decided it was time to make the long distance phone call. I live in Canada and used the phone numbers from my Windows XP booklet and the number. I talked to a lady who asked what the problem was - I am now at a point where I cannot install Windows XP3 OR the added security downloads for Microsoft Office (that I installed when XP3 did not work). I spoke to a technical person who advised the proper way to install XP3 is in "safe with net working" - as the best way to download the file for SP3. It worked!

Now when I select "Microsoft Update", to see if there are any updates for Microsoft Office, I see that there are, a hand full of them, but for some unexplained reason, they will not install. So now we call again, and spoke to a technical person who explained the steps to follow to do the download and stayed on the line, until the Office downloads were completed correctly.

Everything is now 100%. The US # for product support services is 425-635-7222. In Canada, 905-568-4494.

I hope this information helps - it worked for me.

I'm glad everything worked out for you, Sargan. I wouldn't be surprised if good old MS enabled the remote support console feature in XP during the "safe with networking" mode update session. This would enable the MS support staff to manually fix the device driver problems that SP3 causes on your system. An educated guess on my part but, probably that's why the install worked for you.

Ok.... After a bit of soulsearching, and the expense of buying a few packs of marlbro , I decided to take the plunge ...

I am on my first restart after the install ... ( darn thing took ages ... )

~ and I am pleased to report that everything appears to be ok ... all Installed progs and apps working ok , my installed Desktop Sidebar is fine ...

So, when all said and done , no issues whatsoever ... so far so good Phewie!!

(~ now i will hold my breath for a few weeks ... hehehehe !!! )

Just an FYI ... AMD Athlon 3200 on an Nvid GFX6000 graphic , asus mobo , only 400 mhz fsb twinned, 1.5 gig ddr memory ...4 x 200 gig HD and 12 2 gig usb pendrives .. 8mb b/band home built ...

I have a Dual AMD processor in my machine, and the sp3 install went on without a hitch. I have an Asus motherboard and drivers. Guess they got it right. Haven't noticed any significant changes in the way XP operates, but I have noticed a snappier start menu. Sometimes in closes back up before I have a chance to select an item. I'm going to reset the hover time for a longer period in Tweak UI and see if that helps.

If you have a home-built PC and used an official Microsoft copy of XP to install the operating system, then the HP problem shouldn't affect you. I've updated three home-built machines over the past couple weeks to SP3, and all are running perfectly. Actually, it was four total installs, because I put a new motherboard in my personal machine. I even went with a "grungy" install (moved everything out of My Documents to a temporary folder, then installed Windows over itself) and SP3 still updated perfectly.

Precisely! It is primarily an issue with HP and other OEMs that were too damn stupid and cheap to install windows properly in the first place.
It's not a @#$% MS, Google, Yahoo, Intel team effort to fuck up your systems and cover it up!
Almost any software is going to have problems on some systems. Hell, look at Stardock tech support woes for cryin out loud!

SP3 is fine on a very very large majority of systems AMD and otherwise unless you have an HP!

Not sure of all of the parameters but, MS has advised all users with AMD based machines to not install SP3 at this time.


AMD 64 3000+ system here and not one single problem installing SP3, My computer is running perfectly.

I will wait until I think its safe enough

Damn, I just cloned XP pro from a raid0 setup to a single drive, looks like no sp3 for my AMD machine oh well...

Here's just one of hundreds of examples from microsoft's tech net forums:

"Add me to the list:

Dell Dimension 2300 windows XP professional sp2 1.8Ghz P4 528 MB RAM

Put me into an endless reboot cycle and it won't even boot into safe mood or last known good configuration.

Gave up and restored an Acronis Image and am back to running xp2 until MS fixes this mess.

I pity those who have not made images and then try to install this mess only to see their PCs hosed."

Please notice this person has a Dell with an Intel P4 processor and SP3 hosed his system.

Got a link?

I'll look for it. I've been reading through several threads amounting to 100+ pages over the past few days. Mostly at microsoft.com.

Here's the link Bebi. WWW Link

I've also recently learned you definitely do not want to install SP3 if you are running Media Center 2005.

Hmmm, well my install is from an XP Pro full installer disc that I bought from the university bookstore (yay student discounts). Would mine still be affected? I checked Windows Update last night and it was still trying to get me to install SP3 (which I ignored).

You'll be fine, Bebi. The title of that article is a bit misleading. Actually, it's extremely misleading.

It does contain some good info, though. WWW Link is the tool to detect and fix the endless reboot issue, as mentioned in the very last line of the piece.

Me, I'm going to avoid InfoWorld until their editors can see past sensationalist headlines.  

I used that worked perfectly on my PC. HP Compaq Presario AMD Sempron Processor

i installed sp3, i have intel btw... i did get the reboot cycle, but i have dual boot, so i just booted into vista....after about 2 days it settled down and now i can boot into xp with no worries......

HP has a patch now using HP Update for HP PC's with AMD processors. I'm still a little reluctant given I had to do a full restore last time. I run XP Media Center 2005 and there were some who had problems with this pack. I'm going to wait awhile longer.