Upgrade to Windows XP SP3 - Comments Page 2

My SP3 upgrade went seamlessly, though I did notice (to my annoyance) that it added both a "Show Desktop" and a "Internet Explorer" link to the Quick Launch area of the taskbar (both of which were already present in slightly modified form). I notice that someone has said that it re-installs Windows Messenger -- haven't noticed that one "yea" or "nay"; I'll have to check that sucker out! Thanks for the info.

SP3 installed ok on my Toshiba Equium L20-264. Seems a little slower at times but the experience has been good. IE7 working ok. SP3 took about an hour to download and install but at the moment I have no regrets as of about a week after installation.

Installed the first try and I notice a significant speed enhancement especially on the Internet. Running a Dell with P4 and 2gb ram.On a wireless home network. So far so good!

I tried installing last week. Took about a half hour over my Comcast high speed. Then another 20 minutes or so to "install." I eventually got a error box that said "Access Denied." I closed that, closed the next box without really reading it (dumb move on my part) and then it took another 10-20 minutes to "uninstall" SP3. It said, though, that the re-installed SP2 may not work properly.

I'm running an Intel Celeron-processed Compaq. I haven't tried installing again, which I may. I will probably download the stand-alone installer and run it from that, since I don't want to waste the 20 minutes download time if I have to reinstall again.

Bob, I apologize to one and all. I simply got a 'generic' Error Message, stating that SP3 could not install and would stop installing. I was able to download the whole file, but, about 1/3 to 1/2 into installing, it simply give this 'pop-up' message, without any coding to search it out.

I thought it strange, the first time I got it, but, by the second time, I figured something was 'wrong' with my PC settings, that SP3 didn't like or it could be one of Microsoft's 'hidden' programs, causing the issue? I had disabled all of my known programs, to avoid the common issues.

Oh, even though my PC has an AMD Sempron CPU, it is NOT a HP, which is already known to have big issues with SP3. I built my own PC.

Hi Bob. I initially was not able to download SP3 via MS updates. It turns out that if you are running the IE8 beta (which I was), MS will not let you install SP3. Apparently it would result in a mixed form of the browser, and one of the new caveats is that you will not be able to uninstall whatever version of IE you happen to be running: i.e. if you have IE 7.0, you can no longer uninstall it. Thought you'd like to know

After downloading and installing SP3, I lost my network icon in the Task Tray. I went to Device Manager and it was totally blank, so I had no way of enabling/disabling my NIC card.

I searched the web and found that many others had experienced the same problem. The problem is SP3 adds 100's of bad keys to the registry. On my computer they all started with "$%&". Using regedit and Find, it took 2.5 hours to delete all the bad keys, there was probably over 2000 bad keys. After removing the bad keys I now have my Device Manager repopulated and the Network icon back.

In reading all of the various comments on this site and others, I am honestly beginning to wonder, if, Windows XP SP3 was 'created' for the whole purpose of getting Windows XP users to stop using it and upgrade to Vista?!?

Microsoft really should be aware that many, many PC users have AMD processors, so why didn't they take that into consideration?!? Once again, Microsoft has 'screwed the pooch'.

At this stage, who knows ... I may simply NOT be able to install SP SP3, because I refuse to use Microsoft's Firewall. I have a DSL Router that already has an excellent Firewall, that protects me and my PC. I am 'stealth' on all the first 1056 ports and you can't even 'Ping' my PC, either. Why use Microsoft's 'sickly' Firewall?

I installed SP3 on my AMD machine. I have a OEM version of XP Pro. After installation. i couldn't boot at all. I ultimately had to do a Console Repair. I hope I can prevent it from auto installing. My update is set to automattically notify me of updates, but not to install them.

I have an HP Media Edition XP with the AMD processor. I'm waiting to see what's going on with XP3 and the problems reported by so many others. Is this persistant on *ALL* AMD's? or HP AMD's or ?? Should I shut down my automated updating until I get the word?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If I had an AMD processor, I would put a hold on auto-updates.

I installed Windows XP SP3 with the large 300MB+ installer into an AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core processor 3800+ , Gigabyte Motherboard , OEM Windows Pro and my system works better than before.

I did read SP3 whitepapers and uninstalled programs/ windows-updates as recommended before installation. Since the SP3 upgrade, finally Windows or I should say "Microsoft updates" are able to automatically work! Usually (almost always) I (this is me) get into trouble when hurried into a quick fix, without the proper preparation.

I do not believe a console recovery such a good idea if install fails, rather a Win XP installation repair, install from CD boot, wait after the recovery console option, select install windows, "Then Hit the R key" so as not to format your Hard Drive or partition.

I've installed SP3 twice and didn't really notice any improvements. I'm running a homebuilt P4 3.0GHz with 2 gig memory. One thing that did disappoint me was losing my Vista style start button that I had and wasn't able to get it back. I like the round Vista style button as opposed to the tired green rectangular one. Haven't re-installed it although auto-updates keeps reminding me to.

Just a quick update on all the problems of upgrading to XP SP3. Just got this from PC Pitstop.com. They are recommending that you do NOT upgrade, at this point. People are not finding out, that initially they were not having any problems, only to have their PC's go 'dead' on them later and there is NO RESTORING point available, since SP3 'wiped it out'. Read the many, many complaints here: http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/05/25/pitstop-news-flash-sp3-still-no-go-flash-xp-sp3-still-not-ready-news-flash-do-not-install/

I have a Dell PC (Pentium 4) and was unable to complete the Windows XP service pack 3 update. Almost to the end of the update, a pop-up message appeared that states: "Access Denied". The update failed and Windows reversed the updates that had been installed. When finished, a message appeared that indicated some Windows components had been removed and Windows might not work correctly!

I discovered that Internet Explorer indeed did not work, but I am not sure what else. I used Windows Restore to revert to a known good configuration. After 4-5 attempts with the same results, I discovered that Microsoft has an XP Service Pack 3 bulletin board for user questions and problems. On the bulletin board there are numerous user problems listed including the "Access Denied" problem.

Unfortunately, the Microsoft patch for the "Access Denied" problem is a generic patch that didn't work on my PC. In fact when the SP3 updates were uninstalled, more Windows problems appeared. Because of these problems, I had serious concerns that the System Restore might not work this time. After a little effort I was able to restore my system again. However, I decided to never attempt XP SP 3 again. So all is not well in Microsoft land with the XP SP 3 update.

I downloaded XP3 When it first came out, Have no Problems. I am running Windows XP on A Sony Vaio. It did not speed the PC up But I am using DSL.

I updated to SP3 a while ago (once it went to mfg). on an ECS K7VTA3 XP 2200+ system and had no problems what-so-ever. Of course, as fate would have it, the ECS board crashed and I replaced it recently w/a Biostar K8M800 micro M2 w/64 X2 4600 and 2GB of memory. I was surprised how easy it was to bring up the existing WinXP Pro install (which was why I bought the board :) However, what I've noticed is that I can't get the system to recognize (make that utilize) both cores of the X2.

I see the 2 cores w/drivers in Device Manager/Processors (boot also indicates an X2) and have installed the AMD drivers, but on a number of programs (CPUZ, AMD CPUInfo, and wPrime) while they indicate a dual core, it's not clear they see a 2nd core in the device. When I bring up task manager, and look at performance, I only see 1 processor graph (under view/CPU History the only option is "One graph per CPU"). Does this seem right to anyone? My sense is it's at the operating system level, but can't seem to find the key to unlock it...anyone seen this and been able to fix it? Or, do I not have a problem and only a lack of programs capable of utilizing an X2....Thanks.

I downloaded Windows XP SP3 update. My computer ran excellent, but I had no drives. I had to format to get my drives back. All those tricks to make them reappear did'nt work. I even downloaded Windows XP SP3 from the Microsoft website to disc and it took my drives again. I won't ever download that program again. My computer runs excellent with Windows XP SP2.

EDITOR'S NOTE: By "drives" do you mean your hard drives, such as C: and D: drives? Or CDROM drives, or something else?

If you download service pack 3 It will Cause Device Manager in Windows XP to opean with blank window.I can not find a fix for this from Microsoft.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Obviously not all (or even most) people have this problem. But thanks for reporting it here, so folks can be aware. Let us know if you find a fix, other than System Restore.

I also have an HP with XP Media Edition and an AMD Athlon Processor. I tried several times to download SP3. Each time my pc crashed and I had to do a system recovery. Finally even that didn't work and I couldn't bring my pc up at all. Not even in safe mode. I contacted HP Tech Support and they had me send my pc to them to repair (at their cost). Turns out when I tried to download SP3 it did something to my motherboard and HP installed a brand new one for free. My guess is I'm not the only one this happened to.

If you have a blank Device window and blank network connections window after downloading SP3.Go to Microsoft Help and Support and download the Hot Fix for this.It works!