is XP SP3 safe to download now?

I'd revert to your most recent backup.

 

I tried doing this, but my system restore keeps telling me that it cannot restore anything because no changes were made to my system.

 

Try to do a clean install again.

 

I've never done that on this computer before and, frankly, I really would rather avoid having to if at all possible.

 

I understand what you are saying, SP3 for me is a must because take cares of issues and also improve security, but if you are satisfied the way your laptop is working then leave it alone, don't get SP3.

 

Yep. If SP3 seems that bad, give it a few month to settle in, and after that see what people feel about it.
For me, it`s stable, but since there is no visible improvement from SP2, I will have to try Vista`s SP1 and see if at least that one is any better.

 

That's system restore I have it disabled because it hogs drive space, and it never successfully restores to a good configuration because it tends to save the config problems/ viruses.

I did a full hard drive backup before installing SP3. It took only 30 minutes and I used Acronis True Image (free) and my My Book ($120).

 

i did remember they said that they will release it (windows XP SP3) on JUNE to windows update; i was a bit surprised the windows update notification popped up on my desktop saying its time to upgrade to SP3.

to dave932932: i disabled my system restore too! when it comes time to use it; i'll reformat my computer anyway. i rather backup the data myself.

 

I actually downloaded the update rather than running it. The only issue I found with the install was that it took a very long time to install on an older machine.

Everything seems to be working well here both on XP Home and XP Professional *knock on wood*

 

If you're having trouble getting updates post-sp3 install try this. I did it on my laptop and a few other new installs at work, seems fine.

Go to C:\Windows\System32 and find and register Wups2.dll.
To do that, right click on it and select 'Open With' then 'Choose Program' and find C:\Windows\System32\Regsvr32.
If you choose to 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of file' then all you will have to do is double click on any .dll to register it.

Once you have registered Wups2.dll your problem will disappear

 

I can't install ANY UPDATES after XP SP3.


Well the link from the previous poster might have the answer. I'm running an AMD based laptop, Inspiron 1501. So maybe that's why i'm having problems with installing updates.

 

Nor can i. I HAVE A WINDOWS INSTALLER PROBLEM. Any app that needs windows installer to install or use it to uninstall, I CANT!!! I also cant install the may securuity updates or update my windows live onecare...
and wow that link is exactly me. i have a compaq amd desktop...i had that endless rebooting problem, i made a thread about it.

 

Well it looks like i'm going back to SP2. It sounds like SP3 came out of the oven a little too early.

 

That link says in a few days a patch will come out...how and where would that patch come from. especially since i cant install it.

 

Yeah good question, that should be interesting. I plan on reinstalling XP SP2 in a couple of days anyway.

 

SP3 works perfectly fine for me. The big improvement is that my Add/Remove Programs app now has 1/2 the entries because the hotfixes have been de-listed.

 

That`s a hedonistic way of looking at it, but if it works,hey, all the better

 

I don't know if this little item got posted somewhere on this thread, but if you have an AMD machine, you'd be better off not installing SP3 unless you've made sure that you don't have a little bit of crud on your system called "intelppm.sys" - apparently, a number of OEMs - the main offendor being _HP - got lazy about the images they mass-installed on their products, and installed an image on their AMD machines that included certain Intel-only files, including the aforementioned "intelppm.sys" and, apparently, when SP3 is installed, if intelppm.sys is on the system, it gets loaded, and then goes looking for an Intel chipset that, mirabile dictu it is never going to find.

I don't know what the status of the supposed fix that MS and _HP have promised is, but here is the _HP support webpage summarizing the issue.

Here is a ZDNet article last updated on May 16th regarding the problem.

 

Yeah too late for me. I already installed XP SP3 on my amd machine...I had endless rebooting and BSOD for awile but I got passed that but not I have a windows installer problem and can't install or uninstall anything that uses windows installer service.

 

so did anyone that has intel based computer laptop/desktop/custom desktop. has any problem?

 

No...

All is fine wobble...

Cheers,
Theo

 

I sure wish you would have posted this days earlier. It's been almost two weeks since I installed that blasted SP3 and I still can't access any of my documents and files. This sucks man. I really didn't want to have to do a clean install.

 

If you have survived two weeks without thoses files, may be you don't need them anymore, or you never did!

You might not need to do a clean install, try to repair windows before.

 

Sorry 'bout that, I'm just psycho, not psychic.

Well, you really did need to replace that harddrive anyways, didn't you? Probably the simplest solution, in terms of getting files off the hdd is to get a bootable CD/DVD (or even USB drive) that will permit you to recover the files you need or, alternatively, get another hard drive (80GB hdds can be had for just over $50, probably $60 with shipping) and an external enclosure, swap the drives and do a clean reinstall of the OS on the new drive. That'll get you up and running. Next, put the old drive in the external enclosure, turning it into a data drive instead of a boot drive. Since the SNAFU shouldn't have wrecked any of the underlying file system, you should be able to copy the files you need directly off the old hdd that way and store them elsewhere. Once that's done, give the old hdd a really good, deep format, then swap the drives again, and do a fresh reinstall on the wiped hdd.

Once that's all taken care of - get a backup solution (which is what you might want to do with the spare hdd and external enclosure you'll be left with after you're done - talk about killing two birds with one stone! ).

If you want to try this method, let me know, and I'll see if I can give any more precise details if you need them.

 

I just put SP3 on my Thinkpad and it went well. I did the standalone installation.