[JohnWill]

I suggest a full backup first.

[bbearren]

I dual-boot XP. One installation is for normal use; the other is for troubleshooting/repairs/trials. Since both installations are on the same machine using the same hardware, I can do something like try out SP3 RC2 for a spell and see how well it gets along with my setup, without risking the installation I have for normal use. (It does just fine, by the way, on my laptop and on my desktop).

I use drive images ( http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/boo...generation.htm ) for both installations, but the dual boot setup allows me to try something right now, instead of waiting until I have lots of free time in case I need to futz with stuff. If what I'm trying out goes south, I just reboot back to my normal setup, and fix up the other installation when I'm not in a rush.

My "Testbed" installation is on a 4.4 GB partition, with 2.7 GB free; you don't need a lot of free space for the setup, and the drive image is quite small. I keep both installations updated regularly.

If one likes to tinker, it's ideal for finding out what wil and what won't work on your hardware with your drivers, finding out what changes/updates you need in order to make something work, and still have your good old reliable setup ready and waiting with nothing more than a reboot.

[JohnWill]

Well, I could install it on XP in a virtual machine, but since it appears to be a driver compatibility issue of some sort, I suspect it the problem I observed wouldn't show up except in specific configurations. On searching the web for the issue, I see that a number of people have seen the same error, so it's not something specific to just my configuration.

[new tech guy]

I just donwloaded it to my laptop yesterday from windows update and have had no issues so far. Possibility the driver simply corrupted John? Maybe you could try uninstalling the graphics driver, loading the service pack without them and then simply putting them back in after the install of it.

[JohnWill]

A lot of people have had no issues, but a lot of people have had issues with it. Although it appears to be a video driver problem, I had no issues with the video or any crashes before SP3. I have since updated my ATI video drivers to the latest version, but I haven't gotten around to installing SP3 again. There are issues with both AMD processors and Asus motherboards, I happen to have an AMD process or in an Asus motherboard.

[new tech guy]

Here is more irony for you, AMD chips are in ati graphics cards if memory serves me right . But its probably an early problem that will be sorted in a hotfix or somthing, a friend in technet atcually showed me updates that already came out for the new sp during a late beta. But then again, we all have come to expect that from microsoft.

[Toti]

Well me and my roommate got an Internal error and SP3 didn't even got installed.
Seems that there's a lot of incompatibilities to fix in this service Pack still, so maybe me my roommate and some other friends in the Univ. are going to stay clear of this "update" from Microsoft to many griefs for a "simple update".

bad very bad M.S.

==========================

We found the culprit !! a friend of us from the I.T. dept. of our Univ. told us that we have the Micrografx - Picture Publisher Professional 10. and that was the app. making trouble !!

We uninstall it then Install the SP3 and all OK.


Hope you can fix yours JhonWill



Toti

[JohnWill]

I'm going to let it "age" for a few weeks and see if they resolve some of the outstanding issues.

[Rollin' Rog]

No problems here, although the first few reboots were slower than before, after a day or so I guess the precache folder repopulated and it faster than before.

I do believe programs load a bit faster as well.

[new tech guy]

Originally Posted by Rollin' Rog

No problems here, although the first few reboots were slower than before, after a day or so I guess the precache folder repopulated and it faster than before.

I do believe programs load a bit faster as well.

I noticed that too, i remember mine used to have a slight delay after a typed in my password to log onto windows and after the sp intall that disappeared. Seems a little more responsive.

[JohnWill]

Many of the issues seem to revolve around AMD processors and Asus motherboards. I happen to have both on this system.

[Rich-M]

Well I got tired of being a wuss and put SP1 for Vista on 3 boxes and Sp3 on 3 pc's and a Notebook and had no issues anywhere. One of the pc's is an Acer with Vista also.
Here is an article about Amd Sp3 issue but it's talking about HP actually.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Win...-SP3,5334.html

[brinybay]

I d/l it (SP3) from the Microsoft update website. It went about 1/2 or 2/3 of the way through the installation process when I got an "Access Denied" message, and then I let it go through the uninstall process. Good news is it didn't screw anything up that I can see.

Moral of the story is if it isn't broke, don't fix it. My system, albeit 4 years old now, works fine and serves my purposes well.