XP SP3 coming to a PC near you

[Tony Monaghan]

The long awaited service pack 3 arrived this morning indicated by the wee yellow shield icon in the system tray. Needless to say I didn't install it, I don't do beta testing for Microsoft.

I'm curious to hear of your experiences if you actually did install it. Looking around various forums this morning the horror stories are surfacing already.

[efiebke]

Didn't know that there were plans in the works for an XP SP3. :o

XP SP2, at this point, works fine for me. On the PC side, I hold no plans to go to Vista. My aging Dell workstation would probably do all sorts of strange things if I attempted to install Vista on it.

Now. . . on the Apple side. . . my happy MacPro works just fine with Tiger (10.4.11). Leopard's going to wait until I'm certain all of my happy software will play nice with it.

I've been the "guinea pig" for past operating systems and other software product updates. I learned my lesson. . . . .

What's to be expected with XP SP3, anyway?? What are the claimed improvements that might make me consider this update?? :confused:

[dermod]

I also got the little yellow shield today. Right clicked. Seemed reassured by the blurb that it would not devastate my system Clicked for download. Nothing happened. Visited Microsoft site. No mention of SP3. After all, caution seems the best policy with ms updates.

[Styxx]

After suffering loss of use of my audio interface (firewire) and other much needed programs when SP2 was installed, you can be damn sure SP3 will NOT be installed! Also, I been sending Microsoft nasty emails complaining about my situation that apparently no one has a clue how to fix.
Anyway, I can go on rampant on this for hours. :mad:

Gezz Tony ya just had to get me going, didn't ya! :p

[Styxx]

I don't know about you Jon but my PC hasn't been the same since SP2. The worse part is all my restore points before SP2 was installed are gone completely. So, I can't even go back to when it worked fine. Needless to say my new PC will never get connected to the internet.

[Tony Monaghan]

What's to be expected with XP SP3, anyway?? What are the claimed improvements that might make me consider this update?? :confused:

Apparently it's a bundle of all the previous updates since the release of SP2 with some extras thrown in that 'shouldn't change the user experience much.'

In my opinion any MS update is a ticking bomb with a keyboard attached. As per usual I'll wait the requisite 9 months for others to beta test and MS to SP the service pack before even thinking about installing it. If it ain't broke don't fix it...

http://www.garritan.com/tux.jpg

[darrob]

Well...

Downloaded the full version of SP3 from M$oft today. (I also got the yellow shield). Decided to get the full install because I've got a number of computers to update, and want to burn the thing to CD in case of future installs.

The download weighs in at just over 300Mb (324,030Kb), whereas getting SP3 from AutoUpdate comes in at around 60Mb. I suppose that the full install also includes SP1, SP2 and other updates.

Glad to say that I've (so far) had no problems on the 3 machines I've installed it on.

For those who are interested, the full install can be got from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5B33B5A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4&displaylang=en There is also a CD image, 540Mb in size


Cheers...

Daz :0)

[Tony Monaghan]

Well, it may have worked for some but...

"Microsoft's service pack three (SP3) for Windows XP has caused havoc on hundreds of PCs, just hours after it was released as an automatic update. Angry customers have vented their spleen on the firm's Windows XP message board, posting complaints that include spontaneous PC reboots and system crashes after the service pack installs.

Poster Dan said: "I installed SP3 this morning but when rebooting it loops between startup screen and restarting screen. I can boot into safe mode. Is uninstalling XP service pack 3 the only resolution?"

Doug W complained: "After three attempts [to install XP SP3] with different configurations each time, System Restore was the only way to get me out of deep doodoo."

Similar problems were reported by frustrated customers throughout the message board.

Linky (http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/Microsoft%27s%20service%20pack%20three%20%28SP3%29 %20for%20Windows%20XP%20has%20caused%20havoc%20on% 20hundreds%20of%20PCs,%20just%20hours%20after%20it %20was%20released%20as%20an%20automatic%20update.)

[robh]

Don't bother updating to SP3 - upgrade to Vista instead.
.
.
.
BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
.
Phew! I knew I couldn't say that with a straight face!:D

Rob

[Little Red King]

Imaged my system drive before installing ... just in case.

Downloaded SP3 from the updates service (67 MB version) and installed. Wavelab5 and Cubase SX3 with all associated vsts (including JABB/KP2) are running fine.

It took a few attempts before the update service could successfully connect to MS's server.

[Studio V]

FWIW, no problems whatsoever encountered here, on several PCs (including a laptop). Turned out to be an easy, albeit tedious procedure (takes quite a while to download, verify the download, then finally install ). One inconvenience is that you can't just leave and wait for it to complete the whole task. Midway, it waits for you to input several keystrokes to accept the agreement etc. before continuing on to completion.

Sorry to hear others' sad tales. I do believe I read that there was a site on support.microsoft.com which dealt with troubleshooting and avoiding possible problems when updating to SP3. Yes, here it is: at the support site, just type 'KB950718'. Luckily, I didn't need to do that; it went smoothly overall. Hope by posting it here, it may help any who still have worries about the update.

Bob V

[cmdratz]

Update went fine for my family's PC with Sonar 5 Producer Edition, Kontakt 2, and EW Colossus (Kompakt 1.5 based). I have an Athlon X2 4200+.

[reberclark]

I installed XP SP3 on my production machine a few months ago. I have had NO issues - none. Best of luck!

[rwayland]

Well, I have had SP3 for quite a while now. I waited until the CD was available, installed from it after doing a system backup, and have had no issues yet.

Richard

[germancomponist]

I have downloaded and installed it in the last ten minutes, and it seems that all works fine... . :)

[AlanPerkins]

I have had no problems with it

[squoze]

I'm a SP3PC

[Styxx]

It will not install. It tries but for some reason, no go. Not that I am stressed just a little on the annoying side.