Tuesday, May 6th 2008

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Released to Web and Windows Update

Today, Windows XP Service Pack (SP3) has officially hit the Release to Web (RTW) milestone. The third service pack for Windows XP is now available both on Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers' experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.
DOWNLOAD: Network Installation (316.4MB) | ISO CD Image File (545MB).
Source: Ars Technica
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66 Comments on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Released to Web and Windows Update

#51
Black Panther
Guess the automatic update doesn't work if you have SP3 RC huh?
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#52
JRMBelgium
That's one mega superfast Service pack installer. SP2 took ages to install, this one was installed within 8 minutes ( download and reboot included! ).

I've only encountered one bug so far. Microsoft included Windows Live Messenger 9 beta, wich doesn't seem to work very well. Uninstalled it, problem solved.

No compatibility issues so far...
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#53
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
you seem to be like the only person to install the SP without any major snags, usually its you install a SP and suffer problems or you install fresh and not suffer.
Posted on Reply
#54
JRMBelgium
eidairaman1you seem to be like the only person to install the SP without any major snags, usually its you install a SP and suffer problems or you install fresh and not suffer.
Well, My XP installation is dated from august 2007, I currently have 189 applications installed. It's still as fast as in august 2007. Just have to run some cleaning/tweaking software once a month to keep it going. I also have O&O Defrag that defrags my PC when idle.
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#55
Bob The Fish
Works fine for me, and on my bros comp and labtop and on my 3 room mates computers.
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#56
Temps_Riising
Mine was downloaded and installed without a hitch, I must be one of the lucky ones, but I got mine from the "update" area of Microsofts site about a week before it appeared here somehow.......the whole process including the download took about 40 minutes.
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#57
dwax
I been having network connection problems since I installed this.Seems every time I boot up I lose my connection. Have to re-boot the modem. Anyone have this type problem?
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#58
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
I cant install it at all. it gets part way through then pops up with an 'internal error' it even does that when i run it in safe mode. its messed up my XP abit cuz since the installation failed. each time I boot up it tells me that I need to restart for some changes to take effect blah blah blah so i maybe looking at a complete new XP installation - otherwise its still good,
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#59
dwax
FreedomEclipse

Did you try Windows update? Or was it a stand alone installer. I went to Win update and it went smooth.
Posted on Reply
#60
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
well, ive tried windows update, & ive tried the network install & ive also downloaded the ISO file & burned it onto CD.

i think it could be possibly down to the fact that my copy of XP is a 'borrowed' edition. even though i can STILL do all the other updates & get past M$ WGA tool everytime it checks my XP. meh - maybe i need to install it on a clean copy of XP or something.

If i can be arsed i will install XP on a spare HDD & then try to install the SP

see if it works that way
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#61
HAL7000
Cybrnook2002Running Smooth. Love the security updates
Agreed ..........thats just the simple truth of this upgrade.
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#62
imperialreign
Running fine so far on my rig, no hiccups . . . yet.

Had to get rid of that damn ASP.NET acount again, though, and fix the logon screen from popping up again.
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#64
Nick89
I'm running SP3 and have no issues.
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#65
Widjaja
For people who started a fresh install:-

Did you get to update SP2 before updgrade to SP3?

When I went to update SP2 all it came up with was an SP3 update.

My grandmothers dial-up modem makes a stuttery dialtone now after using the latest modem driver with SP3.:wtf:
Posted on Reply
#66
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
sadly for me & my main rig - SP3 has come a little too late -

this was taken from a website after I started having Issues in a test install of SP3
Second problem, affecting certain AMD motherboards

The second problem type manifests itself in a different error code during boot, and also seems to affect only AMD-based computers. The error code will say something similar to:
Problem was detected and windows has been shut down to protect your computer from damage.

The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant

You will then get some information about how to update your BIOS. The BIOS is the basic operating system built into the computer that handles reading and writing from disk and memory, as well as some other devices. That is most likely not your problem. The screen ends with the tell-tale error code: STOP: 0x000000A5. If you have that error code, and you just installed SP3, this is most likely your problem.

At the moment, I do not know for sure why this is happening, and I have not personally seen it. The problem appears to be the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, also with an AMD processor. Several different AMD processors have been fitted on that board, however, so it seems more likely to be the board than the processor.

The solution is simplicity itself: insert a USB flash drive, or some other form of secondary storage mechanism, before booting the computer. The people have that have seen this problem report that it goes away when they do. The catch is that the computer will only boot with a secondary drive attached. If you remove the secondary drive it will no longer boot.

It also appears that this could be related to using a USB mouse. If you have a USB mouse, try moving it to the PS/2 port instead (the little round port, you should have received an adapter with your mouse). That seems to resolve the problem without the use of an external USB flash drive.
Asus has long since stopped supporting 939 hardware so theres no new bios or anything which fix's the problem & the only way to get around it is as described above.

aparantly im not the only one to be having these issues - loads of others are having more or less the same problem

the source can be found Here

I doubt Asus could careless - I also doubt anyone else could as most have already moved on & away from the 90nm era.
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