SP3 Kills XP Pro Computer

[ronbo613]

I'm trying to get an XP Pro with Intel P4 3.2, Intel 875PBZ mobo, 2G RAM back in service. I'm trying to run Windows Update, every time I install Service Pack 3 from the Windows Update website, the computer will not reboot, a black screen comes up.
It's a legit OEM Windows OS, it runs fine until SP3 comes into play.
Thank goodness for disc cloning software.
Any ideas(besides not installing SP3)?

 

[corkyg]

Has SP2 been installed?

 

[ronbo613]

Has SP2 been installed?

Yes. Everything was completely up to date until about a year ago until the computer got put in mothballs. NOD 32 AV was disabled during SP3 update.
I think I'll try downloading the service pack to the hard drive, disable the AV software, disconnect from the router/internet and try and install it in Safe Mode.
If anybody thinks imaging or cloning a boot drive is a waste of time; if I did not have a cloned boot drive, I would be reinstalling the OS from scratch at this point.

 

[corkyg]

...If anybody thinks imaging or cloning a boot drive is a waste of time; if I did not have a cloned boot drive, I would be reinstalling the OS from scratch at this point.

Sounds like a plan. With you! I fully support cloning the boot drive. I have 4 systems - 2 laptops and 2 desktops. Each one has a cloned, duplicate HDD. I swap them every week so that all are pretty much up to date with AV definitions and Win updates. It's so easy to do, and, IMHO, so logical.

 

[sm625]

You might need to install from scratch. But yeah I would first download windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu_c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4.exe and run that.

 

[0roo0roo]

install from scratch... it was "fine" but its not really fine if it can't install an update.

eh i guess u can try uninstalling all the av software and try again, microsoft security essentials is all you really need now.

 

[Lemon law]

Yes I have heard sad tales of woe of SP3 crashing XP pro computer systems. And the same sad tales of woe about service pack 1 and 2.

Yet in my case, I have had and still have 4 XP computers, 1 XP still living home system and 3 still living XP pro systems that handled XP service packs 1, 2, and 3 without a single problem.

So I have to strongly suspect those that have those problems installed funky third party sofware and now blame an upgraded windows.

 

[gmaster456]

So I have to strongly suspect those that have those problems installed funky third party sofware and now blame an upgraded windows.

I agree. I have never had an issue with installing SP3 on any of my machines back when I was using XP on my main computers. Not to say they don't exist. But it sounds like the actual service pack is not the culprit.

 

[ronbo613]

So I have to strongly suspect those that have those problems installed funky third party sofware and now blame an upgraded windows.

Not sure what qualifies as "funky third party sofware", but this was my old photo/video editing workstation. The "third party software" would be stuff like Adobe Premiere and Photoshop, Sony Vegas and DVD Architect, NOD32 AV and perhaps the uber funky Firefox browser.
After fooling around for awhile, I believe the SP3 installation program has corrupted the MBR. I don't know the exact details.

 

[vailr]

Run: chkdsk c:/f

 

[thefordmccord]

Just slipstream SP3 onto a XP disk and do a fresh install.

 

[jjsbasmt]

Are we talking about a drive here with bad sectors? I think vailr is on to something. I'm a big fan of HD Tune.

 

[xSauronx]

Run: chkdsk c:/f

good call.

i have literally installed sp3 on hundreds of pcs. generally older ones with oddball medical software on them (this was at a health system last year). cant remember it crashing any of them, so if it did, the list was probably short. my team did a few thousand installs of sp3 and it went pretty well.

might be worth a memtest, too? is the system otherwise pretty stable? you can run SP3 in safe mode and itll be pretty quick.

 

[cheez]

and perhaps the uber funky Firefox browser.

I assure you that Firefox browser is definitely not funky..... though the firefox "updates" is what I consider funky...

After fooling around for awhile, I believe the SP3 installation program has corrupted the MBR. I don't know the exact details.

I am not sure how SP3 install would corrupt the MBR in any way... Are you not able to boot from Windows? or does it turn black screen while booting to Windows?

As some of you have already suggested, uninstalling other programs help. Or check on the list of startup programs under msconfig from Run.

It's best for Windows Service Pack(s) to be installed just after a fresh copy of Windows has been installed, in other words, install before applying other updates and third party apps.

 

[ronbo613]

might be worth a memtest, too? is the system otherwise pretty stable?

The system is stable, I have a couple cloned boot drives, they work fine until SP3 is installed.
I hear what the rest of you are saying. To this point, all Windows updates to this computer have gone smoothly and I just installed SP3 in a friend's laptop without issue. The internet is full of horror stories from people who's SP3 update has gone badly, to this point it's always been everybody else, but now it's my turn I guess.