XP SP3 Final available now

[piasabird]

So is anyone getting the endless loop from Windows XP SP3 in startup? I have seen this problem reported on the Internet. It may just be certain 3rd party programs dont work in XP SP3.

 

[dguy6789]

Windows randomly becomes really choppy for me now after SP3. CPU usage and memory usage are normal, but scrolling in a web browser is ultra choppy and dragging windows around is ultra choppy. This choppiness is random and comes and goes.

 

[dennilfloss]

Looks like many who, like me, have an ASUS A8N32 SLI-Deluxe mainboard experienced the reboot problem.

http://forums.microsoft.com/Te...stID=3227892&SiteID=17

 

[Chadder007]

I think we need a separate XP SP3 issues thread....

 

[vanvock]

I got it via auto updates after the re-release & told it to download which then minimized to the taskbar as usual ( I thought) but when I checked to see the progress it wasn't there. I thought it may have went ahead & installed but system properties still shows SP2. Anyone seen this? What happened?

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Looks like many who, like me, have an ASUS A8N32 SLI-Deluxe mainboard experienced the reboot problem.

There are numerous reports on ASUS Forums of CMOS checksum and BIOS ACPI compliance errors no matter the OS being installed; XP, Vista, SP1, SP2. They can even appear out of the blue unrelated to installing an OS, just using the system as it has existed for months. Clear/reset CMOS solves the immediate problem, but it may or may not return in the long term.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the BIOS update warning ASUS gives for A8N-SLI:

To avoid crashing file system, please do update the chipset driver to below version prior to this BIOS:
For WinXP 32-bit/64-bit system, please download and update chipset drivers V6.65 or later
For Win2K/2003 system, please download and update chipset drivers V6.66 or later

Which seems oddly similar to the NForce 430/410 MCP glitch that can occur with Vista (file system getting hosed):

No operating system is found when a Windows Vista-based computer is started, even though the computer has been operating correctly for some time

It wouldn't be the first time that some particular bug was thought to only affect one OS, but later was expanded to include others. There seems to be a subset of issues with NVIDIA chipsets that are difficult to pin-down or identify (what else is new).

At any rate, after seeing many service pack failures over the years, I have developed a methodology or approach to applying major service packs:

- run chkdsk /r (full disk check with surface scan, automatically fix errors)
- empty/clean all temp file locations
- delete all system restore points except last restore point
- defragment system/boot drive
- disable hibernate and screen saver, set 'never' for other PM events
- disable automatic updates
- check for newer drivers for all devices and update if available
- check for updates to all third-party applications and update if available
- remove, disable, or unplug non-essential devices and peripherals such as audio, LAN, firewire, modems, printers, non-system hard drives, secondary video cards, et. al.
- close or disable all third-party apps and services that run in the background

Install Service Pack. If successful, then undo/reverse/redo things above where applicable.