Does the combination of WGA and sp3 form a ‘binary’ trojan? On my pc, an Acer desktop with an oem version of XP home ed, my attempt to install sp3 has done as much damage as any malware so far encountered. Since the automatic uninstall carried out by sp3 takes all your previous updates (incl. sp2) out with it I would suggest that MS have introduced a serious threat to the web. Has anyone else suffered a similar experience? Apart from a total reload does anyone have any repair advice? Incidently, an aborted sp3 install prevents you from re-installing sp2! Nice one Redmond.
I installed XP SP3 on my comp a couple of months ago. The only thing it messed up was my Vista inspirat pack. I didn’t see it connecting to microsoft at all to check if my windows was genuine. I downloaded the big setup from Microsoft site. I haven’t had any problems here.
I had no problems installing XP SP3 on my old desktop but when I went to update my daughters 3 year old HP XP3 “I” goofed. I remember there was a problem if your cpu was made by AMD but not problems if it was made by Intel. Guess what her desktop cpu was AMD, so was mine but something in the install structure for HP looked for a file that was not there.
HP has a repair program which I used. And it worked the problem was that it came with Norton installed and her college requires “everyone” that accesses the school network uses McAffee which they provide. Had a lot of deleting to do.
Not everybody has problems with XP but some do.
Not sure where you are now, but here are a few suggestions.
- Go to Google and type in XP SP3 install problems ACER . Then go to 3 or 4 tech support sites for their recommendations and solutions. You can find hundreds of sites that users just complain but that will not fix your problem. Possibly on one of these sites (don’t leave out searching Microsoft) you might find some suggestions on how to fix or insure it does not occur. For the HP AMD versus Intel there was a file that needed to be deleted before installation.
Not sure what Acer might also include a repair file like HP?
Even with the Windows Add and Remove program files and registry keys get left behind, do a search for cannot completely uninstall XP3 and see if anything catches your attention.
Not sure what to recommend to remove any left over files and registry keys. I know what I would use but you need to be cautious when working with the registry.
But before you do anything and after you did some cleanup.
Check to see if System Restore will take you to a date just previous to the install.
Also see if the System File Checker will work sfc /scannow , but if System restore worked you do not need this
The other Microsoft repair tool that is in XP is the error check for your main drive. In XP you right click on your main drive normally c and check properties and under tools you will find it.
If all else fails in XP there is In Place Upgrade that will replace most of the Windows files but leave most of yours alone Unless they are in a location that will be over written. I don’t think you will need to do this.
Even though I am running Comodo, I turned back on Windows Firewall during the download and install and turned off everything else that might interfere, Comodo Firewall, BoClean, CMF, Avira, SuperAntiSpyware, SpywareBlaster, Windows Defender, etc etc. The Windows Firewall was the only security program I left running during the download and install.
After a thorough cleaning you probably could reinstall SP3 but If you did several thorough searches of Tech Support Sites and Microsoft, you should find what might have caused the service pack to fail. And also [u]what to do with an aborted install.
Not sure if Revo Uninstaller would find XP SP3 would find an aborted install but you can try.
Oh make sure you have your XP key written down just in case.
Good Luck
UncleDoug