Unable to upgrade Win-XP to Service Pack 3

[will]

I have my PCs running XP, one is a laptop, the other a desk PC. This is kinda like water under the bridge. I have reloaded XP on a regular basis over the last few years. I found that eventually, some application that I would install would some how screw something up. Sometimes just deleting the software would not completely work. Trying to figure out what the problem was was time consuming and often would result in not finding the problem.

I keep my installation disks in one box in a cabinet - that is the easy part. What I found to be difficult was getting those applications that were downloaded from the net. I have a folder - 'DOWNLOADS' that I put all my internet applications in. All I have to do is find the application in the folder, then just double click the icon and re-install the application.

I worked in the computer industry for a lot of years and I learned/taught the value of a good backup procedure. I have a number of backup external disk drives, an extra or two Laptop drives. Reloading is really just a matter of time. the longest being digital pictures and itunes.

Anyhow. like others have said, rather than trying to figure out the problem, just reload - I'll bet that if you do this you will also find that the PC will run faster as well.

good luck



( This doesn't really help now. Call this getting ready for future problems )

 

[PapaLumen]

Have you tried using the standalone installer?

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24

It is designed for Network Admins to install to clients without having them all go through the Microsoft update site and steal bandwidth. A lot of times the site is just a little squirrely and gives you issues. Also, boot with everything disabled (But NOT safe mode, the windows installer agent doesn't work in safe mode). You can do this buy going to start>run>msconfig, then on boot tab, change it to a diagnostic startup with everything disabled (I don't remember the exact wording in this tab, I have been out of Professional PC repair for about two years now, and I use W7 exclusively now).

Hope that helps!

Try this first. I think its an internet issue and its falling over mid download due to sketchy connection or whatever. (I could be wrong lol, but try this anyway.)

 

[Swede74]

Owned a pair of Dell 8400s back in the day; if I still had them now, I would buy a new small capacity hard drive, clean install Windows 7 on it, and make that the boot drive (which you could have a local tech/neighborhood geek do cheaply). I'd wager it would run notably faster (and safer) running basic and crapware-free 7 than any manufacturer-installed version of XP.

That's what I would do too, and since solid state drives have become much more affordable the last couple of years, I would replace the one you call Boot Drive with a SSD, and keep storing data on a second drive. I don't know how well Windows XP supports solid state drives though, but taking into consideration that Microsoft will end Windows XP support in April, 2014, it might be a better idea to consider a new computer rather than spending money and time on upgrading hardware as well as software on your old work horse.

 

[goki]

I'm with what Obsessed/PapaLumen, try the upgrade using the offline/stand-alone installer. A minor internet glitch during the online upgrade can result in a failed installation.

 

[Burgess]

Okay, folks --

I've downloaded the Off-Line install package, as suggested above.

But i'm not clear on exactly how to Start-Up as recommended in Post # 15.


Do i select this choice:

(General)

Diagnostic Startup -- Load Basic Devices and Services Only ( ? ? ? )




I know Obessed said to go into the BOOT tab, but THAT leads me
to lots of Scary and Confusing choices !



_

 

[potpot]

Just select "Diagnostic Startup" under the "General" tab, click OK and reboot then update. The BOOT.INI tab is a different animal and you don't need to deal with that.

 

[Burgess]

Thank you !

That's what I was thinking . . . .

But had to make SURE ! ! !

:thumbsup:

_

 

[Burgess]

* * * Latest Development, in my continued Quest to install SP3 * * *


I tried to do a " Diagnostic Startup -- Load Basic Devices & Services Only ".


But, alas -- I was greeted by the following Error Message:


An Access Denied Error was returned while attempting to change a service.

You may need to Login using an Administrator account,
to make the specified change.


I already AM an Administrator.

It SHOWS me as an Administrator.

So WHY in the world is this happening ? ? ?


_

 

[PapaLumen]

Check your user account under "users" in control panel has everything enabled. Even as administrator you can allow/disallow certain things.

Or just boot as normal and try the standalone update.

Maybe the whole problem is with the user account though....

 

[Marmaduke]

*cough* *cough* reinstall OS *cough* *cough*

 

[Burgess]

Marmaduke --

If i re-install Operating System,

then won't I also hafta' RE-INSTALL every single one of my Windows Programs ? ? ?



As stated above -- that is something I would really prefer NOT to hafta' DO !

 

[Marmaduke]

Trust me, I have been there and done that. Although it is a major pain, after backing up everything you can, you will notice big improvements with a reformatted and freshly installed version of XP along with fresh versions of all your programs, including SP3. XP gets all junked up after a time and installing SP3 may be impossible. Trying to find and fix what is preventing the SP3 install is not only extremely frustrating and time consuming, it could make things worse. Carry on and good luck!

 

[StarHalo]

If i re-install Operating System,

Bearing in mind that reinstalling from the Dell recovery disc will restore your computer as it was when you first got it, with all the add-on and crapware programs. The upshot is that it's free.

A new install of a new OS means zero extra or unwanted programs, a completely minimal, racecar-stripped install.

 

[mvyrmnd]

If you're going to do a wipe, run the windows easy transfer wizard first. It'll pack up all of your data and settings into a file that you can restore after the reinstall. All you'll need is some of your programs, but it'll half the downtime.

 

[will]

This is a repeat, but others have voiced the same opinion. See my post number 21 in this thread.

It may be worthwhile to purchase a new drive that you can do a fresh install of XP on. This way you do no damage to your existing system, you can take your time and find all your original CDs. You can probably find a new drive for not a lot of money. The gotcha on all this is the amount of time you have spent so far with no success.

There is also a re-install of XP available from the original CDs. This option will leave everything that is there alone and just re-install the operating system. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I have had the best result by initializing the drive and starting all over.

( quick check on ebay - buy it now 250GB SATA HDD $37 )

 

[Burgess]

Hello everyone.

Thank you, once again !

:wave:



Ya' know . . . .

If i'm gonna' hafta' RE-INSTALL all of my existing Windows programs . . . .



Then i'm thinking that I might as well Buy a New Computer first !

After all -- this one is more than 7 years old.

They've probably made some Improvements since then.



Okay -- just took a quick look at Dell's website . . . .

My present PC is 3.2 Ghz.

The fastest NEW ones are what - 3.7 Ghz ? ? ?

You mean, in 7 Years, they've only increased clock-speed from 3.2 to 3.7 ? ? ?

:huh2:



Here is my REAL question, folks:

There's gonna' be a Brand NEW version of Microsoft Windows
released sometime before the end of this year.

-- Is this something I should WANT ? ? ?

-- Or is this something I should AVOID ? ? ?

:thinking:

I'd appreciate your comments and opinions on the matter.


Yes, i know that Dell will offer the "updated Windows" upgrade when it comes out.

But, as you might imagine, I DON'T wanna' hafta' Upgrade my Operating System ! ! !

(wink)


:tinfoil:
_

 

[StarHalo]

- Clock speed doesn't indicate how fast the computer is anymore, there's too much other stuff going on in a processor now (like multiple processors); if you're really concerned about exactly how fast a specific chip will be versus others, look it up on Tom's Hardware. But anything you get at this point will seem orders of magnitude faster than a Dell from the Bush administration era.

- The new Windows will probably be something you want if you're looking for latest and greatest, but know that 7 was just about universally lauded as the best Windows ever. If you don't mind the wait, I would, but you can't lose either way.

- And since anything you get will be much faster than what you had before, don't forget to explore other options - laptops have almost completely replaced desktops (I haven't owned a desktop in years), and come in a huge variety of sizes and prices nowadays, usually priced competitively with desktops.

 

[Swede74]

Here is my REAL question, folks:

There's gonna' be a Brand NEW version of Microsoft Windows
released sometime before the end of this year.

-- Is this something I should WANT ? ? ?

-- Or is this something I should AVOID ? ? ?

:thinking:


Yes, i know that Dell will offer the "updated Windows" upgrade when it comes out.

But, as you might imagine, I DON'T wanna' hafta' Upgrade my Operating System ! ! !

(wink)


:tinfoil:
_

If you decide to buy a new desktop computer, you may be able to install one (or both) of your old HDDs on it. That will give you easy access to all your files, and if you transfer them to your new HDD you could install the evaluation copy of Windows 8 (available for free download, but has an expiry date) on the old one, and try it out before you decide whether to upgrade the OS that your new computer comes with (probably Windows 7).

 

[StarHalo]

- Should also mention: I'm a big fan of external hard drive enclosures - it takes about five minutes to pull an old hard drive from a desktop and put it in one of these enclosures, and then you can access your data from any computer. I currently have three drives I can access this way, very handy.

 

[Burgess]

Thank you, StarHalo and Swede74.


Yes, i fully intend to move my (just 1 month old) Hitachi 2TB SATA drive,
currently used as my Data Drive, to the 2nd bay of the New PC.

This holds my Many Thousands of digital photographs, taken during the past Decade.



I am also well-aware of the External HDD cases.

Bought one (by Rosewell) to help Transfer my afore-mentioned digital photos
to this new Hard Drive. Perhaps a month ago.

It worked Incredibly Well ! ! !

Much better than i had even hoped for !

Everything was done through my USB 2.0 port !

:thumbsup:



Hmmmm . . . .

a LAPTOP . . . .


This was something which Never even entered my mind !

:thinking:


Hmmmm . . . .