Well, the windows update has been moaning at me recently to upgrade to SP3. Is it worth it though? I mean, I haven't had any problems with SP2 yet, and support for both will cease at the same time. I've also heard that SP3 causes some problems with older programs/games, is this true?

 

 

 

Many thanks :)

i haven't had any problems with it.

 

i see no reason not to upgrade.

I would try and upgrade, yes. SP3 contains major security fixes.

For a few weeks before I got Vista, I had SP3 running for XP, I had no problems at all. I'd say most of the compatibility issues were with SP2, as I could no longer run *some* 16-bit programs after that.

 

 

 

SP3 irons out alot of bugs, helps the OS to run smoother, and is simply worth getting :

Cheers guys :D

 

 

 

Couple of other questions, would I need to backup my stuff before I upgrade? I don't have anything hugely important on here (most important things are on external storage), and my dads computer was fine when going from SP1 to 2.

 

Also, my computer had XP home originally, but for some reason now thinks it is running XP pro. According to windows genuine disadvantage it's fine, but could this cause problems?

 

 

 

Thanks again :thumbup:

SP3 is a must, it even has XP running smoother. My advice is get it ASAP.

You shouldn't need to back-up unless your OS is currently un-stable. Good luck : :thumbup:

Sod's law has apparently come in to effect. I had to install an update for windows genuine advantage when installing it and now my computer is broken. Whenever I try and start it normally it gives me an error 0x80004005. (A problem is preventing windows from accurately checking the license for this computer.) I try booting into safe mode but I can't even get onto the internet because some service isn't running.

 

 

 

Help please, this is kind of urgent as I need this computer for work and stuff. Thanks.

Ouch. What computer are you running lol?

 

 

 

Get your XP disk, and run the repair. You should be able to recover the origional kernal for XP minus the SP's, and keep your files safe :thumbup:

Sure my files are safe, but they aren't much use if I can't work/edit them.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the only xp disk I have is the one that came with my dad's dell. Will this work or not?

I'm not sure, possibly. Depends on activation keys etc.

 

 

 

Try googling the error code you get back, see what you can find. :

Some good news, I found my Kubuntu 7.10 Live CD so I'm able to use that instead of interupting my brother on his laptop.

 

 

 

Anyway, I'm currently doing some google searches and I've contacted my local computer guy, who should be coming round to take a look at it soon. Any help would still be much appreciated though.

Kubuntu live = Linux?

 

 

 

If so, good shout :D

 

 

 

Anyway, I know I'm posting yet again *sigh*

 

 

 

But I've been thinking, providing your computer loads to the first/second screen - you should be able to play around with BIOS. (only if you know what you're doing!)

 

 

 

From there, you can do some kind of system recovery on last known settings, and this will ulitmatly be before SP3.

 

 

 

If not, I have no idea. BUT a blue screen crash is only once your computer tries loading Windows. There's hope yet! :pray:

Do you use Express or Custom when updating? You should always use Custom and not do Hardware updates because in my experience they crash computers more often than they help. Assuming the error has something to do with the update you received (which it sounds like it does), simply boot into safe mode and uninstall the update. That might fix the issue. Also check the manufacturer's website on alerts for your specific computer. Lots of manufacturers post alerts if certain models are incompatible with certain updates (Vista SP1 is notorious for breaking computers for example, so lots of manufacturers say to not install it on certain models)

The only difference between custom and express is that you get to choose what you install, and in my case, SP3 was the only option. Also, surely you mean software updates? I've upgraded my hardware on several different machines (all prebuilt) and had no problems what so ever. Said machine I've been having problems with a customized dell, so any warnings are unlikely to apply to it.

 

 

 

Anyway, I did some research about the error and it's apparently due to a corrupted file with windows genuine [dis]advantage. I've sent off for another Windows XP CD which I should hopefully be able to use to fix the problem.

 

 

 

Cheers anyway though :).

All problems solved. Using the XP disk did the trick (though for some reason IE has been downgraded from 7 to 6 :lol: ).