WinXP SP3 Trashed My Machine

Watch5869 · Post by **Watch5869** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:35 pm

I tried to load SP3 and a bunch of other updates and it completely trashed my comp. It took me days to repair the drive and find my files.(all over the drive) It still isn't 100%, does quirky things.

How can I load all the updates without this? What could be wrong?

This is a DEll Dimension 8400 running winXP, about 5 yrs old.

Would appreciate any ideas.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:52 pm

With service packs...
*Make sure the system is clean before installing as service pack. If the system has a virus or some malware....service pack installs can go wonky.
*Updated BIOS and drivers sometimes helps with older systems

I've generally always had good experiences with service packs...thousands and thousands of 'em. I can think of only 2 instances where they've bit me.

1-Way back in the NT 4 days, the first NT 4 service pack 6..which had a bug in it and was quickly pulled and fixed by 6.0a.
2-A known issue on a certain Dell model, a Dimension...err...can't remember the name, but an issue with Maxtor hard drives it had and a service pack. Was an early Pentium 4 model....maybe check to see if yours has a Maxtor drive. It was some Maxtor zxsomething model.

Watch5869 · Post by **Watch5869** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:41 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:With service packs...
*Make sure the system is clean before installing as service pack. If the system has a virus or some malware....service pack installs can go wonky.
*Updated BIOS and drivers sometimes helps with older systems

I've generally always had good experiences with service packs...thousands and thousands of 'em. I can think of only 2 instances where they've bit me.

1-Way back in the NT 4 days, the first NT 4 service pack 6..which had a bug in it and was quickly pulled and fixed by 6.0a.
2-A known issue on a certain Dell model, a Dimension...err...can't remember the name, but an issue with Maxtor hard drives it had and a service pack. Was an early Pentium 4 model....maybe check to see if yours has a Maxtor drive. It was some Maxtor zxsomething model.

Thanks, I'll check on availability of a bios upgrade and the hard drive.

Is there any significant risk in download ing a bios change?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:50 pm

Watch5869 wrote:
Is there any significant risk in download ing a bios change?

I've pretty much had good luck with BIOS flashes. Can only think of 2 or 3 that went awry, and one of those was a...err...modified BIOS that was a greater risk. But yes there is a slim chance you can turn your hardware into a paperweight with a BIOS flash gone bad.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:32 pm

Watch5869 wrote:I tried to load SP3 and a bunch of other updates and it completely trashed my comp. It took me days to repair the drive and find my files.(all over the drive) It still isn't 100%, does quirky things.

How can I load all the updates without this? What could be wrong?

This is a DEll Dimension 8400 running winXP, about 5 yrs old.

Would appreciate any ideas.

Well I'm confused here... did the Service pack screw it up or did some or one update do it?? Service Pack 3 on all the times I've installed it worked fine cept for a HP that I had to do a few things to cause of that driver issue (amd/Intel).
Other than that all was great. But as Cat said.. viruses,spyware and malware will play havoc with anything else installing.

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:38 pm

Just did 20 machines in the past two days with NO issues.