I had an opportunity to speak with the tech that services Dell servers of which we have four, he had an interesting tilt on MS updates. He does not do any updated until they are well proven, several have taken down servers at various locations. He thinks that a good front line defense may be just as secure and far less problematic. So now I am wondering which way to go! To SP3 or not to SP3 that is my quandary! Input always appreciated!

I'd wait for it, unless you think it would solve another problem that you have. If you're stable right now, its not going to kill you to wait until they've got all the bugs fixed with the patch..

I'm going to give it some time before downloading

Thanks that is fast becoming my thought, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

Phil

Well...I don't think "if it ain't broke" feelings...apply to security updates, which is what SP3 and any other SP are.

But...I've been wrong before .

Louis

I think I'll go with the consensus on this one and wait awhile before getting SP3. Once I start seeing more positive comments from people who have gotten it-instead of the many bad ones about lockups and other problems-will I make the jump to get it. Best to you...

I haven't had any issues with it yet - but then again it's not on a "server", just a workstation with win xp pro.

I havent tried this fix but im not to anxious to try it right now
my AMD HP crashed after installing service pack 3
i was lucky that i was able to get in safemode and do a system restore
others i read about are not so fotunate.
On the Ibm It went like a charm and no problems there.
On compaq evo windows xp pro
with d-link wireless adapter connecting to linksy
it doesnt want to connect to internet but this is linksy and updated driver for wireless
but however installing service pack 3 updates the adapter
causing the internet connection to fail

Heres some info on HP AMD...With Service Pack 3

http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/arc...ing-xp-sp3.aspx

That details one of the causes of the non-boot issue some are having regarding SP3,
If you have an HP computer with a part number that ends with a 'z' you have an AMD-based computer. Other manufacturers have also shipped AMD-based computers, but it is unclear whether they have built their images the same way HP did.

The problem is that HP, apparently along other OEMs, deploy the same image to Intel-based computers that they do to AMD-based computers. Because the image for both Intel and AMD is the same all have the intelppm.sys driver installed and running. That driver provides power management on Intel-based computers. On an AMD-based computer, amdk8.sys provides the same functionality. Microsoft points out in a Knowledge Base article that installing both drivers on the same computer is an unsupported configuration, putting the blame on the OEM that deploys the image. The article in question was written when the same problem occurred after installing Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.


There is also a list of before and after fixes for anyone that falls into this category.

I installed SP3 on my system the day after it was released...Granted I don't have an AMD based system...The only issue that I had to fix was the one mme stated about the linksys wireless adapter driver...My connection would drop in and out not constantly but at certain times when I would open up a new link or refresh a page. I went to linksys and installed the original driver for my adapter and that seemed to fix that issue...No other problems other than the fact that it took a little longer than I expected to install...I could only imagine the nightmare of trying to install it via a dial-up connection though...

They might decide to make a CD of it available, like SP2, you never know

Amazing Andrew posted this link on another post to download an .iso but again it looks to be a very long download.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

the link to the blog

http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/arc...ing-xp-sp3.aspx

why would anyone want the 500MB iso?

Handy for multiple computer installs I guess... That's at least why I downloaded it. Not everyone has a gigabit ethernet at home/work.

I installed it just now. Let windows crash and burn, I'll break out GPartED and turn the drive into an ext3 drive and move my Home folder to it. (look for the silver lining and you'll see it covers the entire cloud of SP3)

I updated to SP3 on both my home computer and laptop with absolutely no issues. I have Intel processors though. If you have an AMD processor, perhaps you should wait, since they have had compatibility problems with SP3.

No problems with sp3rtm and amd here, for over 3 weeks

Well, I'm not the one who invented the problem with AMD. Search the Web and you should see plenty of articles on compatibility problems between SP3 and AMD with HP. I would wait for the problem to be solved before updating to SP3.

Same here, XP 2200 and XP 2800 processors. I believe the key to the AMD processor thing is that the boxmakers do something that creates problems. If no boxmaker system, there should be no problem (I believe).

Louis