Win XP SP3 fails to install

For some time now I keep getting the Windows auto-updater promping me to upgrade my XP to SP3. When I try to, the update proceeds almost to the end, but then pops up an error message of "Access is denied" and backs out the update. Every time this happens, the system gets more unstable, now crashing (by freezing up) several times per day.

Any hints/pointers?

Julf

Start again i.e. reinstall? Seriously. I doubt you'll ever get it back to stable again unless you can narrow it down to a particular driver or something. I don't know how much stuff you'd need to set up though.

I just reinstalled a machine on the weekend. Probably about 3 or 4 hours of major set up. By the time you've messed around with this it might just be easier to set up again...

Slight hijack: if I run the SFC (System File Checker) on my SP3 machines, it asks for an SP3 CD which of course I don't have. What should I give it? A slipstreamed CD doesn't work.

You could also try the "non-destructive reinstall" by overwriting the os with itself.

I had the same problem on one of my machines. I did a system restore from about a month before the problems popped up and then tried installing SP3 again. That time it worked without a problem.

There should be a log file generated which tells you why it didn't work. Same for the SFC tool. Chances are that its a driver somewhere.

As for whether you'll be able to actually repair it enough for it work, its doubtful. You'll probably spend more time fixing it than what a clean install would do.


I've never trusted that and it also breaks things because you suddenly end up with an ancient copy of some system library.

Just to pop in with the most obvious answer, are you logged in as Administrator?

I had some issues - ended up creating a slipstreamed XP SP3 install CD and it works just fine. Worst case I could probably send a copy through to you if you want - you'll obviously need to use your XP key etc, but running this install should be good.

The last time I encountered this problem the computer's hard drive was on its way out (bad sectors). Check the Event Log (System section) for disk errors.

You are probably right - the hard disk is now being rather noisy and the machine refuses to boot. OK, better dig up the backup then...

That disk that I had to restore did die about three weeks later. Wonder if that was a symptom that it was going out. I still need to figure out how to get the data off that disk, but on post it is giving the ID as a ton of random characters, not all of them English