Issue with sp3

Hi All,

Today I attempted to install w2k server sp3. The install went smoothly until I had to reboot. When I rebooted instead of getting the box stating that I should press ctrl-alt-del to logon I got a error box saying that application xyz attempted to execute a privilege instruction. My choice was Ok for ignore or Cancel to debug. Both option lead to a blue screen of death and a reboot. Sorry for lack of details but that's what I remember.

I was unable to reboot in any form of safe mode. I used the 4 w2k start up disks and attempted to repair the install. I tried to fix the boot partition and the MBR (recovery console). No effect in the end I elected to do a clean reinstall (I could have done a re-install without the format but I wanted the HD cleaned up).

I should have waited another year but I was curious about the patch. Will the above happen to everyone who does sp3 -probably not but I felt I should give warning after the bad taste sp3 left in my mouth.

Cheers,
-D

I have deployed SP3 over my own network as well as across various clients' networks with little or no problems. I have run into some incompatiblity issues here and there, but they are generally easily resolved. Did you download the installation directly from Microsoft or from a third-party source? You may have had a corrupt SP3 file. Otherwise, it's possible that you had a program running in the background which caused a problem (there is a reason it is always recommended to close all programs, especially firewalls and anti-virus programs, before running such an update). I think the latter situation is most likely what happened. It probably tried to update a file or series of files that were in use from another program. Then, when it tried to complete the install, it had mostly SP3-updated files, with some older files, and it ran into a conflict. I can't be sure that's what the problem was, especially since you have already formatted it and are no longer able to access the console for further information, but it's pretty likely.

AJ

Thanks for the advice AJ. I finished rebuilding the system and ran ms update again. This time I stop all non-critical processes and disabled NAV and ZA. The install ran over night and one box said finished the other did not I installed a the m$ security updates and rebooted (first I backup all drivers). This time the system came back up.

Thannks,
-D