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Continuous reboots plague Windows XP SP3 sufferers

Saturday, May 10, 2008 · 9:03 am · 63 Comments

“What are you doing this weekend? How about watching your PC continually reboot? That’s what some aggravated Windows XP users have been doing Friday after installing the XP service pack 3 (SP3),” Chloe Albanesius reports for PC Magazine.

“‘Microsoft is aware of these issues and we are investigating them further,’ according to a spokeswoman. ‘We will keep customers informed with our progress. Any customer who experiences a problem with Windows XP SP3 installation should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services,’” Albanesius reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: A much better and smarter way to make use of the weekend: eBay the POS — or better yet, spare the next sucker and just turn the thing in for recycling — and get a Mac.

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Comment Feed

63 Comments

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dd

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 7:41 pm · Reply

@ChrisM – Fair enough assumption. However, I have a Mac. It is partitioned to run Windows. I’d never buy a PC. I also didn’t mean to attack you personally. My point was, and still is, that MS MUST make sure its versions of Windows (and subsequent SPs) work with all the different boxes. MS took on that challenge when it licensed to all IBM clones. MS is a sinking ship. Can’t wait to hear all the excuses from MS lovers.

MW (since I forgot to login): Rest- Put MS to rest, already.
gotcha

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 7:53 pm · Reply

why would anyone want to use a mac when so much more software is available for Windows.

Because Macs don’t constantly reboot.

All the software means nothing when the OS is broken. Nevermind that the only app that matters on Windows is Office. One could argue games, but the consoles (incl. MS’s own XBox) weakens the point.
Ferf Muckmeyer

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:35 pm · Reply

Microsoft seems to continually fsck themselves into oblivion. Ballmer should be dragged out of the poor example of a tech company by his wagging tongue. At the rate things are going, Apple will be big enough to buy Microsoft in a few years and rid the world of the POS operating systems that continue to crap out.

Long live Apple.
Moctod

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:51 pm · Reply

[Man, people on here can't even admit to the fact that testing on an open platform with hundreds of thousands of hardware and software combinations is exponentially more difficult than testing a dozen or so combinations of hardware and software that was all built in-house. My point is not to say it's okay for Microsoft to release crappy products, I'm just stating a truth. If someone cannot admit that, then I'd call them a fanboy.]

Please. What is a person — if not an MS-apologist — if he can’t admit that:

MS CHOOSE to ‘support and accomodate, thousands of hardware and software combinations’ — INCLUDING developing Mac software — why is it their customer’s fault that they have a difficult time doing so?

Why is the public’s fault that MS can’t say no to every box-maker out there?

Why is MS so willingly to take all the money, on a promise they can’t/won’t keep.
Get a Mac

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 11:07 pm · Reply

Yet another great scenario to use on a Get a Mac commercial.
His Shadow

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 12:32 am · Reply

I installed SP3 on 4 systems with no problems whatever. I did have to remove my custom boot screen. Which is really dumb, but what can you do.
MacMan

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 1:48 am · Reply

People stay with Windoze mostly out of ignorance and fear. It used to be that they would have to buy all new hardware (remember ADB anyone?) and software (before Virtualization), but those reasons no longer hold water.

So, what’s left is ignorance and/or fear of the unknown. And this is truly sad…

Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and Micro$oft will issue another service pack which will simply destroy XP installs and no one will have any choice but to turn to Macs.

Or maybe Apple will make a commercial about infinitely rebooting XP SP3 installs…
oopsie child

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 2:45 am · Reply

Man, people on here can’t even admit to the fact that testing on an open platform with hundreds of thousands of hardware and software combinations is exponentially more difficult than testing a dozen or so combinations of hardware and software that was all built in-house.

Which means testing/supporting Windows Vista (assuming it’s not already dead), with it’s several versions, will be several times again more complex than XP. No wonder MS can’t get anything released.
clunker

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 2:54 am · Reply

MS CHOOSE to ‘support and accomodate, thousands of hardware and software combinations’ — INCLUDING developing Mac software — why is it their customer’s fault that they have a difficult time doing so?

Agreed.

It’s like people excusing an automaker for building junk, because that maker has too many models & option combinations to support. WTF??

There’s a saying: Don’t make excuses, just make it right. MS needs to do just that, or get out of the OS business. It’s that simple.
timTom

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 8:09 am · Reply

“At this point, I want to clarify that the endless rebooting is not at all related to SP3 per se,” Johansson wrote.

The reboot problem stems from how HP configured their machines which have AMD processors. This isn’t a problem with SP3. Read the damn article before posting, morons.

I’ve installed SP3 on several PROPERLY CONFIGURED machines and it works fine.
interesting

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 8:33 am · Reply

The reboot problem stems from how HP configured their machines which have AMD processors. This isn’t a problem with SP3. Read the damn article before posting, morons.

“It’s not a software problem, it’s a hardware problem”. Typical committee finger-pointing.

How did XP work on these machines before SP3?

I’ve installed SP3 on several PROPERLY CONFIGURED machines and it works fine.

But I thought PCs were all about choice. Isn’t this a start towards limiting supported hardware options? Like MS can say anything about “properly configuring” things in the first place…
Get a Mac

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 8:57 am · Reply

That’s right it’s not just Macs that have problems with updates, it happens on Windows some times too
boulderfrog

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 9:07 am · Reply

Has anybody thought of exactly how people will be able to install the fix on a computer that keeps shutting down?
Reboot

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 10:14 am · Reply

i have a PC for testing in my office at home, it is a win XP Pentium4 3.0GHZ, 2GB RAM, ATi GFX, intel motherboard. All of my other computers are macs, and just for fun i tried installing this new SP3 for XP in the PC, VM Fusion, Boot Camp, and out of curiosity Virtual PC on my old G5 Tower. (i also have an HP laptop that runs Red Hat, but it was left out of this test)

Interestingly, all of the macintoshes had no problems whatsoever. the PC on the other hand (which is properly configured, all drivers up to date and no strange hardware) had the constant reboot problem.

I do not understand why people put up with this stuff, i am a software developer so i have too, but the general public dealing with this and thinking that all machines are created equal is just insane.

listen to MDN world, get a mac your life will be soooo much easier.
dd

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 10:39 am · Reply

@choo (bless me):
You’re right. Windows has MUCH more software than Mac, and the file names all look like this: Win32.xxxx.xx. Have fun with all your software, fool.
Jamie

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 7:10 pm · Reply

It is funny how if your App isn’t in the infamous ‘Start’ menu, you have to root around for “winword.exe” if you want to run Word…

Now, I’ve removed Pixelmator from my dock, where is it? Oh yes, /Applications/Pixelmator.

Get a Mac. Life’s too short.
oopsie child

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 7:42 pm · Reply

Has anybody thought of exactly how people will be able to install the fix on a computer that keeps shutting down?

Ever try to get a PC onto the Internet, and you needed to download drivers to get the modem to work?

Same logic.
LOL

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 9:36 pm · Reply

As oopsie child mentions; the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … the constant reboot is a major problem … [reboot] … ARRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Short memory

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 10:27 pm · Reply

So you’ve all forgotten about the BSoD you got with the 10.5.2 update? That didn’t take long.
Jim

Monday, May 12, 2008 - 5:37 am · Reply

@ Short memory:

Any examples? None of my Macs suffered this problem, and I don’t believe it was a widespread problem.

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