Uninstalling SP3

[William B. Lurie]

The sequence is like this:
I installed SP3 and had no trouble doing so, or any
observed irregularities thereafter.
Then HP told me to upgrade the ATI BIOS in my Compaq
Presario, and I did.
Now the bad Some of the USB ports are now invisible,
and HP and AMD say that's because I never upgraded to .NET
Framework 2.0. I had 2.0 a while back and uninstalled it
because of incompatibility with other software. It seems
there's no way to live stably in this electronic world.

I pulled one of my pre-SP3 clones into service, and it works
with the old BIOS and I'm thinking of uninstalling SP3 from
my Master Drive, along with the 'upgraded' BIOS. In truth,
my system was not broke, and it didn't need fixing with
either SP3 or the upgraded BIOS.

So my question is, is there a safe, convenient, reasonable
way to uninstall SP3? I see it in Add/Remove Programs...is
that all there is, just Remove it there? Will that put me
back just as XP was before I installed SP3?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

The sequence is like this:
I installed SP3 and had no trouble doing so, or any
observed irregularities thereafter.
Then HP told me to upgrade the ATI BIOS in my Compaq
Presario, and I did.
Now the bad Some of the USB ports are now invisible,
and HP and AMD say that's because I never upgraded to .NET
Framework 2.0. I had 2.0 a while back and uninstalled it
because of incompatibility with other software. It seems
there's no way to live stably in this electronic world.

I pulled one of my pre-SP3 clones into service, and it works
with the old BIOS and I'm thinking of uninstalling SP3 from
my Master Drive, along with the 'upgraded' BIOS. In truth,
my system was not broke, and it didn't need fixing with
either SP3 or the upgraded BIOS.

So my question is, is there a safe, convenient, reasonable
way to uninstall SP3? I see it in Add/Remove Programs...is
that all there is, just Remove it there? Will that put me
back just as XP was before I installed SP3?

What software was having instability issues with .NET Framework 2.0?
It shouldn't even use it unless it was designed to.

(And although you can uninstall SP3 if you like - I think that *might* just
be a work-around for a problem you will have to look into sooner or later
anyway.)

And what does SP3 have to do with .NET Framework 2.0 and your current issue
anyway? Maybe I missed something in your explanation.

 

[JS]

Well you asked the $60,000 question, will it uninstall cleanly. This is
something I'm going put do on my to do list.
If you still have a restore point made just prior to installing SP3, I'd
uninstall SP3 and then use system restore, hopefully the combination will
get you to where you want to be. The BIOS update should not have caused a
problem but since I'm not HP.

There is/are an issues with HP computers and AMD processors you might want
to look into although I don't think you fall into this category from the
description of your problem.

You receive a "Stop 0x0000007E" error message after you upgrade to Windows
XP Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 on a non-Intel-processor-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888372

Error message after you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than
an Intel processor to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or to Windows XP Service
Pack 3: "STOP: 0x0000007E"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=953356
This is the patch to fix the above issue "For non-Intel processors"
***Must be applied before installing SP3***
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...A7-54D6-4C31-BDA3-EFD2F7E87A8C&displaylang=en

From: Jesper Johansson's blog
Does your AMD-based computer boot after installing XP SP3?
(Affects AMD-based computers with OEM images, primarily HP Desktops)
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jes...ed-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx

Good luck
JS

 

[William B. Lurie]

Sorry, I thought I had listed the steps I took and the undesirable
result, namely, a flash drive in my *front* USB jacks is seen by
the BIOS but not by Windows Explorer. I've come to a practical
solution: I have full partition clone, bootable, from just before
installing SP3. I will make that my Master, and copy into it the
folders that represent new data. Eventually, when all the smoke
clears away, I'll make a new clone of that, and disregard any
suggestions that I install SP3 or .NET 2.0...

There was some software I was going to try, I don't recall what, but
they said I needed 2.0 so I just let it go by. There must be reasons
for bringing out 'improved' models, but from experience, I'm getting
to like my old Model T more and more.

By the way, I do *NO* System Restore via Windows XP. I find GHOST 10
gives me an exact, complete, separate, bootable clone, and I like it
that way.

Thanks for the advice feelows.

 

[TaurArian]

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

--

TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008 - Update Services
http://taurarian.mvps.org
======================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Computer Maintenance: Acronis / Diskeeper / Paragon / Raxco


| The sequence is like this:
| I installed SP3 and had no trouble doing so, or any
| observed irregularities thereafter.
| Then HP told me to upgrade the ATI BIOS in my Compaq
| Presario, and I did.
| Now the bad Some of the USB ports are now invisible,
| and HP and AMD say that's because I never upgraded to .NET
| Framework 2.0. I had 2.0 a while back and uninstalled it
| because of incompatibility with other software. It seems
| there's no way to live stably in this electronic world.
|
| I pulled one of my pre-SP3 clones into service, and it works
| with the old BIOS and I'm thinking of uninstalling SP3 from
| my Master Drive, along with the 'upgraded' BIOS. In truth,
| my system was not broke, and it didn't need fixing with
| either SP3 or the upgraded BIOS.
|
| So my question is, is there a safe, convenient, reasonable
| way to uninstall SP3? I see it in Add/Remove Programs...is
| that all there is, just Remove it there? Will that put me
| back just as XP was before I installed SP3?

 

[William B. Lurie]

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

Thank you, Taur. That covers it surprisingly succinctly!

 

[William B. Lurie]

Well you asked the $60,000 question, will it uninstall cleanly. This is
something I'm going put do on my to do list.
If you still have a restore point made just prior to installing SP3, I'd
uninstall SP3 and then use system restore, hopefully the combination will
get you to where you want to be. The BIOS update should not have caused a
problem but since I'm not HP.

There is/are an issues with HP computers and AMD processors you might want
to look into although I don't think you fall into this category from the
description of your problem.

You receive a "Stop 0x0000007E" error message after you upgrade to Windows
XP Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 on a non-Intel-processor-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888372

Error message after you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than
an Intel processor to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or to Windows XP Service
Pack 3: "STOP: 0x0000007E"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=953356
This is the patch to fix the above issue "For non-Intel processors"
***Must be applied before installing SP3***
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...A7-54D6-4C31-BDA3-EFD2F7E87A8C&displaylang=en

From: Jesper Johansson's blog
Does your AMD-based computer boot after installing XP SP3?
(Affects AMD-based computers with OEM images, primarily HP Desktops)
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jes...ed-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx

Good luck
JS

As a postscript:

I don't do "Restore Points" as done in Windows XP at all.
But I do make full drive images frequently, and I always
have at least one operating clone not far back.

So I took my last Drive Image of SP2 and made a full system
clone and *all* of the previously described problems went
away. My USB ports.....my Web Camera.....back to proper
operation. Now I just have to remember what it cost me to
'upgrade' this time, in headaches and man-hours to UN-upgrade.

I have deep-sixed all of the drive images made with SP3 installed,
and my system is alive and well again.

Bill Lurie

 

[JS]

Thanks for the info Bill.

JS

As a postscript:

I don't do "Restore Points" as done in Windows XP at all.
But I do make full drive images frequently, and I always
have at least one operating clone not far back.

So I took my last Drive Image of SP2 and made a full system
clone and *all* of the previously described problems went
away. My USB ports.....my Web Camera.....back to proper
operation. Now I just have to remember what it cost me to
'upgrade' this time, in headaches and man-hours to UN-upgrade.

I have deep-sixed all of the drive images made with SP3 installed,
and my system is alive and well again.

Bill Lurie

 

[William B. Lurie]

What software was having instability issues with .NET Framework 2.0?
It shouldn't even use it unless it was designed to.

(And although you can uninstall SP3 if you like - I think that *might* just
be a work-around for a problem you will have to look into sooner or later
anyway.)

And what does SP3 have to do with .NET Framework 2.0 and your current issue
anyway? Maybe I missed something in your explanation.

You're right, the .NET Framework was not directly involved.
Some purchased software required it, and that disturbed
something else. And HP's recommended BIOS upgrade demanded 2.0 ...

In simplest terms, on my machine, after I installed SP3, my
Creative web camera stopped working, and the front USB jacks on
the desktop stopped working. After uninstalling SP3, they are
now working again. And the updated BIOS, and .NET 2.0 is
installed also.