W2K SP 3 problems - why?

[Mark Leffler]

Installed SP3 on my W2k PC, and I couldn't even finish the startup sequence!
The icons didn't get displayed on the desktop, and the whole system seemed
to go off into some loop. Ctrl-alt-delete gets task maanger and allows
shutdown.

Anyone see anything like this or know why it might be happening?

I have a Dell Dimension 4100 800 MHz PC, with 128 meg of memory and an
NVidia Riva TNT2 Model 64 display adaptor.

I've uninstalled the SP to be able to get back working. The only reason I
installed it was a virus fix for the Trojan.root required SP3 to run. I ran
the virus fix and was fine for a couple of weeks, but I've got reinfected
and am curious if anyone has gone through this problem with the Service
Pack.

TIA

Mark

 

[R Beauchamp]

Well Mark, sounds like your having the same bs as I have
had for the last 7 months. As near as I can figure w2k is
not too compatible with anything. sp2 fixed a major
problem of sp1 but made w2k unstable for most installs.
sp3 is very trouble bound it only starts if hardware and
software are exactly within microsoft specs. If your
having the slightest problem with sp3 take this to
heart "stay clear of sp4 untill you have at least 3 known
good backups of your system so you can play".

A big part of your problem could be the Dell. Dell
machines usually have need for special drivers that must
be installed during the main installation process. HP-
pavilion and compaq also have this problem. Problem
exisits because these machines are not true IBM Compatible
ones until the drivers are inplace.