My SP3 experience...

[Mak213]

eyePC if you would have read my whole post you would see that my results stem from the fact i was trying to slipstream SP3 into a MCE disc and have a workign MCE install. MCE is not like XP Pro cause you have first off 2 CD's to install and you also have to update with the MCE 2005 Update Rollout 2 before you can slipstream SP3.

None of which worked. That was my issue. My SP3 runs just fine. Which funny enough i said back in Post #11 this same thing. I am running MCE just fin enow with SP3 installed from that very same disc. No issues. No need for a seperate installer. My issue was fully resolving around the fact i was trying to get MCE slipstreamed with SP3. NOT XP Pro.

I have made several image with XP Pro and Home already with SP3 with full success. Not a single success with MCE at all. That is the issue. Not my SP3.

Yes SP3 is worth having. Over 1,000 fixes in it. Makes it alone right there worth having.

[wicked23]

Just got SP3 from microsoft update site. 40 mins to install?? So far I see no issues.

[eyeCpc]

Apparently it hangs up on the MCE edition however by your own description. As far as XP Home and Pro it went without a sweat just from the alternate download links one at majorgeeks and the other at softpedia.

The same went for SP1 on Vista. Why is it I never seem to have "any" problems seeing a sevice pack go on while a good number of others get stumped on something?

For continuing to use XP those 1,000 or so fixes and even some new things now being enabled is a plus. What that means is that a number of known issues in XP are now being addressed in the final service pack.

[EricB]

mak try the dell media center disc that includes rollup pack 2. every is integrated in advance

[Mak213]

I dont think it would work. I have a retail serial. Not a OEM one.

[EricB]

this is how you will find if it work. it worked on my serial. insert your mce disc in with window on and the internet disconnected. for some reason, when the net is on it make a lot of serials don't work. run setup.exe. pick upgrade. put your serial in. you will know if it accepts it.

I'm thinking that maybe if you try it with disc that was made from the factory with the second disc and rollup pack 2 (I integrated it into my old mce disc too), that maybe it would work. nlite integration doesn't always work with new stuff although they (nlite) will always fix the problem when they find that out

[Mak213]

Well this is what i have done. I have integrated the 2 MCE discs. I have added update rollout 2 as well. This disc that i created worked just fine. I use it for a test install.

But as soon as SP3 gets incorporated the install goes sour. I get no options for anything. No web browser till i install one. I get nothing. No MCE, no start menu items. But the OS functions.

Which is what i find odd. Cause if it wanted to i could use it. It is recognized as MCE but without the MCE parts. So it is just like XP Pro.

From what my tests have shown is that MCE just can not have SP3 slipstreamed into it. Which is what i was trying to do. I am getting a copy of the MCE disc from Dell right now like you suggested and i will test things out with that as well.

See what i can come up with.

[EricB]

let us know. this is why I haven't installed it yet

[Mak213]

As soon as i get my disc i will make sure to test this out further and let you know if i can figure out how to slipstream SP3 into MCE. So far all attempts have failed.

[EricB]

this new dell mce seems to be mce serial friendly. it recognizes my other mce serials too.