trying to install win xp sp1 so i can install sp3, but get an error

[camosilver311]

had to do a repair install on my xp pro, and that apparently wiped out my service pack updates, now i don't even have sp1. so, i tried installing sp3 but it says i need sp1 installed first. i installed sp1 but it gives me an error at the very end saying that it could not finish installing, press ok to cancel installation or cancel to continue and leave windows in a partially updated state. i clicked continue, and immediately tried installing sp3 but it gives me the same error, it doesn't recognize that i "partially updated" my comp to sp1.

any idea what the cause of this is??

 

[Atomic Rooster]

You could always try installing SP2, then SP3.

 

[LanLabs]

Delete the service packs and updates first. You can do this in add/remove programs.

 

[camosilver311]

i tried installing sp2 but it goes through everything then a little pop up box error message says access denied

in the add/remove programs it only shows sp2

 

[Atomic Rooster]

You get this figured out or are you still working on it?

 

[camosilver311]

still working on it, can't figure it out. but the good new is, the drive i was trying to recover magically appeared with all it's files unharmed after i installed sp1(even though it gave me an error and said it was partially updated!). now i am just trying to get sp3 going just to have it.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Hmm. . .

How about removing all drives except for the one that has the OS of course. See if the service pack installs fully, then reinstall the other drives.

 

[Tommy Boy]

I've had problems manually installing service packs on xp as well, so I just did this but with sp2 since I upgraded to Vista and didn't even bother with sp3. You might want to consider making a cd and then reformatting and doing a fresh install.