If you installed Windows XP SP3, thinking you’ll be ahead of the curve and check out the new features, enhanced security, etc., you’re not alone.

Lots of people, myself included, like to evaluate the latest technologies, updates, tweaks, etc., either for personal information, or perhaps to evaluate for a business-need.

Typically its advisable to not run RC (Release Candidate) code on mission critical machines, on the outside chance it might break something.  That’s good advice for most situations, but if you’re like me you install a service pack (even a release candidate) on a test machine, run it for a few days and see if everything is working.

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I was recently playing around with Windows XP SP3 (build 3264) and I slipstreamed the service pack into my Windows XP install media to make installing a new build easier (SP3 would already be installed).

Normally, it’s a pretty straightforward process, however with SP3 (at least the RC build I was using) didn’t take HD audio into account. 

When you’re installing onto a PC (Lenovo R60 laptop in my case) you typically need to install an HD Audio hotfix (KB888111) prior to installing the HD audio drivers.

The issue in this case it that SP3 supercedes the hotfix, so when you try to install KB888111 you’re presented with an error saying SP3 is newer and you don’t need the hotfix.  Unfortunately, you can’t install the drivers without the hotfix, and you can’t install the hotfix because SP3 thinks it’s newer and doesn’t need it.  This is supposed to be fixed in the final release of SP3.

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