Windows XP SP3 GDI32.dll issue

I installed SP3 on all my systems and had no issues till I got to my main rig. After installing SP3 my machine started having a BSOD looping issue. I was able to determine that there was a missing .dll file from the install. I did some research and others are also having this issue. Most are missing the GDI32.dll file so I'll give instructions for that error but this should work for any file that may be missing.

So here is a fix for you guys if you see this issue

Reboot your system and press the F8 key so you can interrupt the normal startup.

Select the option that does not reboot the machine on error this will stop the reboot loop and show you which file is missing it will probably be GDI32.dll but I have read that other files can cause this as well.

Reboot your machine with a windows XP CD in the cdrom and boot to the windows xp cd

Press the R key when asked so to enter the recovery console

Once you have logged in to the console type the following command (Change the drive letters if need be)
copy C:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\gdi32.dll C:\windows\system32\GDI32.dll

Select yes when asked to replace existing file

Windows will now boot properly (at least it did for me).


I hope this helps anyone that has this issue.

I wanted to bring this back to the front because of the official release of SP3 It may be able to help others with the reboot loop.

thanks for future ref. i might install sp3 soon