I know, and helpful advice is always a good thing to whoever might need it.
What type of machines did you have problems with? I installed SP3 on two AMD-powered HP laptops with no problem, and that seems to be the key combination here.
I have not had a problem with the current release of SP3.
I took down the first release which was recalled/halted temporarily, like 2 weeks ago, from Microsofts website as the Network Install package. That gave me trouble on Acer TravelMate 250’s and 4000’s, as well as on Panasonic Toughbook CF-T5’s and CF-T7’s, all running Intel Pentium/Centrino or Core 2 duo processors.
I’m happy that all 100+ updates since SP2 are now in a single package. Reinstalling to XP SP2 and then updating was brutal until now, SP3!