I Know :-)~~
Posted on 05/10/2008 8:13:29 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 sends some PCs into an endless series of reboots, according to posts to a Microsoft support forum.
Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft Corp. and a prominent Windows blogger, has worked with users to tentatively identify the problem as involving only machines using processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Messages from frustrated users began accumulating on the XP SP3 support newsgroup Wednesday, just a day after Microsoft released the update to the general public.
"I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to load the Windows," said a user identified as "Olin" in a message that kicked off a long thread. "It just displays the flash screen of Windows then after it reboots again."
Most users who left messages on the forum said that they were unable to boot into Windows Safe mode — a last-ditch way to sidestep the normal boot process for troubleshooting purposes — or revert to a previously saved System Restore point.
Some were understandably upset. "Way to go, Microsoft, releasing the pile of dung called SP3 that hoses your system so bad even Safe Mode isn't working!" said a user identified as Mike Voss. "Props to your QA guys, they certainly have done their job."
Johansson, who watched one of his PCs repeatedly reboot after installing XP SP3, traded accounts with several other users on the newsgroup and summarized the results on his blog.
According to Johansson, there appears to be two separate issues. One affects only AMD-equipped PCs sold by Hewlett-Packard Co. "The problem is that HP, apparently along with other OEMs, deploys the same image to Intel-based computers that they do to AMD-based computers," said Johansson. "Because the image for both Intel and AMD is the same, all have the intelppm.sys driver installed and running. That driver provides power management on Intel-based computers. On an AMD-based computer, amdk8.sys provides the same functionality." Running the intelppm.sys driver on an AMD-powered PC isn't normally an issue, but on the first reboot after a service pack installation, it causes "a big problem," Johansson said. The machine either fails to boot or crashes and immediately reboots.
The other problem, according to Johansson, also seems to affect only AMD machines, and involves an error message indicating trouble with the PC's BIOS. Johansson said that the ensuing recommendation to update the BIOS is "most likely not your problem," but said that the problem may be isolated to a specific motherboard. "Possibly, it is related to computers with the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard in them," he said.
Johansson also spelled out workarounds for both problems on his blog. The HP issue can be solved by disabling the intelppm.sys driver, while the second fix requires the user to plug in a USB flash drive before booting.
A Microsoft spokeswoman on Friday said the company was aware of the problems and was looking into them. Earlier, someone identified as a Microsoft employee on the support forum had asked users to e-mail him information about the PC's system configuration and whether they were able to enter Safe mode, and to submit event viewer logs. But the company declined to offer any fixes for the time being. "Until Microsoft completes our investigation into this reported issue, we can't confirm the validity of any proposed solution or work-around," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
This isn't the first endless reboot problem Microsoft's faced in relation to a service pack recently. In February, the company pulled a Windows Vista SP1 prerequisite update from automatic delivery because it was crippling some machines.
“Installed SP3 today without issue...”
Same here. Works just fine.
Other than restore from backup? Nope. You could try one of those data recovery specialists but it might be pretty expensive for no guarantee.
In the future zip them up and copy to each other's hard drive every so often. That's the easy way out. Of course you could get flash drives, ext. hard drives, etc.
What an innovative way to sell more copies of Vista....
All three of my machines are AMD. NO PROBLEM.
Three AMD’s here. No problems with SP3. Installed 4 days ago.
I Know :-)~~
if you used ms system restore they are still there. right click on the start button select properities then select classic start menu. the mycomputer and my documents icons will show up
Thanks for the information.
Reading the comments on Computerworld shows that this may not just be a problem with AMD based machines. About a quarter of those reporting the endless looping have Intel based processors. Also, quite a few with AMDs have had not problem. It may be an incompatibility with something entirely different than the CPU.
The main thing that's important here is to have a GOOD, verified backup of your irreplaceable data before attempting installing SP3.
What your wife did was probably a manufacturer’s reset to original factory drive image (completely overwrites the drive with an image of the original from a hidden partition).
If that’s what happened, the data is gone (except for a professional recovery service). Here’s a link to the only one that I know has been around for a long time, is professional, & should be able to reconstruct your drive. It will cost several hundred $ or more. Only you can determine if it’s worthwhile.
Good Luck
RT
Thanks for the information, Flint. I won't go into what your purpose on FR is.
One more thing - if you want to search for other recovery services, be sure to get recommendations/references from people you trust on those you find. I’m the suspicious kind and I think an ad on google, etc, would be an easy way to pull in victims for low-life hackers with evil intentions.
Just saying - watch your back.
This is not a Microsoft problem. It is not a Windows XP SP3 problem. It is an HP problem, and an AMD motherboard problem.
Any Windows image builder with half a brain knows that you don’t use the same OS image on two different hardware platforms — especially platforms as different as AMD vs. Intel — and not expect to have problems. Different CPUs, different northbridge and southbridge chipsets, different drivers. The knucklehead system builders over at HP screwed this one up, not Microsoft.
The second problem involves the A8N32-SLI motherboard. First, SLI chipsets are on the bleeding edge of enthusiast motherboards, and have been notorious for being touchy with certain hardware devices. This particular motherboard is not even on Microsoft’s HCL yet. Most likely either a chipset driver fix or a motherboard rev is in order, not a revision to SP3.
Headline writers for tech mags love to sensationalize these things, and anti-Microsoft people eat it up and spew it all over the Net as “proof” that Microsoft “goofed again.” The fact is, from all reports thus far, SP3 works just fine on anything but (a) a PC put together by some HP idiots who tried to cut corners on image building by using the same image for two different platforms, or (b) a bleeding edge ASUS SLI enthusiast motherboard.
I installed it yesterday. Only problem I got on reboot was losing my wireless connection which just took a quick fix. Didn’t really have time to check for any effects but the little bit of gaming I did afterwards, well, it seemed a bit slower. Maybe i’ll run a 3DMark test or something just to see if it’s just my imagination.
Thank you.
I think wifey did the Compaq restore, because the My Docs folder is there just empty. I’ll try, though.
Thanks, RT. I’ll see if the wife wants to do it.
I have an AMD 2800+chip and a DFI motherboard on a homemade machine and didn’t have a lick of trouble with SP3.On the other hand,I download the SP2 for vista a couple of weeks ago on my wife’s Dell laptop with an AMD 64 and it did reboot once by itself the other day.
No. Just normal. This is just some Windows F.U.D. that is getting to be tiresome.
I've imaged then applied SP3 to four separate machines of completely different hardware and somewhat different OS configs and have had no problems whatsoever with SP3.
The only hiccup so far is the inability of Automatic Updates to complete the process...but I think that was because the two machines I tried it on were without the WGA crap that needed to be added first.
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