XP SP3 cripples some PCs with endless reboots

Written by nicknowsky22
Friday, 09 May 2008

Image Only AMD systems affected, says former Microsoft security manager

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.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment early Friday, but 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.

Source: ComputerWorld

Fixing the XP SP3 reboot blues
May 10, 2008 - 3:12 P.M.

Fixing the XP SP3 reboot bluesFixing the XP SP3 reboot blues

What can I say? For me, XP SP3 was the cat's meow, the best Windows client operating system ever. But, for other people 'upgrading' to XP SP 3 is like being fed to a roaring lion.

They're seeing endless, and I mean endless-reboots. Many can't even escape to the relative safety of Windows' Safe mode much less get back to the safe harbor of a previously saved System Restore point. Most of the people experiencing this PC nightmare seem to be running computers with AMD chips.

The core problem though isn't that XP SP3 has a problem with AMD processors. It's that some vendors, and HP is the one that usually gets mentioned, used the same XP image on both their Intel and AMD systems. Usually that's not a problem. It's sloppy workmanship at the factory, but not a show-stopper. Well, until now anyway.

What happens on an AMD system is that when an Intel-only power driver-intelppm.sys--is loaded the newly patched PC throws a fit and locks you into reboot hell.

Well, actually it only seems like reboot hell. You can stop the madness by hitting the F8 key when you first see the black Windows XP screen. Then, on the character-based menu, select "Disable automatic restart on system failure." Chances are I didn't have to tell you that if you've been seeing the reboot cycle for a while. Then select Safe Mode. Once you're there, click on the System button, pick run and follow these instructions from Jesper Johansson, an ex-Microsoftie and now a Windows blogger,

1. Run regedit

2. Click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

3. From the File menu, select "Load hive"

4. Navigate to %systemdriver%\Windows\System32\Config on the dead system and select the file name System

5. Name it something you can remember, such as "horked"

6. Navigate to horked\ControlSet001\Services\IntelPPM

7. Double click the Start value and set it to 4

8. Repeat steps 6-7 for the other control sets.

9. Reboot

10. Send Johansson a thank you note if it works.

Johansson's blog also has advice on fixing other XP SP3 problems. If you're having trouble, be sure to visit it. Of course, what would be best is avoiding this entire mess in the first place. So, if your PC has an AMD CPU, you might consider following the steps above before applying SP3. Now, on my AMD PCs, I never ran into this problem, but if you want to be sure to avoid the reboot recycle, you may want to go ahead and fix your system before hand.

Just be sure not to remove the driver if you have an Intel-based PC. If you remove it then, you'll only give yourself an entirely different major problem. Johansson also gives instructions on how to get out of this mess.

There are other things you should do before installing XP SP3 that will help you avoid other possible upgrade woes. For example, you should turn off any start-up programs, especially anti-virus programs. If you're using the beta of Internet Explorer 8, ditch it. XP SP3 doesn't play with IE 8.

These steps may help, but I'm not as certain of them as I am of the earlier ones I'd mentioned. If you're already running a beta or release candidate of XP SP3, remove them before making the final upgrade. This personally gave me no trouble, but some people have reported trouble when they tried to do it.

Upgrading your drivers before the upgrade may help. Since I always run the latest drivers for my equipment, this wasn't an issue for me. In any case, it's usually a good idea to run the newest drivers to get the best and most secure performance from your equipment so you might as well update them as well so long as you're at it.

Last, but never least, whenever you do a major upgrade on any system, be sure to make a back-up. That way if everything falls apart at least you can restore your data and programs to another PC.

Good luck!

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