Does your AMD-based computer boot after installing XP SP3?

 

Updates

  • Updated May 8 to add information on a second issue.
  • Updated May 9 to add information on possible additional issues as well as instructions for using the recovery console. 
  • Updated May 10 with some clarifications, a possible video driver problem causing other STOP errors, and an additional work-around for the ASUS motherboard.
  • Updated May 11 with a pointer to a Microsoft article on removing SP3, and added some information on a possible version for the faulting ATI Catalyst driver.
  • Updated May 12: Added information on free support, and a note on Media Center Digital Rights Management problems.
  • Updated May 13: Added some information on how to determine which control set to modify for the intelppm workaround. Also added a pointer to an HP support article on the problem and a request to verify a claim made in that article
  • Updated May 14: Received confirmation about how HP configures its computers. Added an explanation to how the problem occurs.
  • Updated Again on May 14: Not sure why I didn't think of this until now, but I wrote a small tool that will detect the IntelPPM problem and mitigate it before installing the service pack.
  • Updated May 20: Fixed the description of the intelppm.sys problem to more accurately represent how the problem occurs.
  • Updated May 22: Added a note on how to properly download the tool using Safari.
  • Updated May 24: Added information on conflicts with anti-malware software, including Symantec's suites. The short version is: you MUST disable any security software before installing SP3.
  • Updated June 4: Added information on a conflict with certain wireless cards.

 

Before you read on, read this!

There are several issues that can cause a Windows XP computer to not reboot properly after installing Service Pack 3. Most of them affect relatively specific configurations, and most appear to have relatively simple work-arounds. Please: do not do anything rash. I have seen a lot of reports of people who reformat and reinstall when they run into this problem, losing all their data in the process. There is often no need to do anything that drastic. First read this post, and see if anything here helps you. If not, call Microsoft's technical support line and see if they can't help you.  

If you have not yet installed SP3, make sure you disable, or better yet, remove, any anti-malware suite before doing so. If you do not, it is possible that you will get various kinds of corruption during the installation.

 

Free SP3 Support from Microsoft

EmilySc, a Microsoft employee, posted in the newsgroups yesterday that there is now free installation and troubleshooting support for SP3. This may be a real help to those who need interactive help solving the problem.

You can find all the support options on the Microsoft Support Website. In North America, free telephone support is available by calling (866) 234-6020.

 

The Problem

Last night WSUS deployed XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the sole remaining computer running XP that I have. This morning, I came down and was greeted with incessant reboots. The computer booted, apologized for not being able to boot properly, asked if I wanted to boot into safe mode, defaulted to normal boot, rebooted, and so on and so on. At this point, I want to clarify that the endless rebooting is not at all related to SP3 per se. The problem is that with some configurations, SP3 causes the computer to crash during boot, and Windows XP, by default, is set up to automatically reboot when it crashes. That is why you end up in the endless rebooting scenario.

There are many possible reasons why a computer may crash at boot time. SP3 seems to introduce two that are related to AMD-based computers, and, possibly, one or two more that appear to affect Intel-based computers. Which one it is impacts which work-around you use. At this point, the information is still trickling in. If you have a crash on boot problem that does not match what I describe below, and it happened as soon as you installed SP3, I'm sure others would like to know as well, including as much detail as you can give us.

 

First problem, affecting AMD-based computers with OEM images, primarily HP Desktops

NEW: Use this tool to mitigate the problem

If you have an AMD-based computer, and all you want to do is prevent the problem before installing Service Pack 3, then try the new tool I just wrote. It will first check whether you have an AMD-based computer. If you do it will check whether the IntelPPM driver is set to load. If it is it will offer you an option to disable it. The tool works by simply double-clicking it. If you need to check many computers on a network you can do that by running it from the command line, using this command:

removeIntelPPMonAMD.vbs <computer 1> <computer 2> <computer 3>...

It will take an arbitrary number of computers. The only caveat is that the tool will prompt you several times for each computer. If you really need a silent version, I can probably be persuaded to write one for you.

Note that if you are downloading the tool on Safari there is a bug in how Safari handles these types of downloads. If you just click on the link Safari will save the tool with a .txt extension instead and open it. You can remove that extension and then double-click the tool to run it. If you right-click the link and select "Download link as..." Safari will put the name on the containing page on the tool, not the name of the tool itself. You would need to rename it to something with a .vbs extension first to use it. Neither Firefox nor Internet Explorer makes it this difficult to download that tool, although Firefox does not properly handle right-clicking and selecting "Save link as..."

Disclaimer: the tool is provided "as is" with no warranty express or implied. It is designed to make changes to your system and those changes always carries a risk. Even though I have tested it as much as I can, I cannot guarantee that it will work for you. By running the tool you agree to hold me harmless for any damage it may cause to your computer.

Problem Details

In my case, the computer would boot into safe mode fine, so I did that. Not knowing what it was, I ran a disk check, which turned out to be a real mistake. Once I configured the computer to run a disk check at startup it would not even boot into safe mode.

Fortunately, I know Bill Castner, another Microsoft MVP, and he pointed me to a solution. It turns out that this computer is running an OEM OS image from HP. If you have an HP computer with a part number that ends with a 'z' you have an AMD-based computer. Other manufacturers have also shipped AMD-based computers, but it is unclear whether they have built their images the same way HP did.

The problem is that HP, and possibly other OEMs, deploy the same image to Intel-based desktops that they do to AMD-based desktops. It also appears that this is unique to their desktop image, and any HP AMD-based laptops are unaffected by the problem. 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. Microsoft points out in a Knowledge Base article that installing both drivers on the same computer is an unsupported configuration, putting the blame on the OEM that deploys the image. The article in question was written when the same problem occurred after installing Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.

Ordinarily, having intelppm.sys listed in the registry on an AMD-based computer appears to cause no problems, so long as the binary does not actually run. On HPs images, the driver is not installed, even though the driver is listed in the registry and supposed to load. However, on the first reboot after a service pack installation, it causes a big problem. The computer either fails to boot, as in my case, or crashes with a STOP error code of 0x0000007e. If you see that error code you almost certainly have this problem. The computer will boot into safe mode because the drivers are disabled there. Please note here that simply having the intelppm.sys file on your computer is not the problem so searching for it in the Windows directory is not relevant. Nor is only having a directive in the registry to load it a problem. It must be running to cause a problem, which means the file has to both exist on the disk, and the registry has to be configured to load it. Therein lies the problem. HPs images have the registry key set but no driver on disk. When the service pack is installed the pre-existing directive in the registry is read, the installer lays down the driver on the disk, and on the next reboot it launches, causing the crash.

You may not see the error code because the computer reboots too fast. To force the computer to stop when it crashes, you need to set an option during startup. To do so, hit the F8 key during restart right when you see the black Windows XP screen come up. Then select the "Disable automatic restart on system failure" option, as shown below:

To fix the problem, boot into safe mode, or boot to a WinPE disk, or into the recovery console, and disable the intelppm.sys driver.

WARNING: Do NOT under any circumstance disable the intelppm driver on an Intel-based computer. It will make your computer not boot! If your computer will not boot because you disabled the intelppm driver on an Intel-based computer, follow the directions in the Recovery Console section below.

If you have an AMD-based computer, however, you do not need the intelppm driver and can disable it. Boot into Safe Mode by hitting the F8 key as above, but select Safe Mode instead. You will need your Administrator account to log on in safe mode. To disable the driver, take the following steps:

If you booted into the recovery console, from a command prompt, run "disable intelppm"

If you booted into safe mode you can run "sc config intelppm start= disabled"

If you booted into WinPE, you have to manually edit the registry. Do this:

  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\<the current control set>\Services\IntelPPM. See below for how to determine which one is the current control set.
  7. Double click the Start value and set it to 4
  8. If you did what I did and completely destroyed things by running a disk check, navigate to <the current control set>\Control\SessionManager. Open the BootExecute value and clear out the autochk entries
  9. Reboot

Step 6 asks you to navigate to <the current control set>. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM there are typically at least two numbered control sets, and sometimes there are up to four. They are called ControlSet001, ControlSet002, and so on. Control sets hold all the configuration data for the computer, including all drivers that load. One of them is designated the current one, and the others are backups of previous configurations that worked. The control set that is currently used as the current one is the one listed in the "Current" value under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Select. That is the control set that you need to modify in step 6. If you modify one of the other control sets it will not solve the problem. You need to modify the current one. If you manage to boot the computer, CurrentControlSet will be a pointer to the current one and you can modify that one. If you boot from the recovery disk you have to figure out which one is the current to modify the proper one. It will not always be ControlSet001.

If this was your problem, the computer should now reboot just fine.

HPs Response

On May 13, 2008 HP posted a support article on this problem. In that article they claim that the Service Pack copies the intelppm.sys driver to the computer even though it was not there before the Service Pack was deployed.

HP is partially correct. On their desktop images the intelppm.sys file does not exist in the %systemroot%\system32\drivers directory prior to installing the service pack. However, on its laptop images the file does exist there. By contrast, on the HP desktop images the intelppm registry key does exist under HKML\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet, and it directs the driver to start. On the laptop images, the registry key does not exist. This is why HPs desktop images exhibit the problem and the laptop images are fine. It is not the presence of the driver on disk that is the problem. It is the instruction to load it that HP put into the registry that causes the problem.

That would also explain why the SP3 installer lays down the driver file on disk even though it did not previously exist. I would expect that the installer looks at all the drivers listed in the registry and simply makes sure that there are updated versions of all of them, without checking first whether they existed prior to installing the service pack. After all, if a driver is listed in the registry, and the operating system is instructed to load it, developers could very easily make the assumption that the driver is present on the computer and actually does load.

Regardless of whether the driver file is there or not, I still have to say that the problem is that the registry key should not exist on an AMD-based computer, regardless of what files are laid down on disk. It is not the presence of a file that causes a problem, but the instruction to load that file on boot, and that instruction is represented by the registry key. It is perfectly legitimate to lay down all kinds of files on disk during installation but not load them. In fact, HP itself lays down the intelppm.sys file in the i386 directory - the on-disk cache directory of operating system files. This strategy is also used successfully by Microsoft Office, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and several Adobe Products. It prevents the user from needing access to the original disks to update, repair, or modify an installation.

What this means is that if you have one of the affected HP desktop computers you can prevent the problem before it even starts. Before installing the service pack go to a command prompt and run either of these commands:

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm /v Start /d 4 /t REG_DWORD

sc config intelppm start= disabled

Both commands will disable the driver before you install the service pack and will prevent the problem from ever occuring.

 

Potential impact on Media Center

Two separate posters have reported problems with Windows Media Center after this work-around. At this point, I am not ready to say that this is caused by using the work-around, but if you have this problem, I would appreciate a note to confirm it.

Logically, it could be related. This is pure speculation, but based on what I know about the Digital Rights Management (DRM) in Media Center it may detect the change in hardware, disabling the intelppm driver, as a hostile action and disables viewing DRM protected content. Unfortunately, Comcast Cable puts a DRM signal into some of their cable channels, which means you can no longer watch those channels. You would also be unable to watch previously recorded content. The content provided by Comcast is not actually encrypted, but Windows enforces the DRM nevertheless.

I had a very similar problem with Media Center last year. At the time I was unable to resolve it. However, I would encourage anyone who has this problem to try resetting the DRM components in Media Center. If that does not work, try re-enabling the intelppm driver and see if that helps. It should be safe to do so if the intelppm.sys file is not present in the %systemroot%\system32\drivers directory (check first), and once the computer has booted properly after the service pack installation.  

Bill Castner, who is rapidly becoming my new hero, also posted a solid work-around for Media Center problems over in the AumHa forums. Try that one as well, it may solve your problems too.

 

Second problem, affecting certain AMD motherboards

The second problem type manifests itself in a different error code during boot, and also seems to affect only AMD-based computers. The error code will say something similar to:

Problem was detected and windows has been shut down to protect your computer from damage.
 
The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant
 
You will then get some information about how to update your BIOS. The BIOS is the basic operating system built into the computer that handles reading and writing from disk and memory, as well as some other devices. That is most likely not your problem. The screen ends with the tell-tale error code: STOP: 0x000000A5. If you have that error code, and you just installed SP3, this is most likely your problem.
 
At the moment, I do not know for sure why this is happening, and I have not personally seen it. The problem appears to be the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, also with an AMD processor. Several different AMD processors have been fitted on that board, however, so it seems more likely to be the board than the processor.
 
The solution is simplicity itself: insert a USB flash drive, or some other form of secondary storage mechanism, before booting the computer. The people have that have seen this problem report that it goes away when they do. The catch is that the computer will only boot with a secondary drive attached. If you remove the secondary drive it will no longer boot.
 
It also appears that this could be related to using a USB mouse. If you have a USB mouse, try moving it to the PS/2 port instead (the little round port, you should have received an adapter with your mouse). That seems to resolve the problem without the use of an external USB flash drive.
 
If you have this problem, and either solution helps, or even if they do not help, I'd appreciate a comment on the blog so we can figure out what is going on here.

Other STOP Errors

Every time a service pack is installed, or any major maintenance like it is performed, a certain, very small, number of computers seem to not come back up. The reasons could range from malware on them that is conflicting with the installation or the new files, to bad hardware that somehow failed at that very moment.

For that reason, there may be other STOP errors involved in this problem. Due to the default settings in XP, all of them would result in an endless reboot cycle. Only if there are many of them does it usually indicate a problem with the service pack. A fair number of people are reporting an error code 0x00000024. It usually means either that the file system driver, ntfs.sys, has been corrupted, or you have a hard disk with bad blocks in bad places. It could be totally unrelated to the service pack. At this point, I just do not have enough details to tell. This one seems to be more related to Intel-based computers though.

It is also possible that 0x00000024 has to do with a faulty video driver. I have seen a couple of reports of crashes caused by the ATI Catalyst 8.4 drivers, and one of a crash involving an nVidia driver of some kind, but I do not know which one. To see if that is your problem, try booting into Safe Mode or VGA mode. If VGA mode works you very likely have a video driver issue. Gary Barclay, in a comment below, pointed out that the 8.432 version of the driver may be the one that is faulting, and that version 8.467 appears to work properly. If anyone else can confirm that I'm sure may others will be happy about it.

If you are getting the 0x00000024 error, there are some things to try:

  1. There is some good information in the Microsoft knowledge base on how to trouble-shoot STOP errors. Try following that.  
  2. If you have multiple drives in the computer, disconnect them one by one and try booting. The problem may not be on your primary drive and this could let you isolate which one has the problem.
  3. Run chkdsk /r. The problem could be file system related, and chkdsk could fix it. However, to do that you have to boot the computer successfully. If you have a 0x00000024 error, it will not boot even into safe mode. You will need to follow the instructions in the Recovery Console or WinPE sections below to boot the computer.
  4. Replace the ntfs.sys driver. If the driver file itself has become corrupted there is a backup copy in the %windir%\system32\dllcache folder. If nothing else helps, you could try replacing the version in %windir%\system32\drivers folder with the one from dllcache and see if maybe it was a corrupted file problem.
  5. If you have an ATI or nVidia driver for for your graphics card, notably the ATI Catalyst 8.4, and your computer will not boot, try booting into VGA mode and see if that works. If it does, you almost certainly have a video driver problem. Uninstall the driver and see if Windows will find a better one. If this works for you, please either contact me using the contact link, or post a comment, so others can learn what is really happening here.

There have also been sporadic reports of video driver problems as well as other issues, like the VPN issues. Most of those have to do with some form of third-party software that does not work with SP3. If you have a problem that is not covered here, it would be good if you could let us know. It may be related to SP3, in which case others may have it too. The VPN issue mentioned by one of the posters has me very interested, for example.

Other people are reporting that the computer is complaining that a particular file is corrupted. Sometimes the corruption results in a blue screen, other times something does not work right after the computer reboots.  At this point I am not sure what could be causing this, and I would encourage anyone who runs into that problem to call the Microsoft support line listed above. If they manage to figure out what the problem is, please post back here so the rest of us can find out.

Conflicts with Certain Wireless Card Drivers

Tim Steele read the blog and found that his problem was not solved. After doing some more research he discovered a conflict with certain wireless cards. I asked if I could post his discovery. This is what he wrote:

Some 802.11b wireless cards cause XP to blue screen after installing SP3

If you have any of the following 802.11b wireless cards you'll see a blue screen after installing SP3:

SMC 2635W, Belkin F5D6001, Linksys WPC11 v1, Blitz NetWave Point PC, Xterasys Cardbus XN-2411b, D-Link DWL-520 Revision C, Xterasys Cardbus XN-2411b, Fiberline FL-WL-200X, 3com Office Connect 3CRSHPW796, Corega WLPCIB-11, SMC 2602W V2, and D-Link DWL-520 Revision C.

These cards all use the adm8211 chipset. The driver was provided by ADMtek and badged by the vendors. The last version on the net seems to be 1.80. The D-Link driver is WHQL certified and signed.

There are plenty of adm8211 cards out there inside machines which are about to update to SP3, Windows Update doesn't check whether you have one of these cards before automatically installing SP3, so the effect for many users will be a mysterious blue screen and no obvious cause.

It's not clear whether the vendors or Microsoft should be responsible for fixing this, but surely as a minimum SP3 should not install on machines with this hardware.

Conflicts with Anti-Malware Software

Gregg Keizer wrote an interesting couple of articles in Computer World (second piece is here) about conflicts between Symantec's anti-malware suites and SP3. It appears all but certain that the anti-malware suites cause registry corruption, failures in device manager, and other problems, when you install SP3. An interesting thread on Symantec's support forums documents some of the problems. There are directions for how to disable Symantec's software in another thread.

The security suites add significant hooks into the operating systems. It is quite possible that they will prevent a major installation, such as a service pack, from completing properly. For that reason, you should at the very least disable any anti-malware or security software you have installed prior to installing the service pack. If you can uninstall it, install the service pack, and then reinstall the anti-malware software, you will probably have even greater chance of success.

Using the Recovery Console in XP

If you cannot boot into safe mode you can try using the Recovery Console in Windows XP. This requires you to have a Windows XP CD. Knowledge Base Article 307654 has directions on how to use it. You do not need to follow the instructions for how to install it. In fact, if you have a problem like the 0x00000024 issue above, you probably can not boot from an installed recovery console anyway.

In brief, to boot from the recovery console in XP, do this:

  1. Insert your Windows XP CD
  2. Boot the computer
  3. Select to boot from the CD. On many computers you have to hit a button to do that. On Dell computers the button is usually F12. On HP it is usually ESC.
  4. The computer will work for a while and eventually you get a screen that says "Welcome to Setup". Hit the R key here
  5. If will ask you which installation you want to boot. If you have several XP installations on this computer, select the one you want. Of course, if you have several installations, and one still works, you would not need these steps.
  6. Type the administrator password for the installation you need to repair.

At this point, you should be at a command prompt. The commands you can run are very limited and they are often different from what you are used to. If you have disabled the intelppm driver on an Intel-based computer and need to re-enable it, run "enable intelppm SERVICE_SYSTEM_START".

If you need to run chkdsk you can do it from the recovery console window as well. The C: drive is the boot volume in your Windows XP installation. To run the full check run "chkdsk c: /p /r"

 

Build a WinPE Disk on a Flash Drive

Another option, recommended for advanced users, is to have a Windows PE disk handy. Windows PE is a miniature version of Window that can boot from a CD, and starting with Windows Vista, a USB Flash Drive. I wrote up directions on how to build a Flash Drive with Windows PE in the Vista book, and there are now also directions on TechNet. You need to have access to a computer that boots, and you need a copy of the Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). Once you burn the AIK image to a disk you can install it and start building your Win PE disk.

Using a Windows PE disk you get access to all the normal tools, like regedit. It has far more features than what you have with the recovery console, but requires a lot more prep work to get started.

 

Removing SP3

A few people decided the problems were sufficient to just remove SP3 altogether. If you have a problem that is not covered above, that may be your best option for the moment. Microsoft just published an article on how to remove the service pack. It includes information on how to remove it even from the Recovery Console, so even if your computer will not boot you should be able to do it.

Published 07 May 2008 11:29 PM by jesper
Filed under:

Comments

# Philip Sloss said on 08 May, 2008 04:58 PM

Thanks for saving me some troubleshooting time, Jesper.

# Indycar_89 said on 08 May, 2008 07:29 PM

Jesper - nice blog. Thanks for your efforts! Cheers!

# Rick Paige said on 09 May, 2008 12:10 AM

Plugged in a storage USB.  Did F8.  Error message stop was 0x o.....24  Yes a presario SR1820NX with and AMD64

# Simon Moore said on 09 May, 2008 02:58 AM

I had the same problem as above with the endless reboot loop. Tried the   "sc config intelppm start= disabled" now my pc wont go anywhere,not even into safe mode.All I get is error stop 0x......24.

Help !

# Robbie said on 09 May, 2008 06:21 AM

I've had a custom ASUS A8N32-SLI  based PC with XPSp3 at each of the beta levels with a rebuild and reinstall. It's worked fine. The only problem has been when I added a no name bluetooth adaptor into the equation.

# greg said on 09 May, 2008 06:56 AM

i have the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, had the boot problem, and inserted the usb and it booted fine like you said.  Problem is, I dont want to keep the usb in there all the time, should be interesting to see how we can fix this.

# Vortex said on 09 May, 2008 07:22 AM

I have the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard with an AMD X2 4400+ cpu and no problems. I also don't have any secondary storage attached.. maybe I'm just lucky :)

# ron g said on 09 May, 2008 07:41 AM

Well... THIS explains a lot.  Thank you!

I installed SP3 on my Compaq (AMD-based) laptop, and immediately experienced the endless loop - no getting into safe mode either.  I was able to restore the Disk Image I created prior to the install, but it still wasted a couple hours.  I'll try your 'fix' and reinstall SP3 to see how it works out.  Of course, I have made a Disk Image in case I end up in the loop again.

# IBC_Shark said on 09 May, 2008 08:09 AM

I think i agree with you regarding the ASUS A8N-SLI deluxe and win xp pro sp3, i run XP/SP3, on 2 separate computers and they work perfectly, bios one one computer is uppdated until latest controlled version however the 2nd computer in installed with original manufacturer settings and it also works accualy, i might have missed something but it must almost surtenly have to do with the comstum builds, and their fantstic images ;-P

# Abbas Wiredu said on 09 May, 2008 08:19 AM

Hi Jesper,

I installed windows xp sp3 and got the coontinuous reboots. The error code is 0xc0000189 Media is write protected. I cannot boot in safe mode or in any other mode. I can only get the command prompt. I renamed the intelppm file but that did not help.   I would deeply appreciate any help. Thanks.

# json said on 09 May, 2008 08:46 AM

I had the same problem, but I think it was my video driver.  Once I removed it, everything worked.

I am using IBM Anyplace Kiosk

# S.Jonsson said on 09 May, 2008 08:49 AM

Thanks for the advice!

Used 'safe mode' version and it worked!

# Jan Hjelm said on 09 May, 2008 09:00 AM

I got the same problem after sp3, reboots while starting and no clue. safe modes didn't work either. My cpu is a Celeron on an asus p5vd2-vm motherboard. My solution: Installed vista instead.

# bob e said on 09 May, 2008 09:16 AM

Following my SP3 upgrade I can no longer access my network through VPN

Reverting back to SP2 :>

# Kevin Olsen said on 09 May, 2008 09:20 AM

I have a dell latitude d830 with intel core2 duo.  I experienced the same problems, so it's not just AMD.

# @thehop said on 09 May, 2008 09:37 AM

I think this Problem matches 64-bit Sytems.

An updated Version of the 32-bit Processor Driver <b>amdk7.sys</b> is included in SP3.

# Ty said on 09 May, 2008 09:41 AM

omg wish I saw this before I wiped and reloaded my hard drive. I can't believe all I had to do was plug my @#$%ing flash drive in.

# Andre said on 09 May, 2008 09:49 AM

very helpful information. thanks a lot.

Here we see how much more difficult it is to make an OS for ANY hardware producer and not just make the OS work for ONLY one type of hardware.

# Steven Buschman said on 09 May, 2008 09:51 AM

Perhaps I was lucky. I have a Phenom 9600 with a Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe and installation work just fine. However, I rolled my own, so perhaps there's not  Intel stuff lying around. I have an external SATA drive, but it also boots when it's turned off

# Rao Hanumar said on 09 May, 2008 10:53 AM

I had similar problems on February Beta installation.

The way I resolved two diffrent ways based on this problem thread.

1. On old Desktop AMD processor - After installing SP3 and before rebooting, I changed Reg Key (as suggested in discussion thread) from 1 to 0.  I do not remember which one exactly is it.  The computer started normally.

2. The second problem resolved AMD  Core2 64 HP Laptop.  I have rebooted before fixing the problem. Then I moved a small file from patch directory to System 32 folder  using Norton utility.  That fixed the problem.

I am so sorry that at this time I am unable to give the details of that small file.

# JF said on 09 May, 2008 10:54 AM

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

# mikewaters@pcbiznets.com said on 09 May, 2008 10:59 AM

I have had two customers with Dell Precision 390 workstations (new last fall) running xp sp3 32bit, have the constant (reboot) problem and the systems could not be brought up in safe mode.

I had to do a windows repair from the original dell cd.

I was able to start the recovery console, but when I tried to run chkdsk /p it told me there were numerous disk errors and that it couldn't continue.

I then tried to boot up in PXE and I got the same message.

Finally I tried the recovery again with the dell disk and i ran chkdsk with no parameters (also no login) and it fixed some of the errors, and finally I restarted a third time, did have to login to an install and I could run chkdsk /p.

Windows would then start up and allow me to login. Auto updates wanted to install sp3 so i let it after running virus checks etc, and checking logs for errors. I ran a thorough disk scan and it showed no errors. I've had to spend many hours driving across town (west side of detroit to east side) and will have to make a return trip with the pc.

This will cost my customer $$$ and they / me are not happy about it............

# E.P. said on 09 May, 2008 11:50 AM

This was actually the same exact problem when upgrading WinXP to SP2.  XP user encounters stop error message 0x0000007E when installing SP2 on an AMD based computer.  Read here:

www.runpcrun.com/0x0000007E

The solutions there for XP SP2 may also help WinXP SP3 users out there.

# darkuncle said on 09 May, 2008 11:51 AM

I'm still trying to figure out how, in an org Microsoft's size, that something as significant as XP SP3 managed to pass QA without a show-stopping bug of this magnitude being caught. Is MSFT internal QA only testing on Intel boards? What's even more surprising is that none of the early beta testers caught this bug; although it's really MSFT's responsibility, more eyes should have revealed this before GA.

# Oscar said on 09 May, 2008 12:28 PM

Hi there. For me this is another trick from M$ to try to get out XP. For a long time now they was saying a lot of things about Vista and they want to force us to us that piece of crap. So, with this *** called SP3 for XP they show us their real intentions. Is a shame that a company as M$ doesn't have a very good QA staff to detect this things before it's affect consumers.

Long life to Linux!

# Brent Curtiss said on 09 May, 2008 12:34 PM

In my shop, the problem only hit Dell GX620 and Inspiron 9100's (both intel platforms). I had to do a repair install to resolve the problem.

# Gis Bun said on 09 May, 2008 12:43 PM

I have XP running on 2 partitions on my PC [at home] with an AMD Opteron 170 CPU and an ASUS A8N32-SLI [not deluxe] mobo. Installed it just on my non-production Win XP and everything went fine. Thinking of waiting for the other partition though. :-)

# D Brooks said on 09 May, 2008 12:45 PM

I had the Boot problem On My AMD Dual core  Opteron165/DFI Lanparty Motherboard running Raid 0 with 2 raptors .  I ended up formatting  My system and tried a fresh install with SP3 and still the same problem.The only way I could get my Computer to boot with sp3 was to Setup on A Single drive. I may have had other issues but (don't have a clue what they might have been though) because everything was Running Great Until SP3. I had the same problem On My AM2 Machine until I went to a Single Drive.Who knows, But thats What I have found that works for me and the only thing at this point in time.

# Ty said on 09 May, 2008 12:47 PM

thanks for the intelppm.sys solution.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 01:11 PM

D Brooks: do you have any additional details? Do you know what error code you were getting? I'm concerned that the RAID setup had something to do with it.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 01:28 PM

Here we go, ECS Motherboard, AMD 3800+ chip. Won't go into Windows at all, even through Safe Mode. Why do Microsoft get away with it?

# Mac said on 09 May, 2008 01:36 PM

Just installed XP SP3 on 2 AMD based CPU's, 1 HP 64 and 1 Gateway 64X2 by using "Run sc config intelppm start=disable" in the Safe Mode prior to installing SP3. Installed SP3 without a hitch. Both systems fully operational. Thank you so much for the help!

Mac

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 01:37 PM

Rick: which specific error code are you getting? If it won't go into safe mode it does not sound like the intelppm.sys problem. The fact that you know what motherboard is in the system makes it sound like the 0xA5 problem too.

# Balunen said on 09 May, 2008 01:48 PM

Thanks for the instruction..got me up and running again :)

# Dave Balcom said on 09 May, 2008 01:59 PM

I installed SP3 at work on a new in Feb. Dell Optiplex 330. It is a dual core Intel. I got a BSOD on reboot saying OLE32.DLL (from what I recall) was missing. I believe the error code was 139. I was unable to reboot in safe mode, nor could I use an XP disk to boot as the SATA driver was not found for the hard drive. The box didn't have a floppy so F6 was unavailable. Basically, we had to reinstall the original image to get it running again. Something is very wrong with this service pack. What is strange is other similar computers here loaded fine.  

# Tim Moore said on 09 May, 2008 02:11 PM

Posting on behalf of my brother above. Does anyone have any recommendations for solving the 0x00000024 issue? This is on I believe an AMD based HP machine having first attempted an SP3 install, got the reboot issue, uninstalled SP3 via safe mode, then tried again and this time had the disabling of intelppm fix done on it which resulted in the 24 error and no access to safe mode.

Using the recovery console which is on one of the HP tools discs, the console it seems can't even find Windows! From what I gather, it just drops into a C:\ prompt and chkdsk just reports unrecoverable errors. Other commands appear to fail as if it can't find the Windows install.

We're looking at a complete system loss here and only option is a destructive recovery with the HP discs (these discs don't find the Windows install either to repair it).

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 02:12 PM

No specific codes anywhere. No BSOD's, just flash screen hangs, blank screen hangs after driver loads in SAFE MODE. Flash USB didn't help. No intelppm file found in recovery (have OEM disc). Resorting to Vista laptop till a fix presents itself. BTW Jesper, you're doing a grand job.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:26 PM

Rick: can you try the advice above to "Disable automatic restart on failure?" That will get you an error code that you can post to us. On my computer I also did not get an error code. The reboot happened too fast to get one.

What kind of computer is it?

# Ashok said on 09 May, 2008 02:28 PM

Hi,

I have HP Pavillion A1330n with AMD 3000+ with MCE 2005. I have amdk8.sys in windows\system32\drivers and I have intelppm.sys in windows\i386\sp2.cab, windows\system32\dllcache and windows\drivercache\i386\sp2.cab.

Question do I have to disable the intelppm? since this is not in drivers folder.

Please  HELP.

Thanks

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:29 PM

Tim, the 0x24 issue is file system related. It is a hard error to recover from.

What does chkdsk tell you? What kind of computer? Do you have a RAID card in that computer?

The best advice if the recovery console does not work is to use a WinPE disk. Sorry. Wish I had better news for you.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 02:30 PM

Home built, ECS Motherboard, AMD 3800+ chip, ATI AGP GFX, OCZ Ram. Built for gaming and decent computing power about a year ago. Just tried the restart disable instruction (F8) still goes to XP start screen, blue bar move 4/5's across and halts. No BSOD.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:37 PM

Rick: do you have a storage card in that computer, like a RAID card or a SATA PCI card? Your problem sounds different in that the computer never crashes at all. If possible, can you disconnect or disable any storage controllers and see if that helps? Obviously, if your boot volume is on a drive controlled by one you can't.

# Francesco said on 09 May, 2008 02:38 PM

I've installed XP sp 3 on a HP pavilion with AMD processor. After the first rebootthe error was 0x0000007e; I tried the solution from recovery console, but intelppm wasn't find. I reboot and the new error is the generic 0x0000074, and now I'm blocked, in tilt, please help me....

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 02:39 PM

All I have, is a secondary hard-drive and a card reader with 2 DVD drives. That's all. IDE drives for HDD's. It's getting a bit annoying this lol. PC does NOT reboot, it'll simply hang.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:39 PM

Ashok: Is your computer crashing? If so, what error code?

If the computer boots into safe mode use the advice above to check the status of the intelppm driver by looking at the registry as I document above. Simply having the driver on the disk is not the problem. It is having it running that is.

# rpukra said on 09 May, 2008 02:41 PM

I Have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with Intel Centrino but had the same problem,no safe mode unending reboots. please advice

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:43 PM

Rick: I would start pulling drives out of the computer and see if that helps. I don't know what could be causing your problem. It's not like the others in that you are not getting a crash. Ironically, that makes it much harder to troubleshoot.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:45 PM

rpukra: We will need an error code to help you. If it is an Intel Centrino in an Inspiron, you do NOT have the AMD problem. Can you please follow the advice to disable automatic restart and see if you can get an error code?

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 02:47 PM

Francesco, what did you do when you were in the recovery console? 0x74 means your system configuration is broken somehow. Usually it means the registry is corrupted or you just installed some hardware that is not working.

One option is to try the "Last known good" configuration from the "Windows advanced options" menu shown in the post. If that works you may get back to the 0x7e error, which we can fix.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 02:50 PM

I'm IN!!! Disconnected my slave drive and hey presto! BUT, at the same time, I also reset the BIOS battery with power off for a few minutes.

# Tim Moore said on 09 May, 2008 02:52 PM

jesper: chkdsk reports "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems", but not sure what else it says. It could be it's just saying that if it can't find the partition?

I've no idea about RAID on it but I doubt it. It's just a consumer HP Pavilion as I understand it. A few years old I think. Although maybe it has SATA and needs a special driver, but I don't know the specs.

Problem is I've only been able to diagnose this via the telephone.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 02:53 PM

Now we are getting somewhere. 0x000000EA. ati2dvag. I'm off in via safe mode and SP3 is coming OFF!

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 03:03 PM

Rick: That's awesome! I wonder if this is maybe a file system problem? I don't think I need to tell you to back up stuff now, but after that, maybe reconnect that slave drive and see what happens.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 03:04 PM

Rick: support.microsoft.com/.../293078. Usually 0xEA means bad video hardware. If removing SP3 helps I would say it is more likely a bad video driver. Can you check whether you are using an MS driver or an ATI driver for that video card?

# Ashok said on 09 May, 2008 03:05 PM

I have Not yet installed xp3. Read your article to prevent before installing xp3.

How do I check the status of intelppm driver?

Thanks for quick reply

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 03:06 PM

Tim: That machine sounds pretty bad. There is clearly hard disk corruption, and if chkdsk can't fix it, I don't think much can. It almost certainly does not have RAID, and probably not an add-on SATA card either. It could just be that the hard drive is bad.

Sorry. I wish I had better news.

# spud said on 09 May, 2008 03:09 PM

i've installed XP SP3 on about 20 machines so far, both AMD and Intel, but i've only had one with one of these problems. i got the "A5" stop error on an Athlon XP 1800+ machine. it pretty much killed it as far as i've been able to see. swapped hard drives and it still gives the same error. can't re-install windows. nothing i've found will work, but i will try plugging in a USB flash drive and seeing if that fixes it.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 03:09 PM

If I remember rightly, I had this with XP SP2, same issue but it got a lot further into the loading until it BSOD. ATITOOL installed whilst SP2 was installed killed it then. I wonder. But a BIOS Battery unplug, secondary hard drives removal, not good for MS this is it. System Restore doing it's thing right now. Will post the result in the next few minutes.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 03:26 PM

OK, system was continuing to crash, even with SP2 back on. Ray Adams ATI tool removed and ATI driver, reboot INTO Safe Mode. Then a proper shutdown. Now in normal again. THEREFORE, I, in the name of science, shall attempt SP3 again right now :)

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 03:33 PM

Ashok: I'm sorry, I misunderstood. Do this:

Open a command prompt (running as an administrator in case you run as a standard user normally)

Type:

reg query hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\intelppm

Look at the value in the "Start" row. If you have an AMD based system it should say:

Start    REG_DWORD    0x4

Or, you should get an error that the key does not exist. If either is true, you don't have the intelppm problem.

On an Intel-based system it will say 0x1. Do NOT set it to 0x4 on an Intel based system.

If you have an AMD based system and the Start value is set to anything other than 0x4, run this command:

reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\intelppm /t REG_DWORD /v Start /d 0x4 /f

CAUTION: don't set the Start value to 0x4 on an Intel-based computer! It may not boot properly if you do.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 03:34 PM

Rick: definitely seems like a bad video driver. If the removal worked, then it seems like an ATI driver. It would be really interesting if that driver fails only under SP3.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 03:37 PM

If memory serves me right, uninstalling all video drivers before the update worked. ATI-TOOL does ring a loud bell in my head now we come to mention it. I'll know in the next 10 minutes, as will you :)

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 03:48 PM

OK, the results. SP3 installed and loaded XP, WITHOUT FAIL!!!. currently installing ATI Drivers from Windows. I think there is a link here. What do you think Jesper?

# Ken S said on 09 May, 2008 03:52 PM

I have the SUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard and upon installation met with the reboot circle. I got lucky and tripped over the USB plug in drive fix...and was able to uninstall XP SP3.

Thank you for the article as it saved me from doing a complete reinstall.

I hope someone at Microsoft can be bothered to fix this little bug.

On the other side, I installed XP SP3 on three Thinkpads and all went well.

# Rick Baker said on 09 May, 2008 04:00 PM

0x000000EA, ATI drivers failed. Bingo!!! SP3 not liking ATI????

# Edward Aschan said on 09 May, 2008 04:03 PM

Great job Jesper, thanks!

I had a 100% match of problem number two with an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe. Unfortunately the USB flash drive solution did not work at first. In fact the computer did not boot at all but shut it self off after a few seconds without ever activating the monitor. After removing all external hard drives (Firewire & USB) but keeping the USB flash drive connected I was back to square one - repeated reboots.

After removing all other USB devices except the USB flash drive and hooking up an old PS2 keyboard I got the computer to boot. I then needed to reconnect the USB mouse in order to get past an automated updates activation screen which did not except keyboard input. After this the sp3 installation ran to completion and my computer appears to be back to normal.

Based on my experience it would seem that the sp3 installation needs to complete after an initial reboot and somehow ends up in a faulty state on some AMD-ASUS boards. This is by passed using the USB flash drive trick and after the installation completes the flash drive is no longer needed.

# Steve O said on 09 May, 2008 04:11 PM

Many, many thanks - your solution re intelppm solved the problem of continual rebooting on a Compaq Presario SR1879UK Desktop PC.

# Julie W. said on 09 May, 2008 04:23 PM

Thanks so much, I had already installed & uninstalled SP3 because of the rebooting problem!!  Your solution worked perfectly!

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 04:28 PM

Rick: Great work! Can you let me know which specific driver you used and I will add a section on that to the main post? You can use the Contact link on the blog to just e-mail me if that is easier.

# Chulos said on 09 May, 2008 04:29 PM

On Wednesday I installed SP3 from WU.  It was on a HP rig w/AMD and OEM image.  The reboot issue did in fact result.  Safe mode failed to load the first two times it was attempted.  Last known good config also failed.  On a third try Safe Mode managed to load and System Restore succeeded in rolling back a day.  

This was on a friend's computer.  I turned off Auto Updates for the time being as he would more than likely click the little yellow shield next time it popped up as he doesn't know a thing about "techie" stuff.

How many poor folks at home this week who have one computer that they bought with an AMD CPU because it was cheap and now it won't boot into Windows?  

It will be interesting to see how quickly this gets ironed out.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 04:31 PM

Edward: your experience is interesting. You say that after the first boot you can boot without the USB flash drive? Are there any other USB storage peripherals attached? Others are reporting that you have to have the flash drive attached to boot succesfully.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 04:33 PM

Chulos: according to MS, fortunately, SP3 is not being automatically pushed down via Automatic Updates yet. If you have set AU to notify before downloading or installing you will get it offered. Otherwise you will not.

# Edward Aschan said on 09 May, 2008 04:45 PM

I was a bit premature in my celebration - it appears that my computer will end up in constants reboots if I have anything connected to the USB ports. This is true for mouse (Logitech MX1000), keyboard (Logitech G15), webcam (Philips SPC900NC), built-in usb hub (DELL FPW2405) and label writer (Dymo LabelWriter 400) regardless of if these are used singly or in combination. With all USB devices disconnected the computer will boot with or without USB flash drive.

If I reconnect the devices after Windows has started and I am logged in the devices will be recognized and start working as they did prior to sp3 so the problem appears to be connected to when windows initiates the USB drivers during boot up.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 04:50 PM

Edward: thanks for the updated info. The 0xA5 issue always did sound like it had to do with the USB controller, and this just makes it sound even more so.

Odd that your computer boots without the flash drive though. Do you have some other secondary storage device attached? There were reports that a secondary SATA device might help too. Maybe that is why your computer boots without the flash drive.

# Michael said on 09 May, 2008 04:59 PM

I previously tried to install XP3 RC3 on two of my Toshiba notebooks (one with core solo and one with core 2 duo) but no go, but I had no problem installing it on my sisters HP notebook with an AMD XP2400 CPU; and yes it has a pre-installed HP-OEM version of Windows XP home (English version).

We now run XP3 final without any problem, but it does feel a tad slower after the upgrade of XP3 (or is Ubuntu 8.0.4 spoiling me really this much?).

# Edward Aschan said on 09 May, 2008 05:10 PM

Nope, no other USB storage device attached. In fact I had no USB device connected and the computer boots fine. However, this was not true for that first reboot after installing sp3 which did require the USB flash drive.

Currently everything works fine (keyboard, mouse, webcam; I haven't tried to print any labels though) and I will never turn my computer off again. ;-)

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 06:28 PM

Michael: yours is the second report I have seen saying HP AMD-based laptops are unaffected. It seems the flawed image may only be used on desktops. That's very good to know.

# TechNoMon said on 09 May, 2008 06:30 PM

The disable intelppm.sys solution did the trick.  Many thanx!

# Francesco said on 09 May, 2008 07:02 PM

When i was in the recovery console I typed "disable intelppm", but the response was that the service didn't exist... I reboot and appears another ode of error (0x00000074. It's a generic configuration error. I didn't installed no hardware, nothing, only xp sp3. And now I'm blocked

# Nick Sun said on 09 May, 2008 07:07 PM

Collectively, I think we should sue MicroSoft for damage. They have screwed up big time in this round of release. Fortunately, I still can boot in Linux system, otherwise, how do you expect those victims access the Web for help?

# Nick said on 09 May, 2008 07:15 PM

Well I got that first stop error (the one about the intelppm). I booted into the recover console via an XP disc I had laying around. However the "disable intelppm" did not work. It was saying something about there being no ControlSet and that my registry may be corrupted. U couldn't get into safe mode either so I just started a system recovery.

# Kirk M said on 09 May, 2008 07:27 PM

Just for my own two cents worth.

I have a 4 year old AMD 3200+ based HP Pavilion a645c with the following BIOS and MB:

Board: ASUSTek Computer INC. Kelut 2.02

BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.07 06/09/2004

When I first bought the thing I immediately wiped the HP imaged OS (XP Home) and loaded Windows XP Pro SP1 from a "genuine" MS XP Pro CD. After this I then installed SP2 with no problems.

2 months ago I reformatted and reloaded the same OS and SP2. Today, I installed XP SP3 RC2 Refresh (which ran with no problem) and let Windows Update upgrade the OS with SP3 final. Everything went fine and the old PC runs better than ever.

The point of this whole comment is that after reading your excellent post I did a search for both "amdk8.sys" and  "intelppm.sys" and found that "intelppm.sys" exists but "amdk8.sys" is nowhere to be found (by the way, my serial number does not end in Z but it is most definitely an AMD based PC). Power Management works fine also.

Just another screwed up example for ya'. :D

Thanks for the great info! Hope it helps those with the reboot problems

# Harry Chester said on 09 May, 2008 07:38 PM

Had a similar problem on an Asus M2N32 WS Pro. It's got Sata raid mirrored disks on it, so I couldn't see the disk in repair mode. Acronis True Image version 10 could see them though, So I carried out a disk image backup on the network to a large disk on another computer, took 90 minutes for 24GB

I then resorted to fitting a single disk on the Marvel Sata connections and installed XP Pro on it, loaded the Sata drivers for the NVidea Sata Raid. set the  options to allow me to see all the hidden files and folders,  then set permissions on the "System Volume Information" to allow the administrator access, then go back few days on the RPxxx folders (view the date stamp) copy the  SAM, SECURITY, software, default and system to Windows\tmp rename them from the long names to these correct ones.

Make backups of the ones already in Windows\system 32\config  and then copy the ones from Windows\tmp to Windows\system 32\config

Now I had it working before I found this blog. So I didn't try the USB disk to see if it solved the problem.  But I have a feeling I'm going to see a few more to test it on.

I had also tried the following CD's to see if I could see the Sata Raid, Knoppix 3.3 no good, Knoppix 5.1.1 didn't get the screen right so couldn't see (old 1024 x 768, 72HZ monitor)? and PC Linux December 07 didn't pick them up either.

If anybody knows of anything or anyway that allows a bootable CD that supports Sata drives and file manipulation to solve the above problem I would  appreciate it very much.

# Paul Brown said on 09 May, 2008 08:14 PM

Dell Inspiron 5000e - just installed XP SP2.  Endless "read error" press <ctrl><alt><del> to restart.

Unplugged USB devices, wireless card, no change

Set BIOS to factory defaults  No change

Set BIOS to boot from CD.  Windows XP disk in drive.  

Still "working" or "malingering" or whatever - no display on monitor.  Been doing that for 30 min.

Next step?

# Douglas Gobeski said on 09 May, 2008 08:58 PM

I have an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, and an Nvidia graphics card.  I built it myself.

I had the infinite reboot problem, and plugging in a USB flash drive fixes it.  I tried removing the USB drive and rebooting, and again got infinite reboots.  Putting the USB drive BACK in allows me to reboot again.

When I had the infinite reboot problem and attempted to go into safe mode WITHOUT a USB drive plugged in, the computer would get to "C:\windows\system32\drivers\mup.sys" and then reboot.  When I booted into safe mode WITH the USB drive plugged in, it got to the same "mup.sys" file and kept going.  The little drive access light on the USB flash drive flashed for a bit while Windows continued to load.  

Thanks a million for the advice, Jesper.

# Dave said on 09 May, 2008 10:35 PM

I have a HP desktop with the reboot problem. I also have a HP laptop with AMD which installed OK but there wa an obvious slowdwn in performance. I did a sysem restore on both back to SP2 and all my problems went away. I will stay with SP2 untill they get the bugs out.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 10:44 PM

Paul Brown: I don't think the Dell has the AMD-related problems. That machine is an older Intel-based laptop, isn't it? It does have an ATI video chip though as far as I know. Can you try booting into safe mode or VGA mode and see if that works? If it does, you have a video driver conflict.

# jesper said on 09 May, 2008 10:46 PM

Francesco: I have seen two machines so far, including yours, with the 0x00000074 message. It can mean a number of things, but possibly that you have a corrupted configuration. Try booting the Last Known Good using the F8 key as outlined in the post. See if that works. It could also be bad memory, some other bad hardware, or a number of other things. Try Last Known Good first, and if that doesn't work, try Safe Mode. That will tell us whether it is a driver or a corrupted registry.

# myardor said on 09 May, 2008 11:08 PM

I had the same problem but with an intel toshiba laptop.

Could not go into safe mode. Had to re format the HD and start from scratch.

# Richard Boucher said on 09 May, 2008 11:14 PM

Thanks for the insights

Did SP3 install on 4 machines: 2 Intel based laptops, 1 Intel based desktop and 1 AMD based desktop.  All went well EXCEPT the AMD machine.  Sure enough, it is a custom job with an A8N32-SLI-Deluxe.  Used the USB fix.  took 3 cycles of reboots, but it finally worked.

What is of note is that I had a similar problem a couple of months ago with a Windows Update.  Once again, only the AMD machine had the problem.  Then, I was able to boot by telling it to roll back to the last Windows configuration that worked.  (Not an option with SP3 update.)

# Bill said on 10 May, 2008 12:02 AM

Great article!! Thanks so much for posting!! Saved me a lot of time walking my father through fixing his computer over the phone.

# astout said on 10 May, 2008 12:09 AM

Jesper,

Like Edward, I have an ASUS A8N32 SLI deluxe, but I have an Athlon 64 3500+. Nvidia video card. Boot disk is a WD 75Gig Raptor on the primary ATA port and a WD 250 gig drive on the Nvidia Serial ATA controller.

Prior to coming across the USB drive method, I had been unable to determine the error code and had tried replacing the rpcrt4.dll file I had read about in some threads. I had also gone into the BIOS (version 1303) and done a soft reset to default settings. Still no go.

Finally after reading this thread, I came home and tried the USB drive trick and still no go. After reading Edwards input, I removed all other external USB devices, left the flash drive connected and still no go. I decided to unplug the only remaining USB device, which was the mouse and connected with one of those USB to PS2 adapter plugs, and "bingo!"

The system came the rest of the way up and went to "found new device", which was the Sil Raid controller. It was not being used and I had previously disabled it in BIOS to avoid the delay and error message on boot up.

After the boot up finished, I reconnected all other USB devices and confirmed all worked fine. I restarted the system without the flash drive and it came back up fine. I just realized that I also have a combo floppy/media player that connects to USB internally, so that has been connected the entire time, although there is no media in the reader portion.

I have not gone back into BIOS to set up the few custom things I had set previously. Due to the time of night, I'll continue tomorrow, but wanted to get some feedback out to others who are suffering.

Thanks so much for posting this and great information everyone! If I can provide any other information or feedback, let me know.

# astout said on 10 May, 2008 12:12 AM

I think I forgot to mention, but like Edward, once I finally got to see the error code, I was getting the 0xA5 halt.

# Learner said on 10 May, 2008 12:43 AM

Does this probelm happen on XP - SP2, or Media Center XP?  I have a HP laptop it goes nuts when it comes out of hybernation.

# jesper said on 10 May, 2008 01:09 AM

Learner: yes, some of these problems affect XP SP2, but only when you install SP2. At that point, the intelppm problem would occur just like with SP3, if your computer is subject to it. Media Center is not relevant as far as I can tell though.

So far I have not seen a single laptop with these problems. Every machine that has been confirmed affected has been a desktop as far as I can recall. What is your laptop doing?

# astout said on 10 May, 2008 01:30 AM

Another data point. I couldn't sleep due to a cold (too much coughing), so I got up and decided to restore my BIOS settings to what they were before reseting them to default during the efforts to get back up.

I noticed that I still had the mouse plugged into the PS2 port, so I moved it back to the USB port it had been on originally.

No reboot! 0xA5 error returned. Plugging in a USB flash drive was still no help.

Moved the mouse back to PS2 port and all is well. I'm only guessing that eventually there will be a BIOS update for the ASUS motherboard, or a fix will come out that restores my ability to run the mouse off of USB. Not sure that matters much to me, but it would be nice to be back where I was before the SP. I realize I could uninstall SP3 and be back where I was, but for now I plan to leave it installed and see if ASUS or Microsoft comes up with a patch to make it all better.

Good luck everyone! And thanks again for all the useful tips being posted.

# Azeem said on 10 May, 2008 01:55 AM

Dear Jesper,

I have core2duo processor on my pc, and I have had the rebooting problem also. I tried every option including safe mode and last known best profile available, but to no avail. the pc kept rebooting. In the end I had to format and reload everything to get my pc working.

# amiek said on 10 May, 2008 02:24 AM

Dear Jesper, I have a Compaq Presario laptop with an AMD Athlon 64 processor and I suppose I'll run into the intelppm problems as well. I looked for this thing in system32 and there it is. So I wanted to disable it beforehand, I read somewhere you can simply disable it by changing the start value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\intelppm from 1 to 4. Problem is I don't have this regkey. Does this mean the service isn't running or what? I do have the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AmdK8 regkey.

Should I try the option to boot into safemode and disable intelppm the way you describe it?

# p51flyboy said on 10 May, 2008 03:10 AM

... "to bad hardware that somehow failed at that very moment."

You're joking right? - hardware failed just by conincidence after installing a new service pack? - I think you're dreaming.  This might happen about once in every 10 million.  Idiot.

# Paul said on 10 May, 2008 04:03 AM

I did the upgrade to SP3 with a A8N32-SLI motherboard.

I got a STOP: 0X000000A5 and as suggested inserting a USB flash drive before boot works! The systems now is booting and working fine.

Thanks

# GEB said on 10 May, 2008 04:11 AM

I have an ASUS A8N32 SLI Deluxe (bios 1405),  Athlon 64 X2 4200+, on board RAID using a couple of WD raptor drives in stripe mode.

After SP3 installation system was continously rebooting. Using a USB pendrive didnt help. Then I removed all USB (logitech G7 mouse and logitech G15 keyboard with internal usb hub) and boot completed normally. To finish SP3 installation i plugged in a PS2 keyboard. I replaced back G15 and G7 and again at boot windows crash, with or without a pendrive.

Playing a bit I found that is having the G7 mouse plugged in that crash the system, with or withouth the pendrive plugged in.

g.

# AndyM said on 10 May, 2008 04:29 AM

Just installed SP3 on Dell Optiplex 755 with Intell Q6600 and I'm getting the endless Boot cycle.

Can't even boot into Safe Mode. I'm Getting Stop error 0x000000FC.

After much fiddling, I have found that I can boot but only if I have no USB devices plugged in. Bit of a problem as that is the only way I have to attach keyboard and mouse. As soon as I plug them in the system restarts. Assuming USB drivers... but can't figure out how to get to them to fix them... any ideas??

# Charlie B said on 10 May, 2008 04:30 AM

Same reboot sequence arrived here yesterday.

AMD Athlon 64 running Win XP Home ver 2002 SP2.

error 0x00000007e.

Do not know cause of this one!!??

Restored to previous - ok.

# postpaleo said on 10 May, 2008 05:24 AM

Mother board is an ASUS A8N-SLI deluxe. Get ready for this one, it's unf**king real. I saw the reference about someone moving the mouse from a PS2 slot to a USB and then back. I had mine in a USB and moved it to a PS2. The only way I could get it to boot before was with a flash drive in and removing the flash gave me the endless reboot sequence. Moving the mouse port works. However if I move it back to the USB port I get the endless reboot problem. Which leaves me with the dilemma of not enough PS2 ports in the back of the machine, a minor problem and I will solve it later, I hope. I still have two free in the top of the case, but use it for the head set. Maybe Asus will get this fixed or whomever.

I haven't messed within the BIOS setting (which I was always able to get into during the endless reboot) with the mouse selection set on [auto] and at this point in time I don't want to. It might be a needed option to check for someone else with this problem. I don't know.

Thanks for the heads up Jasper and Astout, I owe you a cup of coffee and a donut for this one. :)

# Phil said on 10 May, 2008 06:21 AM