So far, it's been a bad year for Windows Service Pack updates. Vista users might remember the endless reboot cycles that came with the initial release of its Service Pack 1. Well, the same issues have been cropping up since Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP. This article will go over what's causing this problem, how to avoid it, and how to fix it if it happens to you.
Contributed by Michael Lowry Rating: / 3 June 02, 2008
Windows XP Service Pack 3 was knee deep in problems before it even became available to the general public. It had been delayed a week, after needing to fix a compatibility issue between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System and XP SP3 and Vista SP1. But after a week's worth of waiting, it was finally released on May 6 through Windows Update with the message, “After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.”
Indeed. You may have to restart; you may also have to buy some new pants, after the endless series of reboots following installation causes you to soil yourself. Here's what's happening: after installing XP SP3, users' PCs reboot, just like they're supposed to, only they're not starting up again. Instead, they reboot again and again...and again and again and again. Basically, the computer boots, displays a message saying it cannot boot properly, asks if you want to run in safe mode, and defaults back to the normal boot process before you can do anything. Whatever the reason, SP3 is causing the computer to crash when it boots, and XP is programmed to automatically reboot when it crashes.
When it came to identifying the causes, a lot of users found that they were having problems if they had computers running on AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) processors, and yet there were also Intel-based computers having issues as well. Which processor your computer uses will obviously affect how you treat this problem, so make sure you don't choose your workaround as you would choose a pair of pants. The tips I will be giving came from a blog post by Jesper Johansson, a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) in Windows Security, who, after having this problem happen to him, collaborated with other users to develop a solution.
The first problem that I'm going to discuss has to do with AMD-based computers sold by Hewlett-Packard (HP). This will be discussed in detail on the next page.
The problem occurs on HP computers with AMD processors because during the manufacturing process, the same XP disk image was used to install the operating system on both AMD-based and Intel-based computers. Because the image is the same, computers with either type of processor will have the intelppm.sys driver installed on it. And this is bad for AMD-based machines, which already have the amdk8.sys driver to act as the Intel driver's counterpart.
In fact, the problem has been known to exist since 2004, when Microsoft released XP SP2. A support document published back then said, “Under this configuration, after the computer is upgraded to Windows XP SP2 or SP3, the Intel processor driver may try to load because an orphaned registry key remains.”
I'm sure you're wondering why this is only a problem when someone tries to download the latest Service Pack. According to Johansson, the problem occurs when the driver both exists on the disk and is configured to load on the registry. He says, “HP's 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.” This basically resulted in Microsoft putting the blame for this problem on HP.
HP responded by shifting the blame right back to Microsoft. They claimed that SP3 copies the driver to the computer because this driver was not on the computer before the update. This is yet to be confirmed or denied, but Johansson believes that the problem starts and ends with the registry key. He says, “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.” But I'd bet if you're saddled with this problem right now, you could care less about who's fault it is and more about how to fix it.
Not so fast. First there is the matter of precluding this problem before you download SP3. You can use a tool that Johansson developed (located on his blog) specifically for this problem. Not only will it check to see if you have an AMD-based computer, but it will check whether the Intel driver is set to load and give you the option of disabling it. If you already know you have an AMD-based computer, you can disable the driver by running either of these commands in Command Prompt:
You should now be able to install SP3 without this problem occurring. The next section will go over what to do if you already have this problem, plus other problems that the release of SP3 was kind enough to give us.
First of all, you need to remember that this solution is for AMD-based computers only; disabling the Intel driver on Intel-based computers will prevent your computer from booting and you'll have to use the Recovery Console (more on this later) to fix it. If you have an AMD-based computer, you can stop the incessant reboots by setting an option during startup. When the black Windows XP screen comes up, hit F8. Then select “Disable automatic restart on system failure.”
You can now disable the intelppm driver after booting into one of three modes; the easiest is safe mode. To do this, hit F8 again (possibly repeatedly) in the next reboot and select “Safe Mode.” You can then follow these instructions given by Microsoft. If this doesn't suit your fancy, you can try the more difficult options of booting to a WinPE disk or into the Recovery Console. The Recovery Console is run from the XP install CD, unless it's already been added to the computer. Here is another support document regarding this handy Windows feature. All three methods are discussed in detail on Johansson's blog, so check it out.
If your AMD-based computer is experiencing problems unrelated to the intelppm driver, don't worry, you're not alone. Some users have seen a different error message during boot that says the BIOS in the system is not fully ACPI compliant. The BIOS is the basic operating system built into the computer that identifies and initiates component hardware so that various software programs can take control of the computer.
At the moment, an exact cause has not been found, but Johansson believes it to be related to a specific ASUS motherboard (A8N32-SLI Deluxe) with an AMD processor. Apparently, inserting a USB flash drive before booting will solve the problem. People using a USB mouse have also gotten the same error message and they have found that moving it to the PS/2 port via an adapter will solve that problem.
It seems like we're piling on AMD right now, but Intel PCs have had problems of their own. Go to the next section to see exactly what I'm talking about.
Johansson has a section in his blog called “Other STOP Errors” that details the possible problems that could come up when installing SP3 on Intel-based computers. The most common error code that keeps coming up is 0x00000024. Again, the exact cause has not been identified, but Johansson points to possible faulty video drivers from ATI and nVidia. It may also mean that the system driver (ntfs.sys) has been corrupted. Either way, it's a good idea to check out that section to see if he can help you identify your problem.
Another major problem still causing a ruckus because no one is willing to take the blame has to do with the fact that some users can't connect to the Internet because the update to SP3 has emptied their Device Manager. Apparently, their network cards and previously-crafted connections disappeared.
After checking the Registry, users found that there were a number of corrupted entries in sections reserved for the settings of Symantec products, including Norton Internet Security and Norton 360. Symantec has denied that their product is the cause and essentially blamed Microsoft, referring to the other problems users have encountered so far.
I'm guessing that this article has dissuaded most readers from updating to SP3, if they haven't already. If they have and are experiencing any of these problems, they're probably ready to chuck their computer out the window by now. But before you do that, you many just want to remove SP3 from your computer and revert back to SP2, assuming you can regain control of your computer, of course.
Microsoft makes that very easy with this handy-dandy support document, so you're not completely stuck. I, for one, have learned to exhibit Zen-like patience when it comes to these updates, yet not when it comes to the new Indiana Jones movie. Where's the support document for that?
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