Yippee! A solution for SP3 problems with AMD Athalon Chips! (if your computer has an Intel Chip you should be ok without this additional information. Also, this is a solution for those with HP computers, not sure it would work with other brands – check with your computer manufacturer first!)

My HP computer had this problem.
HP couldn’t solve it – Microsoft couldn’t solve it –
This solved it!

Be aware SP3 is huge & takes forever to do the upgrade – so be careful & aware!
I strongly recommend that you create a restore point before installing the SP3 upgrade!!!!

What's up with Vista SP1 and XP SP3?
I've been hearing horror stories about Microsoft's latest service packs. I have computers running both XP and Vista. Should I get Vista SP1? Do I need XP SP3? I don't even know what these updates are for! Can you help me out?

Windows updates are often shrouded in mystery. You check Windows Update. It tells you updates are available. You click Install and forget about it.
Often, we take the recommended updates without a lot of questions. But service packs are a different animal. These aren't small security patches. They're huge, and they often promise big changes to your system.
Vista SP1 delivers well over 500 updates. XP SP3 includes a whopping 1,174 updates. Those numbers look scary, but you've already got most of the updates. Service packs include every previous update for the operating system. They do not include many new updates.
This ensures you get caught up on all the important updates. But even with all those updates, you won't see a big change. These service packs do a lot of work under the hood. But they won't really affect how you interface with the computer.
Let me go over each service pack in a little more detail. I think it's important to understand what you're getting and why. I'll also go over horror stories you might have heard.
Vista SP1
As I said, SP1 has over 500 updates. I couldn't possibly cover all of them here. Nor would I want to. You would get bored very quickly. But if you're curious, a list of updates is available.
The updates fall into three categories – hardware support, usability and security. There are updates that don't fit neatly into those categories. But think of them as smoothing out Vista's rough edges.
Some users that upgraded to Vista found that some devices didn't work. SP1 helps with device compatibility. It also lays the groundwork for devices you may not own yet. Vista will better identify and support Blu-ray Disc drives. SP1 also adds support for new Windows Media Center Extenders.
SP1 fixes some issues with Vista's usability. The annoying User Account Control prompts have been reduced. The Windows Genuine Advantage kill switch is removed. Microsoft won't cripple non-genuine copies of Vista. Some users found long delays when logging on and resuming from hibernation. These wait times have been reduced.
The service pack also fixes a number of security holes. It includes every security update since the launch of Vista. It also improves some existing security features. For example, the BitLocker hard drive encryption has been strengthened.
Getting SP1
The release of Vista SP1 hasn't been blemish free. It accounts for most of the horror stories. But when you look at them, the stories aren't that horrific. There are ways to fix the most common problems.
Many people simply aren't offered SP1. This can be pretty confusing. The service pack doesn't show up in Windows Update. And there isn't much explanation.
Several things can cause this. But one accounts for a majority of people's problems. Vista SP1 conflicts with some hardware drivers. If Windows Update detects these drivers, you aren't offered SP1.
The easy fix is to update those drivers. But which drivers are we talking about? Windows Update doesn't tell you. That information is buried in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. To find it, scroll down to Resolution. Then find "Method for Cause 5."
Check for driver updates in Windows Update. These may be marked as Optional. If that doesn't resolve the problem, see the computer manufacturer's Web site. It may provide downloads for SP1 compatible drivers.
Another problem has been performance issues after installing SP1. These too can be attributed to outdated hardware drivers. But they can also be caused by software—often security software. Be sure you have the latest versions of your firewall, antivirus and anti-spyware programs.
Don't be scared away from SP1. The above problems are manageable. And for many people, the update goes off without a hitch. You may have no problems at all. We're all running SP1 here in the office. And no one had problems with the update.
XP SP3
Again, I can't cover the more than 1,000 updates in SP3. Here's a link to the very long list of updates. I can't think of a more mind-numbing read. But it's there if you'd like.
Even with so many updates, there's not much to discuss. SP3 mostly serves to bring your Windows XP up to date. It will give you any updates you've missed in the past. It creates a new baseline for all XP users.
SP3 patches new security holes. And it fixes some Windows programs and processes. But there aren't many new additions. The ones provided are important, but not very interesting. Several have to do with network security or system encryption software. None of these will affect how you use your computer.
One thing to watch for is Internet Explorer. SP3 updates IE 6 and 7.
If you have IE 7, you cannot uninstall it after applying SP3. You cannot go back to IE 6. Also, SP3 will not work with IE 8 beta. If you have IE 8 beta, uninstall it before installing SP3.
Getting SP3
There have been other problems. Some people have been unable to boot their PCs. Or they get stuck in an endless reboot cycle.
In this case, it wasn't Microsoft's fault. This is a Hewlett-Packard issue.
HP sells computers with either Intel or AMD processors. It installs the operating system using a disk image. The disk image was created on an Intel machine. It came with Intel specific drivers and registry settings.
This Intel-based disk image was installed on AMD-powered systems. There apparently were no problems until SP3 came along. After SP3 was installed, the computers tried to load the Intel drivers. Only there is no Intel processor for them to act on. The result: The computer crashes. Or, it reboots continuously.
***** HP has recently issued a fix for the problem. Download HP's Upgrade Utility before installing SP3. It should prevent booting issues.
For everyone else, it appears the SP3 update goes smoothly. You can install it through Windows Update.
Do some preparation
Neither of these updates is small. Many people install them without an issue. But they have the potential to cause problems. Be sure to protect your important files.
Before installing either service pack, back up your computer. If you don't know which files to back up, read this tip. You may also want to set up a restore point. Should the installation fail, use System Restore to rescue your computer.
More updates:
• Keep all of your programs up to date
• Updating to Vista? Learn how to transfer programs
• Updates don't fix everything. Troubleshoot older PCs

Looking for some feedback here - SATA hard drives. If you have one or two and it didn't work? Not the processor. IDE worked, EIDE worked flawlessly - cheap run of the mill machines - Emachine $250, cheapo Dell $199. Two SATA drives endless reboot - priceless :-). Feedback please?

I have had no issues with the AMD Systems I upgraded SP3 too, but they were system I built and not these "Cookie Cutter" Systems.

This reminds me when HP, Compaq and a few others all got those Motherboards just a little cheaper that year and they were a little cheaper because the manufacturers bought the the Capacitors a little cheaper that year... a lot of systems ended up rebooting over and over and over. All them "Cheaper" Capacitors on the Motherboard were Faulty and exploding!

Bottom Line: It's it cheaper, there is a reason and not always a good one!

In case you need to know, here are the boards that were affected in that (HP Recall Bulletin): http://h20000.www2.hp.co...&objectID=c00756096

(Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/4r7lsh)

Exactly the reason why I 1) don't recommend AMD based systems and 2) don't recommend HP. There's always an annoying issue with both.

Hmm... I must be the exception, having no issues with any AMD-based workstation I've ever built for myself or others.

HP, on the other hand... all signs seem to point to an oversight on their part (as well as a handful of other OEMs) as to why the hiccup occurred in the first place.

Except the issue has nothing to do with AMD - just lazy OEMs. Another reason to buy whitebox or build your OWN, IMO. If you do have to buy a Dell/HP/Junkware PC, at the very least it's worth wiping and installing the OS properly. :p

The core problem is the author of intelppm.sys doesn't first check if he is running on intel architecture. Or the MS kernel should check to see if the driver is intel proprietary b4 attempting to load. A simple if statement could have saved countless dollars and time and more importantly the environment. HP may very well scrap power saving defaults bc of some c***y programmer and MS shutting down some of the win imaging sites.

Further, MS needs to make it easier not harder to have a common image for different architectures. Spend days or weeks making a windows image every 6 months or yum groupinstall "Development Tools" while I get a cup of coffee. Proprietary software has become a waste of time.

So you bought a 486sx ? Not really AMD in their prime but they still offered cooler chips at a faster clock. While Intel was stuck at 33Mhz AMD was at 40, this followed true for the clock doubled chips. An AMD DX240 truly trounced a 486DX266. The SX chips also had a reduced cache from what I can remember, and might explain your situation. Now if you bought a Cyrix that would explain the performance. At the time they had good benchmarks but when it came to running real applications never really performed as expected, at least that's what I found.

Heh..

Got skunked by the Cyrix hype myself.

That sucked.

Been using AMD ever since and will probably switch to Intel on my next upgrade if things continue as they have.

"...This is due to the same image being used on that machine, which is actually more the manufacturer's error than it is Microsoft's.

At the heart is likely the power management system file, intelppm.sys. Some of these OEM images may be shipping with both the AMD version, amdk8.sys, alongside the Intel file -- which Microsoft says is an unsupported configuration.

Some users experienced similar problems when SP2 was released, so this could be the problem. If the user sees a stop error code of 0x0000007e, this first issue is likely the reason why the computer does not boot properly."

Ahhh... AMD ...brings back nightmares of the 1st pc that I had in the mid to late 90's. It was an Acer and used an AMD chip. What I wasn't informed of is that AMD chips at that time were not incorporating a "Floating Point "which made playing some games impossible which I did at that time.

Well so much for a trip down memory land and AMD. As this article states, despite the sensational headline is quoted above and clearly shows that the problem is twofold and is both a problem created by Manufacturers and AMD. This time it is not MS’s fault and they clearly state that some parts of the AMD chipset are not supported but, other than HP, the machines with this problem are Asian in origin. Even Gateway which is owned by Acer which is based in Taiwan might have problems.

At the end of the day, not every problem is MS's fault just like not every problem that comes up with Apple is theirs. When you look at an OS, everyone needs to keep in mind that this is an interactive process between the OS and the Hardware and if the Hardware doesn't meet the specifications of the OS than the Problem lies with the Manufacturers and Chip maker.

Just my view and everyone else is entitled to theirs.

Have a nice day:)

Oh.. I am not up to speed on some lingo used so I'll ask what might be a silly question to some, What does "WASTC!" mean?

...and you are surprised that Microsux can't do anything correctly because?

WASTC!

*laughs*

All the real trolls have already been and gone, man. You're slipping...

Looks like a trend with Microborg. Odd number service packs are bad and even numbered service packs work. If memory serves NT4 service packs were like this. I know XP SP2 was no angel but all (well most) of the major issues wre taken care of before it was released.
I think I may wait for SP3a to come out. L.O.L.

This happened to me also on an Intel machine. So its not just AMD.

No-one said the *only* issue with SP3 was HP and Asus mainboards. The article simply points out one of the *major* causes of problems.

There are other issues, as you have found, but most are relegated to less than 1% of those upgrading.

The HP issue, while also small in number, is still huge compared to the rest.

My pirated(lol) copy of XP SP3 works ok with my AMD 3800..........

haha ... wow, good one ...

I forgot to mention my machine is a HP & the only problem I've had is the upgrade to Windows media player 11. It made the windows movie maker very unstable & making a movie took forever to finish & then it wasn't playable. The error kept the movie maker in running tasks after closing it. Uninstalling the media player 11 and the windows media 11 runtime took care of that situation. Hasn't the media player 11 been out long enough to have the bugs worked out yet? LOL.

I have had no problem with the installation of SP3 on and AMD 64 x2 3800. Asus MB too.

Got nothing to do with the type of AMD processor. :)

I was just posting to post... It's been about 2 years. :-)

How's it going BTW?

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1198/

Gotta love that one. That last panel really needs a "..." though. ;)

Not going bad at all. Looking at buying a new house, market for buying right now is *awe* inspiring. Prices dropping like lead-weights. Good times.

....might make it a bit harder to sell the current one though. :p

Which Asus mobo is it? So far, all I've heard even *remotely* conclusively is the A8N series (and then really only the SLI deluxe part).

The double-whammy on HP has got to suck. They've been shipping a lot of systems with the A8N OEM part for a while now. If it goes beyond just the SLI Deluxe part, heh.... Major suckage.

Asus A8N-SLI ACPI BIOS REVISION 1012

09/27/2005-NF-CK804-A8NSLI-B-00

Its not an HP. I don't use the SLI either, as one GT 7900 works well enough for what I do.

BTW good luck in selling your old house. I hope you enjoy your new one.

Cool. Might be an issue with the deluxe mobo only, then.

Regarding luck, well... here's hoping. ;)

I wonder what's behind. Hardware incompatibilities may be a cheap and easy way to get rid of XP and promote Vista (a good business for Microsoft) and increase the sales of new computers (a good business for hardware providers). No ads needed.

Yeah...it's a conspiracy (But they only want the folks with HP systems to upgrade to Vista....)

Hmmm...the tinfoil. Not a good look for ya.

Maybe, or maybe not. I never mentioned the word conspiracy: it is not a moral or legality matter. Business is business, and in business language the correct word for this is "sales strategy".

Collusion between hardware and software vendors implies a conspiracy, no matter how yo slice it. :)

This "sales strategy" implies MSFT and the hardware vendors are working in tandem towards a singular goal. This would be considered collusion and would be completely illegal in most countries. :)

IMO such a tandem never existed and does not exist at all. Each enterprise has its own sales strategies and takes benefit from occasional external circumstances, and that is totally legal everywhere in the world.

Well this explains why alot of machines cant get the upgrade done successfully, now doesnt it?

Basically this article says and means "If you have a PC with an Intel or AMD prcoessor chip, dont install SP3 yet."

Yeah... that's it. That's it exactly.

*sigh*

Basically this article says and means "If you have a PC with an Intel or AMD prcoessor chip, dont install SP3 yet."

Only if you read the imaginary article. If you read the *actual* article, well...then you'd have a clue and you wouldn't be nearly as much fun to harass for being grossly misinformed.

Exactly where did you not learn to read?

Once again Microsoft vomits its now daily FUBAR, and once again, toolie scrambles to explain to every single poster why they're idiots. Toolie, give it up, Microsoft will never hire you. Not even they believe your ever-changing excuses. You're beginning to sound like obama and his reverend.

We need an entire forum for Microsoft's screwups. How'd that Yahoo acquisition work out for ya!

Once again, Zaine jumps on the MSFT-bashing bandwagon (surprise, surprise). Having nothing useful to add to the discussion, he immediately descends to personal attacks.

As usual, and at a complete loss for anything intelligent or worthwhile to say, you do the only thing you know how and attack me. Yer in a rut there, kiddo.

*shrug*

I'm just so surprised you didn't link to the little shrine you built me. Always makes my day a little brighter.

Crawl back into your basement, ya useless meatbag. We've got enough trolls here already. I'll call yer mum and let her know if we need ya. I'm sure she'll holler down to ya.

These problems that Microsoft has pales in comparison to what people have been experiencing with upgrading from Ubuntu 7 to 8. At least Microsoft has a solution besides wipe and reinstall.
I am hoping my Fedora core 9 upgrade won't be as painful.

Yeah....but isn't Linux inherently so much more secure???

http://it.slashdot.org/a...13/1533212&from=rss

/sarcasm

Yup. Nothing is perfect. Makes people like Zridling incredibly fun to play with, with their "opinion submitted as fact" remarks.

and here most normal users think a wipe and reinstall is the only cure for any windows ailment.

And here thought I was the only one having this screwy louie problem from MS again; AMD here think I will stay with SP2 works just fine.

No problems on my AMD machine. In fact it's running much better with the SP-3

I'm sorry but why is Windows better than a Mac again? LOL.

Because Windows users aren't anywhere near as annoying and stupid as Mac people. (not singling out anyone in particular here)

It should be noted that Apple doesn't even TRY to get their OS to run on all PCs. The more hardware platforms you have to support, the more problems you are inevitably going to have, it's a fact of life. Windows is overall not too bad in that regard, and these problems listed affect only a small percentage of users.

Also, the main reason Windows is still a better choice is because everyone writes software for Windows, and relatively few for Mac. Once we see good Windows API implementations in Mac and Linux (Wine is doing a good job so far) and people realize they can switch to a more stable OS and take their favorite programs with them I think we will see people start to migrate, then we will see more native Linux and Mac apps, and then we get a snowball effect.

and these problems listed affect only a small percentage of users.

Oh man...there ya go trying to add some perspective to the discussion. That'll go over well...

If you're a Windows user, I'd say you just disproved your statement.

umm because their OS supports an almost infinite number of hardware combinations instead of locking users down to the hardware they control and overprice.

And by what twisted logic did you arrive at that conclusion? Please explain.

my pirated copy of XP seems to be working without a hitch if not, a tad faster than before.
(athlon 64 3000+ cpu)

HA HA.... coño see AMD FAILS!

Hmm...

Works fine for me. Perhaps your problem is more...user related?

No problem on old Pentium III machine; gobbled
600MB, but machine runs better now.

Meanwhile, my Vista machines work perfectly. Sorry, I know I sound like a fanboy but it has to be said and who else would get the flame war going if I didn't?

Dingo is laying low these days on the MS threads and someone has to be the catalyst.

I hate to break it to you Hollywood, but you ARE a fanboy. But that's ok, we love you anyway.

I STILL don't understand how/why you've come to hate XP so much yet love Vista. Personally, I love them both! I have a single machine and some VM installs of XP all running perfectly with loads of stuff installed. I'm working on getting a Mac now but I'd hurt myself if I paid the prices Apple is asking for one so I'm lurking on ebay.

"I STILL don't understand how/why you've come to hate XP so much yet love Vista. Personally, I love them both!"

That's a first...someone that loves both Vista and XP. Most seem to have the same opinion as Hollywood__ or the opposite. Myself...I hate em both. I must be in the minority.

I like XP, and I think Vista is flawed due to its driver issues that continue to this day, so I give it a 5/10. I don't hate Vista or think it's a terribleOS, I just think it is still immature and needs another year.

That's pretty much it. Vista is just a prettier XP that hasn't matured yet. It's slower, clunkier and has a few bugs - that's pretty much standard for any Windows release. It'll get there eventually though.

I love them both as well, finding myself equally productive on both OSes. I gave Vista almost a solid year before relying on it exclusively, but I have no regrets.

The only driver-related issues I ever had with Vista was with the 64-bit version, by the way.

PC_Tool-

Newsflash, you're a jerk! ;)

I really don't think all of these posters came on here to get your sarcastic insight. Reading comprehension problems or not, why do you feel the need to point it out? You are the reason IT people get a bad reputation, mmmmmkay? Take your own advice and let the grown ups handle this discussion. Go find another house to haunt.

Does he not have a point? I know the Tooley needs no defense but people come on here blasting THE WRONG COMPANY, over and over again. What they need to do is READ the article first and THEN comment. Not the title or the first paragraph (mind you, this fact is stated in the second and third paragraphs, so they didn't even have to read that long).

The sarcasm and hint of meanness are the perfect literary spices to encourage people (who DON'T read the article), to hopefully...read the article.

*laughing*

Troll somewhere else, boyo.

I help the folks who ask for help, I provide information where it's been left out, and I harass the stupid little trolls (this topic being a prime example of all three, if you cared to read instead of troll) because it's fun and all they are good for.

As for the "reading comprehension" bit? It's not. The article spelled it out in plain English and my comment at the bottom filled in the blanks. If they cannot be bothered to read the article, they shouldn't be posting about it, hmmm?

...and if they do? Well, they asked for it.

Heh...

Literary spices...

I'll have to remember that one. ;)

It's supposedly only happening on HP/Compaq machines with non Intel chips.

and they didn't catch it or is it they decided to release anyway? Shoddy testing!

HP/Compaq used the Intel image at manufacture for all chipsets to save money and time. So when SP3 is installed it tries to turn on this Intel driver which causes the computer to crash when it does the mid install reboot. It's technically not a Microsoft issue. In the long run, they aren't responsible to create a fix. Unless they make a specific file for HP/Compaq non Intel users that first disables the driver before it installs the Service Pack. That would be more out of the goodness of Microsoft's heart.

The problem is not the fault of anything that MS did. Companies like HP used an OS image that had an intel dll on it instead of an AMD. That is the cause of the problem.

Don't try to blame MS for this its the computer makes that screwed up.

*yawn*

Neither of you can read?

How cute. Why don't you go back to school and let the grown-ups discuss this, mmmmkay?

ummm, yea and it is clearly spelled out that HP/Compaq are at fault for the problem. Things like this are the reason I haven't bought HP garbage in years.

these issues should have surfaced, been recorded and the problem solved prior to release. Any decent beta test sould have revealed processor issues. Surprised that all these issues were not resolved prior to release. especially after all these years of waiting.

Poor planning and performance. incomplete testing, gee who would have thought micrcrap releasing junk on the public. Oh, sorry that is their policy. znever mind.

It's not processor issues. Read much?

It's an issue with a motherboard BIOS and the way HP imaged their systems.

HP imaged their AMD systems with the Intel power management system file (as stated in the article above). The processor isn't the issue. The install/image is the issue.

This issue will *never* pop up on a normal install of XP, or an any situation where XP was properly installed.

Nice troll, though.

I was having this issue with my HP (AMD) last week. I went on the forums and a person had posted the following directions. Everything worked perfectly. Thank you bcastner.

For those in a reboot loop, where only Safe Mode is possible:

This issue is for the same reason that it happened under XP Service Pack 2 -- your OEM installed a Service driver that should not be on an AMD processor based machine.

See:
You receive a “Stop 0x0000007E” error message after you upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 2 on a non-Intel-processor-based computer
»support.microsoft.com/kb/888372

Workaround -- for Non-Intel processor based computers ONLY

Download the full SP3 install program, but do not install.

1. Enter Safe Mode.
2. Click Start, click Run, and enter this single word into the command bar that opens: CMD
3. In the black box that opens, type (carefully):

sc config intelppm start= disabled
(Note: there is a space after the "=" symbol)
exit

Stop at this Point -- Reboot and try Normal mode. If that works, (and it very likely will), do nothing else further to remedy the issue. Be sure to try a reboot to Normal mode several times.

Once done, enter safe mode without networking and install SP3. Then reboot normally. It worked!

Interesting...

This article is unusually full of helpful people today.

Well done, Sir.

Just another...and another...show of not testing before releasing their junk..

*laughs*

I'm sure they'll be more than happy to let you show them how it's done.

quote from http://www.theregister.c...dows_xp_sp3_reboots_amd/

El Reg reader Gary has suggested that the problem is in fact caused by Microsoft failing to provide the adequate amount of updates in its automatic version of the final service pack for XP.

"I have found that the problem does NOT exist if one downloads the 554MB .ISO file and then burns the .ISO to a CD,” he said. “Following that, installation of Windows XP SP3 has no problems EVEN ON AMD PROCESSOR based machines. If one uses the online update to Windows XP SP3 or the 316MB installation file then problems will arise."

Interesting.
I'd like to know if anyone else can cure it using this solution.

Definitely. Fill us in if you hear more. :)

I had no trouble installing the 316 MB SP-3 downloaded from the MSDN website about two weeks ago. Nothing going crazy with my AMD processor or motherboard either. Works just fine on a VLK copy of Windows XP too...

The comple 554 MB Windows XP-SP-3 VLK bootable CD is on the shelf until I have to install it from scratch again. Gonna a bigger 500 GB hard drive in the Summer; so it will be handy then...

I switched to the VLK CD because it is bootable without needing those 6 floppies any more...

Yep My AMD-4000 computer reboot after reboot. I had to do a restore. My machine isn't the same after the restore. Some times my machine won't read the raid controller. Also much slower.

By AMD-4000 I assume you are referring to the CPU model?

What's the PC model? OEM default image, or a hand-loaded installation of XP?

My XP amd-6000 is just fine with my install.

Yeah, CPU model, I believe, has *nothing* to do with it. It's an HP thing and an Asus Mobo thing.

I've had neither issue with SP3. I installed it on top of my SP2 system. I also am running an AMD laptop, albeit the older Mobile Athlon series chips.

I do find that since the update my laptop becomes unresponsive after waking from Standby or Hibernate, which results in me forcing a reboot of the system. This appears to be intermittant. I have yet to pinpoint the process thats causing it though.

Thats my only issue. Otherwise laptop runs the same as before the uppate.

I got two runtime errors: 203 at 636E3EF5 and 203 AT 5A003CD1. for over an hour and finally had to reboot. seems to run ok but I don't know if things are ok

Main apps that tend to fail on a hinky install of SP3 are defrag and Windows Update.

Give both a go and that should give you something to go on.

The first one is usually a driver issue, the second seems to be something that folks ran into with SP2 that usually required a reformat/reinstall.

Did you install this on a clean system? Was SP2 already installed?

I experience total windows failure where the bootup would lockup on mup.sys. Wasn't even able to get into safemode. Only option was to do a repair with the SP2 CD.

SP3 is a major screwup. Didn't they beta test??

Dave

Stop and think for just a moment.
I know it's really frustrating when a service pack doesn't work properly, but just think about how many different configurations of computers there are out there. It's just not feasible to test on all the configurations and yes, it is likely to go wrong somewhere along the line.

300+ machines, I tested on several hardware and software configurations during beta, and we still had issues. One of the issues appears to be software from Workshare corporation has dependencies on XP SP2 and Server pre-SP2.

Otherwise, we're fine. The issue is minor and can be worked around. We notice a definite improvement in the shell overall.

*laughs*

THIS JUST IN:

SP3 not working on _Infrerno_'s system! Dubbed complete failure!

*yawn*

Apparently the world revolves around him....

Ahh remember the good ole days when everyone's copy of Windows was the same and you actually got a OS disk not some preconfigured image with a bunch of stuff you don't need or want.

You can still have those days...

This is mostly an HP problem, although other OEM's may have done this as well. HP likes to put everything on their image, regardless of whether it is used or not, "just in case" it is used. This makes it easier when switching from ATI to NVIDIA, AMD to Intel, etc., but this causes huge incompatability problems.

It is stupid for them to use both AMD and Intel files on each image. This is not standard practice at all. It was only a matter of time before they caused problems like this. I've already seen their issues with ATI and NVIDIA driver combinations not playing nice.

As to the second form of the problem, I can only say that I've installed SP3 on Socket A (just one), 939, AM2 and 754 systems, with 32-bit and 64-bit processors, and have not had any problems.

The OEM in question is HP. They used the Intel image on all of their systems, so any HP with the default system image and an AMD processor is likely to have this issue. I believe they stopped doing this some time ago, but have no idea when exactly.

The second one seems to affect the ASUS A8NSLI-Deluxe mainboards and will hit a *lot* of enthusiasts.

I have 2 HPs (a lappy and a desktop) that had no issues, but they did not have the default system image from HP on them at the time. As far as I can tell, it does *not* affect any HP that has been reloaded with anything other than the default "restore" image. (if you've reloaded XP without using their restore, you should be fine)

What I find amusing about this is that HP has been using an OEM version of the A8N line of mainboards. Hopefully, the other issue does not extend to *all* A8N mainboards...

The second one seems to affect the ASUS A8NSLI-Deluxe mainboards and will hit a *lot* of enthusiasts.

Ahh...that explains why I haven't seen that problem here at work. Nobody here uses that board.

Also the Asus M2N series of boards has issues.

Dave

Blimey!
A +2 score!

I've installed SP3 4 days ago in a M2N-SLI board with a Athlon 5200+ and I don't have any issue.

Reeeealy?

My system has the Asus M2NPV-VM. No issues.

Clean install of XP, though, so that may have helped....

Yeah, wth?

Next time I must remember to throw in some vulgarity along with a comment or two about El Dingo's Mom. :p

Unfortunately, I cannot attest to that. I have an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, but have been using Vista Ultimate exclusively for quite some time. I'm thinking of reinstalling XP Professional on a different drive just to test that theory, though.

As lazy as I am, this issue will have long been resolved by the time I actually get around to doing that. :)

Heh...

Got the model from an Ars technica article/comments, so YMMV.

I wouldn't waste the time testing it just to watch it go kablooey...unless you're into that sort of thing. ;)

Eh, I seriously doubt I would have actually done it anyway. Windows XP Professional runs just fine in a 440BX-based VM. :)