On 9 May 2008 at 8:14, David W. McSpadden wrote:
> Had a couple family members call last night about SP3 killing their
> machines. They use Windows Updates nightly and when they rebooted their
> machine it wouldn't come up. After many SafeMode boots I called TechSupport
> and they told me there is an issue with the WindowsUpdate version of SP3 and
> to have it blocked from being downloaded on any other machine until it is
> resolved. They seemed to know all about it because they stepped me through
> the correct SafeMode fix for it.
>
> Didn't know what anybody else knew.
For those who want to hold off for a while, this blocking tool from Microsoft
works well:
Download details: Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D7C9A07A-5267-
4BD6-87D0-E2A72099EDB7
or here if the above wraps unusably: http://preview.tinyurl.com/4t3lql
It contains a batch-file, an executable program, and an ADM template.
I saw an interesting write-up on problems with SP3 and AMD-processor machines
with OEM install images here:
Windows XP Service Pack 3 endless reboots
Posted by woody on 08 May 2008 - 17:47:16 Windows Patches/Security
Do you have an HP computer with an AMD processor?
If so, and you have Windows XP's Automatic Updates turned on, you may be
in for an unpleasant surprise.
Long-time Microsoft observer and MVP Jesper Johansson got bit:
"Last night WSUS deployed XP Service Pack 3 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.
It 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. HP, apparently along other OEMs, deploy the
same image to Intel-based computers that they do to AMD-based
computers. That means they 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.
Ordinarily, having intelppm.sys running appears to cause no problems.
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. It will boot
into safe mode because the drivers are disabled there. ....
http://www.askwoody.com/newscomments.php?newsid=2087
I checked and my Lenovo running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 does NOT have amdk8.sys, it
has the intelppm.sys driver. I have NOT applied SP3 to this box, but on my
lone SP3 test box, which has a Celeron processor, SP3 applied fine.
--
Angus Scott-Fleming
GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona
1-520-290-5038
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