[aprssig] OT: Windows XP Service Pack 3

[J. Gary Bender, WS5N]

You have to look for it, but HP released a utility May 19 that is supposed to prevent the reboot problem of XP SP3 from happening.  It must be installed BEFORE installing SP3.  Go to www.hp.com Support area and look for "Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Upgrade Utility for systems with AMD processors" file  sp37394.exe (1.85M).

HP advises
"You must own an HP Pavilion, Presario or Media Center with Windows XP and an AMD processor.
You must install this update prior to applying Windows XP SP3 update."

I have not tried it yet.  Need to decide if I am willing to risk wasting a weekend on recovery if it does not work!  At least my instincts were right when MS Update asked to install SP3 in the first place.  Another reason to not let computers make their own decisions.

They also have an article on how to recover if you already have the reboot problem.  Basically you need restart in SAFE mode (keep hitting F8 during a restart) and rename
 C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\intelppm.sys to a junk name.  They suggest XXXintelppm.syx.  Reboot and the problem should have gone away.
  --  73  --
  J. Gary Bender, WS5N
  Fence Lake, New Mexico USA

On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:28:00 -0700, Stephen H. Smith wrote:
> Keith VE7GDH wrote:
>> Rusty WB4BSD wrote...
>>
>>
>>> has anyone upgraded to service pack 3 yet?
>>> and if so has anyone had any major problems?
>>> Here, this will put it back on topic: Has service pack 3 adversely
>>> affected any of the APRS programs?
>
>
> So far, the only problems I have seen widely reported in the trade
> newsletters (eWeek, InfoWorld, Windows Secrets, etc) is installing it on
> Athlon-based HP computers factory pre-loaded with an earlier version of
> XP.   Apparently HP stupidly loads the indentical standard setup onto
> machines with either Intel or AMD processors.  Some specialized driver
> for the Intel CoreDuo CPUs (totally unnecessary on the AMD-equipped
> machines but still present) screws up the SP3 upgrade install on the AMD
> machines and leads to endless reboots.   You have to escape to safe mode
> and uninstall SP3 if this happens.
>