Naturally Windows XP users have been wanting to upgrade to the latest and greatest Service Pack 3, but it seems as though some users are getting an unexpected surprise. If you have a desktop by HP/Compaq with an AMD processor you may find that your computer shows a blue screen of death (BSoD) when starting up. And to top it all off it won’t stop rebooting.
The problem is that HP ships both AMD and Intel desktop computers with the same operating system image. AMD and Intel processors use different drivers for power management: Intel uses intelppm.sys and AMD uses amdk8.sys. Up until XP SP3 this hasn’t been a problem, but for whatever reason after installing the Service Pack all hell breaks loose on any AMD desktop machine that has the Intel power management driver running. Upon booting up the computer you’ll receive this error message:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xFC5CCAF3, 0xFC90F8C0, 0xFC90F5C0
SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
After the error message is briefly shown the computer will restart. This cycle continues until you turn off the computer, and you’ll end up having to bootup into Safe Mode to temporarily get around the issue.
How do you correct the problem? HP has posted a workaround which primarily consists of disabling the Intel power management driver. Here’s a quick overview on what you have to do:
- Boot into Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key when starting your PC
- In Windows Explorer navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers, and locate the intelppm.sys file
- Rename the file to something else, such as XXXintelppm.syx
- Reboot the PC
If you’re about to install XP SP3 on your HP computer (with the OEM operating system) then you might want to be proactive and follow these steps. It can save you a lot of headaches down the road. 
It’s unfortunate that you have to go through all of this to get XP SP3 successfully installed, and I’m left wondering who’s to blame for this. Is it Microsoft’s fault for changing something that causes the error, or is it HP who was apparently too lazy to create separate OS images for AMD and Intel based machines?
Thanks for the tip Omar!
This is one of the (many) reasons I won’t be upgrading to SP3 for at least another 1/2 year. I’m fine with SP2 and I don’t need all these problems on my computer.
I had this issue with my puter, after numerous attempts with no luck I finally did a clean reinstall of the os. Still no joy. Then I found the workaround. I will now wait for ms or hp to fix sp3 so it installs on my puter with no workaround. I read earlier today that should be sometime next week. If I find the link again I will post it.
Thanks for the tip! I had not installed SP3 yet, almost did last week, but was too lazy. I would have been soooo unhappy.
Makes me glad I have Windows Vista on my HP Desktop with an AMD processor.
Sounds to me like it is most certainly HP’s fault. Using an OS image created on an Intel machine to install on their AMD based machines is ridiculous. Don’t they know they use different drivers, or are they just that lazy and cheap?
I couldn’t agree more; HP is definitely to blame. From Microsoft’s standpoint, there is a finite number of systems they can test the release against. They can’t take the blame for an OEM installing the wrong drivers.
According to a post on the TechNet forums this was also a problem when SP2 came out. Which they provided a registry fix for soon after. But then decided to remove that switch for SP3 [forums.microsoft.com]
I recently bought three XP machines for work that all had XP SP2 on them when I took them out of the box. I went to upgrade to SP3 and I received the same problem, although the computer rebooted so quickly, I never had a chance to see what the BSOD said. I called the manufacturer, and the tech support said to find the intelppm registry key then change the value from a 0 to a 4. Once I did that in safe mode and rebooted, I never had any further problems. All of the computers that I bought were Systemax AMD computers from Tiger Direct, so I would not blame it on HP so quickly.
AS shown per previous comment on May 17th, I gave info and solution, as per Mr. Johannson, on the “workaround” for this SP3 problem BEFORE HP did.
I haven’t really seen anything that makes the upgrade seem like a must-have either, so I think you’re smart for waiting.
That’s pretty interesting… I had no idea that this Service Pack would break so many things. It seemed like it would be a minor upgrade, but obviously a lot of things have changed under-the-hood.
I was kinda of leaning towards putting the blame on HP as well. This is definitely something that should have never been an issue.
I know XP SP2 had quite a few compatibility issues because of all the security additions it put in place. Too bad they weren’t able to correct it before the launch of SP3.
HP is definitely one of the biggest culprits though. Of course other manufacturers might be partaking in a similar practice, but none of them are probably distributing the volume of computers that HP is.
It’s nice that someone managed to figure out the solution. I wonder if HP figured it out because of him?
I have the same problem but it is not on an
AMD it is on an intel cpu Alienware. I cant read the BSOD as it goes by too fast then reboots.. continuallly. Any help?
Had that same issue when I had installed that Zone Alarm Forcefield on my Vista machine. Windows would start throw a BSOD then reboot and repeat.
worked perfect for me, thanks man
worked perfect for me, thanks man
Ryan,
Thank you – work perfect for me.
I have an Hp media center that is 5 years old and upgraded to SP3 and did not have any problems with a blue screen at all
I had to rebuild a customer’s HP Pavillion. The minute I installed SP3 – Blue Screen. Many thanks for posting this solution, it worked like a charm.
The fix worked for my Compaq Presario SR1910NX
system that was just loaded with SP3 and blue screened.
Thanks