Windows XP SP3 causing endless reboots for some PCs

Installing Windows
XP Service Pack 3 sends some PCs into an endless series of reboots, according
to posts to a Microsoft
support forum.

Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft
and a prominent Windows blogger, has worked with users to tentatively identify
the problem as involving only machines using processors from Advanced
Micro Devices.

Messages from frustrated users began accumulating on the XP SP3 support newsgroup
Wednesday, just a day after Microsoft released
the update to the general public.

"I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and
when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to load the Windows,"
said a user labeled as "Olin" in a message that kicked off a long
thread. "It just displays the flash screen of Windows then after it
reboots again."

Most users who left messages on the forum said that they were unable to boot
into Windows Safe mode -- a last-ditch way to sidestep the normal boot process
for troubleshooting purposes -- or revert to a previously saved System Restore
point.

Some were understandably upset. "Way to go, Microsoft, releasing the pile
of dung called SP3 that hoses your system so bad even Safe Mode isn't working!"
said a user identified as Mike Voss. "Props to your QA guys, they certainly
have done their job."

Johansson, who watched one of his PCs repeatedly reboot after installing XP
SP3, traded accounts with several other users on the newsgroup, and summarized
the results on his blog.

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