After releasing the Service Pack 3, forums were stormed with the posts about Windows XP not booting. Many users experienced continuous reboots, some immediate crashes, and some Blue Screen of Deaths (BSOD). But there are basically just a few issues that caused all these unpleasant surprises. In this article we will go one by one and see how we can correct the errors.
This is rather a precaution than a solution. If your computer is infected with malware then installing SP3 will make it worse. I suggest you to scan your computer for infection before attempting to install Service Pack 3 and make sure that it does not have any malware.
Windows Service Packs alter critical system files, which anti-malware programs hate to see. Many users experienced broken/erroneous installations because they left their antivirus program running during the update. Before installing any Service Pack, make sure that you have closed your antivirus/firewall program and disabled it from the system tray (right click on the program icon and select Quit, Close, or Exit).
Most of the continuous boot cycles are experienced by the users who are using HP computers with AMD processors. I believe this is a mistake by the manufacturer who deployed Intel images on AMD computers, because they are basically the same. But there is one critical file, which puts the system in a continuous boot cycle: intelppm.sys.
Intelppm.sys is responsible for power management on Intel computers. In AMD part, amdk8.sys does the same job. When the registry points to the intelppm.sys but could not find it in place, it goes to reboot and during the boot it cannot find the file -again- and it boots again. Users also experienced crashes or freezes before the computer goes for a reboot.
To manage this issue, we need to get to the safe mode at least. There are three possible ways to do this (or their combination:)
- Repeatedly press F7 or F8 during boot to open the Windows Advanced Options menu. Select “Disable automatic start on system failure”
- Plug a USB thumb drive to your USB port before boot
- Change your mouse from PS2 to USB and then back to PS2
Items 2 and 3 sound strange but may let you solve the problem (empirical findings by the users).
Read on for solutions to continuous boots, Stop: C0000139 Error Message and our Bright Hub tip.