If you’re an AMD processor users, you must have been greeted by the Blue Screen of Death, after installing Windows XP SP3 on rebooting their computer. The error begins with something like this: STOP: 0×0000007E (0xC0000005 and contains the error text SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. And after this, the computers reboots again and keeps repeating this.

Windows XP SP3 apparently copies an Intel power management driver to the computer that was not there before the installation of SP3 and that is said to be the cause for the restart bug. But thanks to HP, a fix has been given for this bug.

The following fix can only be used if you use a non-Intel processor and encounter the restart bug after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. Below are the fixes given by HP and Microsoft:

Remember: Make sure you make a quick backup of your system using System Restore. And also backup your Registry entries.

HP’s Fix For XP SP3 Restart Bug:

• Boot Computer in Safe Mode
• Use Windows Explorer to browse to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers
• Right-click intelppm.sys and rename it to XXXintelppm.syx
• Restart Windows

If the computer is unable to boot into safe mode do the following:

• Press F8 during startup and load the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console
• Type the number that corresponds to your Windows installation
• Log in as an administrator
• Type cd c:\windows\system32\drivers at the command prompt
• Type rename intelppm.sys XXXintelppm.syx
• Restart Windows

Microsoft’s Fix For XP SP3 Restart Bug:

• Boot the Computer into Safe Mode
• Press Windows R, type regedit, hit enter
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Intelppm
• right-click the Start entry in the right pane and select modify
• Enter 4 in the Value Data box
• Close regedit, restart the computer.

I hope this fixes your restart problem in Windows XP after installing to SP3.

[Via gHacks]