Windows XP Service Pack 3 Gives Boot to HP, AMD Machines

Yesterday, our own Bill Lindner reported on rumored difficulties with Microsoft's most recent update to its Windows XP operating system. According to reports, the most fiendish of these problems has affected AMD chipsets.

What Bill Lindner reported yesterday was devastating enough. According to his article, updates through Windows XP Service Pack 3 barred users from reverting back to Internet Explorer 6 from Internet Explorer 7. That has annoyed many users already, especially businesses.

Many are also reporting that those affected machines are predominantly Hewlett-Packard computers. (Source: crn.com)

This most recent news of problems related directly to AMD-based systems has raised quite a few more eyebrows. Owners of computers with AMD processors are finding their recently updated Windows XP SP3 systems launching into an endless (and endlessly frustrating) reboot cycle.

Microsoft is already passing the buck on blame. "While the root cause of this issue is complex, it results from OEMs improperly placing a Windows XP image created for an for Intel-based computer onto machines with non-Intel chipsets...Microsoft issued guidance to OEMs advising them to only load Windows XP images onto like hardware in 2004," the company recently announced in a statement. (Source: news.com)

Though they are clearly not prepared to take total responsibility for the mix-up, Microsoft is encouraging anyone encountering the issue to contact their customer support lines.

It's not the first problem Microsoft has experienced with this very SP3 update. Just before launching it late last week, the company found the Service Pack to be incompatible with its own Dynamics Retail Management System. If users had upgraded before Microsoft caught the glitch, they could have experienced data loss.

Thankfully, that problem was solved. Now, it's up to Microsoft to fix the problem for millions of AMD users. Maybe the first step is admitting they have a problem.