Member Avatar for Smorash

I recently decided to DL SP3 for my desktop. Not my shining moment, so here I am..

Im running an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe mobo, AMD Athlon 4400+ processor on a system I built for myself a while back. Everything was great until I installed the above.

I am stuck in a continuous boot cycle, as the default XP setting is to restart upon crashing. When windows starts up, it goes into the startup options menu like it would if I was to hit the f8 key. It does not register my keyboard (G15, usb connection) - I dug up an old keyboard with a PS/2 connection and still no good. After the 30 seconds it starts up windows normally, just to crash after a brief flash of the blue screen..then repeat the cycle.

Being as how I can't arrow up to start in safe mode/get to recovery mode, I can not disable the "intelppm driver" which should, in theory, fix my problem.

Any suggestions?

Note: I have also tried the USB flash drive/secondary storage trick. I also have a copy of windows 7, but to put it on the same HD will erase my nearly full 750GB. I also have a new HD still in the box, but I want the contents of my current HD, so erasing/tossing it out is not in the equation.

Thank you very much in advance for any assistance!

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Short, practical addendum for future readers and to clarify gaps in the thread. This incident is a well-known, data-first scenario: after SP3 was applied some systems enter a boot loop because a CPU power‑management driver ends up loading incorrectly. ’s final solution—installing Windows 7 to a second disk and copying needed files—is a safe, pragmatic recovery. ’s repair-install suggestion is the standard way to remove a problematic service when the original XP media is available; ’s Microsoft pointer and ’s BIOS/cabling checks are also sensible first steps for anyone troubleshooting boots and keyboard detection.

Concrete, non-destructive recovery options that avoid wiping the original drive:

  • Use a Windows 7 DVD, WinPE or comparable repair environment to get a Command Prompt and rename the suspect driver so it cannot load. Example (drive letter may differ in the repair shell):
D:
cd \Windows\System32\drivers
ren intelppm.sys intelppm.sys.bak
  • If a command-prompt rename is not desirable, perform an offline registry change from the same repair environment: run regedit, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, use File → Load Hive and open C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM (give it a temporary name), then navigate to the ControlSet listed under that hive’s Select\Current and set the service Start value for the CPU power-management service to 4 (disabled). Unload the hive and reboot.

Alternate data-recovery routes: attach the problem drive to a working PC via SATA or a USB‑to‑SATA adapter; boot a Linux live USB and copy files off; or create a sector image before making changes if the disk shows errors. Check BIOS boot order and enable “USB Legacy” or use a PS/2 keyboard if F8 won’t register. These approaches preserve user data without needing the original XP CD and are less disruptive than a full format.

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Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
First up, do a repair install with you XP OS Cd and that will get rid of SP3 and all updates since your OS Cd was made. That should get your PC running again.
You can install Windows 7 to the new HD and then, with your old drive as the slave, copy any information you wanted across to your new drive then format your old drive.
You can get to the recovery console from your OS CD.
You have several ways you can go, you pick which one you want.
If you need help to do any of the options outlined, search the net for instructions.

Member Avatar for Smorash

Damn, i knew i would of forgotten something!

I am in the military, most of my computer stuff is back home in storage. I was hoping for a "quick fix" - or at least quicker than getting a friend to find my XP OS disks in a storage unit. Looks like I'll be waiting for some snail mail!

Thanks for your response, Bob

Member Avatar for jbennet

Look here:

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi jbennet,
On that site they offer two methods. First method requires to start in safe mode, the poster can not. The second uses the OS Cd to boot the PC, the poster does not have with him.
Hi Smorash,
I said the first and third option was to use your OS CD. The second was to install Windows 7 to your new drive, no need for your CD. Just your Windows DVD and the hard drive.

Member Avatar for Jupiter 2

I'm not an expert like mister Bob so ignore my answer if it does not apply. I'm only a Junior Poster and still learning.

Check inside to see if the CD Drive is on the secondary cable and not the primary cable. Set the HDD to Primary Master (and the pin is set to PRI Position) and the Cd Drive to Secondary Master ( and pin is set to PRI position). Boot options for CD as first option and hdd as second option.

Check Bios to see if the system date is current or out of date. Change it to the current date if it is at the default date eg- 01/01/1900 Save and exit.

Some problems may occur if your bios battery is flat and the date is at the default setting. Also, if the primary drive is not the hdd as some "experts" set their primary hdd to secondary slave, sp3 will not be able to see the primary drive or the options will not be available to boot (F8)

Member Avatar for Smorash

Thanks everyone (Bob), this is solved.

Just put 7 on the new HD, cherry picked the the files i wanted and deleted the ones i didnt need from the old HD.

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