HP is working with Microsoft to fix problems people are having with Windows XP SP3. It seems that AMD based PCs are stuck endless rebooting because, after the update is applied, these PCs look for an Intel drive at boot up (which isn't there) causing the endless boot cycle.

The reboot problems with certain HP desktops and SP3 began appearing after Microsoft posted the service pack on its Web site earlier in May. The issues have been discussed in detail, especially on blogs such as the one maintained by Jesper Johansson, a former Microsoft employee, who noticed the problem and has been issuing a series of solutions for the reboot problem since May 8. In a May 15 e-mail, an HP spokesperson wrote that HP is working with Microsoft to issue a new patch that will fix the problems for customers with certain AMD-based PCs.

The main problem, as Johansson and others see it, happened because HP, and possibly other OEMs, used the same images for AMD-based PCs that were used with Intel-based hardware. The result for customers with those AMD machines when the SP3 service pack was applied turned out to be a number of problems, including endless rebooting.