agp440.sys and XP SP2 crisis

[Mitchell Regenbogen]

I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2 sticking upon loading
agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's fine with me, although a time
will come I'm sure when Microsoft will support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus
P3B-F motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video card, not the newest of
technology but a solid reliable combination. I have read hundreds of complaints about this
agp440.sys/SP2 problem, on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2. Microsoft's "solution" to disable
the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA driver that does not allow any
other video drivers to be installed. Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the
problem to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
--

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Have a look at these two articles:

"Installation of Service Pack 2 on PCs with Prescott, Celeron D and Extreme
Edition CPUs"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;555185

http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7447

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Problems When Windows XP Tries to Load the Agp440.sys Service
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764&Product=winxp

1. Uninstall your current video adapter driver.
2. Reboot and Windows XP will install a generic video adapter driver.
3. Install SP2.
4. Afterward, visit www.ati.com and download/install the latest
ATI drivers for your specific ATI video card.

Note: The other day, I installed SP2 on a system with a 500MHz CPU,
and an ATI Radeon 7500 series video card. No issues to report.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2 sticking upon loading
| agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's fine with me, although a time
| will come I'm sure when Microsoft will support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus
| P3B-F motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video card, not the newest of
| technology but a solid reliable combination. I have read hundreds of complaints about this
| agp440.sys/SP2 problem, on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
| problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2. Microsoft's "solution" to disable
| the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA driver that does not allow any
| other video drivers to be installed. Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the
| problem to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
| --
| -----------------------------------------------------
| Mitchell Regenbogen, Brooklyn, New York, (e-mail address removed)
| -----------------------------------------------------
| "Knowledge is Good."
| -----------------------------------------------------

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Problems When Windows XP Tries to Load the Agp440.sys Service
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764&Product=winxp

1. Uninstall your current video adapter driver.
2. Reboot and Windows XP will install a generic video adapter driver.
3. Install SP2.
4. Afterward, visit www.ati.com and download/install the latest
ATI drivers for your specific ATI video card.

Note: The other day, I installed SP2 on a system with a 500MHz CPU,
and an ATI Radeon 7500 series video card. No issues to report.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2 sticking upon loading
| agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's fine with me, although a time
| will come I'm sure when Microsoft will support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus
| P3B-F motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video card, not the newest of
| technology but a solid reliable combination. I have read hundreds of complaints about this
| agp440.sys/SP2 problem, on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
| problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2. Microsoft's "solution" to disable
| the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA driver that does not allow any
| other video drivers to be installed. Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the
| problem to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
| --
| -----------------------------------------------------
| Mitchell Regenbogen, Brooklyn, New York, (e-mail address removed)
| -----------------------------------------------------
| "Knowledge is Good."
| -----------------------------------------------------

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Problems When Windows XP Tries to Load the Agp440.sys Service
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324764&Product=winxp

1. Uninstall your current video adapter driver.
2. Reboot and Windows XP will install a generic video adapter driver.
3. Install SP2.
4. Afterward, visit www.ati.com and download/install the latest
ATI drivers for your specific ATI video card.

Note: The other day, I installed SP2 on a system with a 500MHz CPU,
and an ATI Radeon 7500 series video card. No issues to report.
--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2 sticking upon loading
| agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's fine with me, although a time
| will come I'm sure when Microsoft will support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus
| P3B-F motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video card, not the newest of
| technology but a solid reliable combination. I have read hundreds of complaints about this
| agp440.sys/SP2 problem, on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
| problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2. Microsoft's "solution" to disable
| the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA driver that does not allow any
| other video drivers to be installed. Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the
| problem to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.
| --
| -----------------------------------------------------
| Mitchell Regenbogen, Brooklyn, New York, (e-mail address removed)
| -----------------------------------------------------
| "Knowledge is Good."
| -----------------------------------------------------

 

[Egil Solberg]

I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2
sticking upon loading
agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's
fine with me, although a time will come I'm sure when Microsoft will
support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus P3B-F
motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video
card, not the newest of technology but a solid reliable combination.
I have read hundreds of complaints about this agp440.sys/SP2 problem,
on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2.
Microsoft's "solution" to disable
the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA
driver that does not allow any other video drivers to be installed.
Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the problem to
fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Is this the same problem as:

http://cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

I guess your BIOS does not contain the proper microcode for the CPU. Take it
as is, a guess. If this turns out to be the problem, it could be fixed by
making a modified BIOS with proper microcode, or Microsoft could make a
change.

 

[Chris Parke]

I am one of the many people with the problem of Win XP with SP2 sticking upon loading
agp440.sys. I am now back to SP1, and everything's OK. And that's fine with me, although a time
will come I'm sure when Microsoft will support updates to XP only if you have SP2. I have an Asus
P3B-F motherboard with a 1.4 GHz Tualatin and an ATI Radeon 7500 video card, not the newest of
technology but a solid reliable combination. I have read hundreds of complaints about this
agp440.sys/SP2 problem, on all kinds of motherboards, processors and video adapters. The
problem is obviously something in the implementation of SP2. Microsoft's "solution" to disable
the agp440 service is idiotic, since it leaves you with a generic VGA driver that does not allow any
other video drivers to be installed. Should we March on Redmond to force the creators of the
problem to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Stay with SP1 and forget about it. MS support extends to all ver of XP
and will 'til Longhorn.-I did not load SP2 as it offered nothing I
needed. Perhaps too many do a knee jerk upgrade.

 

[Mitchell Regenbogen]

Is this the same problem as:

http://cquirke.mvps.org/sp2intel.htm

I guess your BIOS does not contain the proper microcode for the CPU.
Take it as is, a guess. If this turns out to be the problem, it could
be fixed by making a modified BIOS with proper microcode, or Microsoft
could make a change.

It looks like the same problem, except that I have an older Tualatin processor, although it is a
Celeron with 256K Level 2 cache. I actually just "down"dated by motherboard BIOS, to remove a
hacked version designed to recognize the Tualatin. I was able to install SP2, and it seems to be
working. Of course I've been down this road before, where it worked and then hung again on
some subsequent reboot. So I guess I'll try never to reboot again...

The bottom line is that this is caused by SP2, to what benefit for XP or us I don't know. Wish
they'd just correct it.

 

[Mitchell Regenbogen]

Stay with SP1 and forget about it. MS support extends to all ver of XP
and will 'til Longhorn.-I did not load SP2 as it offered nothing I
needed. Perhaps too many do a knee jerk upgrade.

You're absolutely correct. But that's exactly what I do!

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

The bottom line is that this is caused by SP2

Mitchell,

the jury is still out on this one. If the microprocessor has
defective microcode and the BIOS doesn't apply the prescribed
patch, then Service Pack 2 is not guilty. It only happens to
exercize the faulty code, which you can't blame it for.

Hans-Georg

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I did not load SP2 as it offered nothing I needed.

Chris,

I like the new popup blocker a lot.

The new firewall also seems to be much better than the old one.

As to the problem on hand, have you had a look at
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm ? It describes some similar
problems and workarounds.

Hans-Georg

 

[GrahamU]

I've been lucky(ish) with SP2. Intstall went OK and all seemed well
for a couple of days afterwards. Then I had a small issue (not SP2
related) that required me to boot into safe mode - but I coudn't!
Yes, that's right. A normal boot works fine, safe mode with VGA works
fine, plain safe mode FAILS - stops when trying to load AGP440.sys

I was able to fix my problem in safe mode with VGA but I'm still left
with an unbootable 'normal' safe mode which leaves me a little uneasy.

GrahamU

 

[Mitchell Regenbogen]

Mitchell,

the jury is still out on this one. If the microprocessor has
defective microcode and the BIOS doesn't apply the prescribed
patch, then Service Pack 2 is not guilty. It only happens to
exercize the faulty code, which you can't blame it for.

I understand that logic, but why, after multiple versions of Windows, does Microsoft decide to
make the processor's microcode the deal-breaker as to whether Win XP will run? What is the
advantage of doing so??

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I understand that logic, but why, after multiple versions of Windows, does Microsoft decide to
make the processor's microcode the deal-breaker as to whether Win XP will run? What is the
advantage of doing so??

Mitchell,

I don't think they did that intentionally. What may have
happened is that, particularly along with some new security
technologies like Data Execution Prevention, some special
processor commands are executed by Service Pack 2, and exactly
these may be faulty in some processors.

But currently we can't even be sure whether this is what
actually happens. It could still turn out to be a driver defect
or something else.

Hans-Georg

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I've been lucky(ish) with SP2. Intstall went OK and all seemed well
for a couple of days afterwards. Then I had a small issue (not SP2
related) that required me to boot into safe mode - but I coudn't!
Yes, that's right. A normal boot works fine, safe mode with VGA works
fine, plain safe mode FAILS - stops when trying to load AGP440.sys

I was able to fix my problem in safe mode with VGA but I'm still left
with an unbootable 'normal' safe mode which leaves me a little uneasy.

Graham,

well, that's a funny case. Is that an Athlon 64 bit processor,
by any chance?

Have you had a look into http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm ? I
think there's a chance that you can apply one of the workarounds
described there, perhaps the one that involves editing BOOT.INI
and changing /NoExecute=OptIn into /NoExecute=AlwaysOff

Hans-Georg