Intel P4 Prescott and XP SP2 not compatible

[TheRedSunRiseth]

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

Hello,

I'm using a P4 Prescott and a Asus P4p800s (Prescott compatible)
motherboard.

I've been using XP Pro with all updates done for over six months and it
worked like magic.

But when I installed SP2 yesterday - the computer gets stuck at the startup
screen. I can't even access safemode. I get a access is denied error message
when I try to get to My Document folders in "cmd" mode.

I found this article on the internet and it explains everything

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

I highly recommend that people hold off from getting the Prescott and the
SP2 patch.

 

[Egil Solberg]

I highly recommend that people hold off from getting the Prescott and
the SP2 patch.

Why not just recommend them to apply BIOS 1017? I guess Asus has got it
right, as it is their second BIOS with Prescott support. (1016 was first,
1017 adds support for Prescott celerons).
Which BIOS are you running?

 

[TheRedSunRiseth]

1017? Asus only has the 1006 for my motherboard - P4P800s

 

[Philip Wright]

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

Hello,

I'm using a P4 Prescott and a Asus P4p800s (Prescott compatible)
motherboard.

I've been using XP Pro with all updates done for over six months and it
worked like magic.

But when I installed SP2 yesterday - the computer gets stuck at the startup
screen. I can't even access safemode. I get a access is denied error message
when I try to get to My Document folders in "cmd" mode.

I found this article on the internet and it explains everything

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

I highly recommend that people hold off from getting the Prescott and the
SP2 patch.

I installed SP2 on a P4C800-E Deluxe w/ a Prescott 3.0 CPU today and
everything seems to be OK so far. I updated the BIOS to 1017 beforehand
and so far no worries. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[Egil Solberg]

1017? Asus only has the 1006 for my motherboard - P4P800s

Sorry, I didn't see the "S". Your original post is indeed very informative.
Seems though as the whole series of boards have got updates at approximately
the same time,seemingly covering the same problems.
Microcode update with 1006. I cannot see why Asus should choose not to
include the latest, when they update the BIOS with "microcode update" as a
fix.
Do you run 1006 and experience this problem?
I wonder why a lot of other P4Pxxx users do not experience the problem with
Prescott CPU.

 

[Tim]

Good post.

Keep us posted please.

- Tim

 

[Barry Watzman]

The problem is not SP2, it's that your BIOS does not have the latest
microcode from Intel. (note, it's not a new microcode release, but some
of the motherboard makers have been slow to incorporate it, and, of
course, lots of computer owners don't keep their bios' updated).

The first step is to update the bios to the very latest version. This
will solve the problem in most cases, and for the few cases in which it
doesn't, you can expect that an update to the NEXT version of the BIOS
will fix it, the mfgrs. who have not yet incorporated the latest
microcode are under a LOT of pressure to get out BIOS updates quickly.

The mfgrs. web site may tell you, before installing SP2, if the latest
bios is SP2 compatible.

If you can't boot, a workaround that works in most cases is to go into
bios setup and disable all cache memory (level 1, level 2, etc.). The
system will be slow, but the intent is only to let you get on so that
you can download and install an updated BIOS.

 

[Paul]

1017? Asus only has the 1006 for my motherboard - P4P800s

The 1006 BIOS has microcode support for:

0F0A, 0F12, 0F13, 0F24, 0F25, 0F27, 0F29, 0F33, 0F34, 0F37

I thought at least one of the Prescotts is 0F33, and if you
look up your processor on processorfinder.intel.com, you can
see exactly which family code your processor uses. If you can
find the SSPEC (SLxxx code) on the product packaging, you can
type that into the search box on the above site, and quickly
get to the details for your processor.

My bet is, flashing to 1006 will allow SP2 to boot.

HTH,
Paul

 

[TheRedSunRiseth]

Hello Paul,

You are probably right- flashing the Bios to the new ASUS file would proably
have worked. The problem is that I didn't think of it at the time... it
happened only a few days ago. And I went the other way and reformated the
system.

I'm trying to flash the bios now but the EZ FLASH utility is not there at
the BIOS startup (when I press DEL).

I'm laying off flashing the bios until I can get someone who knows what they
are doing.

Cheers,

Bess

 

[Larry]

I ran into the post XP Pro SP2 update reboot freeze with my P4P800-E
Deluxe cpu with a P4 2.8E cpu (0F33)and the BIOS at 1001.004 rev.
After flashing the BIOS to rev 1002.002 (the latest as of yesterday),
I was able to restart and logon to SP2 without any problems. I've
pesterd Microsoft and ASUS to make this problem known to customers
through their web sites.

Does anyone know if this problem with the Prescott cpus exists on any
of the Dell Optiplex systems?

larry

 

[Tim]

Yes. The problem you describe is "Well Known" but not well enough known yet.
It is also transient as it exists at this point in time when SP2 has just
come out, Prescott is 'new', and the bios's with the fixed microcode are
only just becoming available.

The problems affects Prescott CPU's with particular steppings and at the
moment it is pot bad luck that you will experience it.

- Tim

 

[n]

Having been in lengthly contact with Asus tech support in the UK over this
problem and an Asus T2-P, you will find that Asus insist this is a Microsoft
problem (SP2) and not an Asus problem. Even having sent them all the
information about processor microcode levels, and stuff from this newsgroup,
they flatly refuse to acknowledge that this could be a problem with their
bios. Perhaps it's too complicated for Asus tech support (UK) to comprehend?
Glad to know that customer service is alive and well. Hope everyone else has
better luck.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Having been in lengthly contact with Asus tech support in the UK over this
problem and an Asus T2-P, you will find that Asus insist this is a Microsoft
problem (SP2) and not an Asus problem.

Get the Frequency ID utility from www.intel.com. If when run on their mobo
it doesn't say "CPU revision = 8" or higher then it IS an Asus problem.
DEMAND that Asus supplies an up to date BIOS for their mobo with current
microcode for the Prescott.

Even having sent them all the
information about processor microcode levels, and stuff from this newsgroup,
they flatly refuse to acknowledge that this could be a problem with their
bios.

Get tough with em as best you can.

Perhaps it's too complicated for Asus tech support (UK) to comprehend?
Glad to know that customer service is alive and well. Hope everyone else has
better luck.

By the way, Asus is right that Asus's mobo BIOS deficiency would never have
come up if MS hadn't included the buggy version of update.sys in SP2. SP2
is great and all should get and use it. This issue in the overall scheme of
things is tiny.

 

[n]

Ron,

Took your advice and sent them an email full of cheek and abuse, demanding
my problem was escalated to someone who understood the problem and could fix
it. They then (strangely) stopped replying to me, but two days later BIOS
1008 has been release for the T2-P box which fixes the Prescott / SP2
problem. The processor microcode revision has gone from 0 to B. Having
re-renamed update.sys all is well, and the box seems considerably
quicker.......
Cheers

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Ron,

Took your advice and sent them an email full of cheek and abuse, demanding
my problem was escalated to someone who understood the problem and could fix
it. They then (strangely) stopped replying to me, but two days later BIOS
1008 has been release for the T2-P box which fixes the Prescott / SP2
problem.

Did that announce/state anywhere that the new BIOS fixes the SP2+Prescott
issue or did the new BIOS just appear without comment?

The processor microcode revision has gone from 0 to B. Having
re-renamed update.sys all is well, and the box seems considerably
quicker.......

You can likely rename update.sys back now with the new BIOS.

 

[n]

Did that announce/state anywhere that the new BIOS fixes the SP2+Prescott
issue or did the new BIOS just appear without comment?

The extensive text said "Fix Service Pack 2 comflict with WinXP issue"

You can likely rename update.sys back now with the new BIOS.

Yes, renamed it back and everything is working fine. This was the update.sys
file from after install of SP2, but before the reboot, when things would
normally die.