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"Microsoft is aware of a reboot issue experienced by some users who have attempted to install Windows XP SP3," says a statement from the company.

"While the root cause of this issue is complex, it results from OEMs improperly placing a Windows XP image created for an Intel-based computer onto machines with non-Intel chipsets. Microsoft issued guidance to OEMs advising them to only load Windows

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XP images onto like hardware in 2004."

Indeed this four-year-old guidance initially accompanied the release of Service Pack 2, which Microsoft claims suffered the exact same issues and are the result of an Intel processor driver trying to load onto non-Intel machines, sending them back into an endless reboot cycle.

"Under this configuration, after the computer is upgraded to Windows XP SP2 or SP3, the Intel processor driver (Intelppm.sys) may try to load because an orphaned registry key remains from the original Sysprep image," reports Microsoft's guidance.

While Microsoft is not specifically naming OEMs, the ChannelWeb website claims a technical advisor informed it: "I checked with the resources I have and it seems that we have not had any issues with any manufacturer other than HP."

Microsoft had not confirmed this report at the time of writing, and HP had yet to return our request for comment.

Read our review of Windows XP SP3 here.