admin | 
06 1st, 2010| 
Part 1. of Details:
I posted earlier, trying to solve a mystery. I got a reply that led me to further information, which, although it has helped refine the problem, still leaves me with no solution. So I am asking my question here again, based on the newest information.
I assembled my own computer, using the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard. It has been stable and worked reasonably well for over a year. In May, I tried to install SP3, leading to a Blue Screen Stop error upon reboot:
“STOP: 0x000000A5″
(This is reported as an ACPI compliance error but the consensus on the web seems to be that this is a red herring, and that the problem is with the MoBo somehow, or SP3′s interaction with it — see below.)
At first it seemed the problem was related somehow to the AMD processor, but my prior question in YahooAsk received a helpful reply which referred me to the following webpage:
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/a…
There I was able to isolate the problem further, and determined that the type of error I was having clearly showed this was an SP3 incompatibility with my specific ASUS Mobo (A8N32-SLI Deluxe).
When the crash first took place, I initially went to Microsoft tech support. I was not impressed, as ultimately the only solution, after dealing with their reps, was a clean re-install of SP2, resulting in days of lost time while everything was reinstalled and re-updated to pre-SP3 state. Another reason Microsoft’s support was an utter failure, was that they send follow-up email, asking to be contacted if their support requires follow-up — but my replies to their email ALWAYS get bounced back as undeliverable (this happened four times, even when email was sent to a supervisor!).
At any rate, my ultimate hope was that MS would modify their download and installer script to make their update compatible with my MoBo (my MoBo is a popular product by a major manufacturer . . . and it made sense that MS would want to address this problem). But this was not to be: I ultimately was told by MS that no further modifications would be made to their SP3 package to make it compatible. Instead they told me to go to ASUS.
[Details continue, below]
[Details, Part 2, continue from above]
I did exactly that: I went to ASUS. I sent a problem ticket to them. It didn’t receive a reply after 3 days, so I phoned ASUS. I spoke to a tech who told me it was NOT ASUS’s responsibility to make their MoBo compatible with SP3 . . . that this was ALL MS’s fault, and that ASUS would do nothing at all to remedy the situation.
I read the web commentaries on the problem, and there does appear to be a workaround by playing around with USB (adding or removing USB devices). But, I don’t want to spend the rest of my days with this MoBo, pulling and inserting USB plugs, just so the damned computer will boot! This is ridiculous! Besides, if it doesn’t work, and I attempt an SP3 reinstall, I will lose another 2-3 days doing a reinstall to SP2. I need to know for sure (or at least with some certainty) that the fix will work without killing my OS functionality, before I try it again. From what I hear, the USB trick is not a 100% fix. [Continued below
[Deatils, Part 3]
Well, just as I was about to tear every hair out of my body, the forgotten email to ASUS came back into the picture. 5 days after I sent it out, I got a reply from ASUS. I will reprint it after my comments here. My questions to the YahooASK community are as follows:
1.) As you can see, ASUS wants me to essentially dismantle my entire system, and go through a seemingly senseless series of tests which do not appear to lead to any result. What exactly is all this rigmarole supposed to do?
2.) Has anyone else gone through all this hassle at the behest of ASUS tech support in response to this problem?
3.) If so, have you had any success, and did this actually lead to the successful installation of SP3 on your A8N32-SLI Deluxe MoBo?
4.) Did any of you who tried this NOT have success? What have you learned?
[Details continued, below]
[Details, Part 4.]
5.) Short of actually attempting to install SP3, is there any way of knowing whether this procedure worked, before attempting the SP3 install? My concern here, as mentioned before, is that I will attempt an SP3 install and crash yet again, with the required clean reinstall loss of 2-3 days (and yes, I did try the recovery console uninstall of SP3, but it did not work, and left me with a hobbled SP2)?
People with this issue need to get together to start pressuring both MS and ASUS to treat us with respect and offer REAL tech support here.
OK. Here are ASUS’s recommendations. Please supply feedback regarding the questions I pose above:
***********************
**ASUS reply**
Please try the following troubleshooting:
Turn the system off and unplug the power cord from the power supply.
[Continued below]
[ASUS reply continued:]
Make sure the ATX 12V volt power supply is plugged in. Connect an external speaker to the green port on the MB to hear the system post (vocal post) message. disconnect the Hard disk, CD-Rom and floppy disk drives from the motherboard;
Take the cpu, memory, and video card out, take the CMOS battery out and move the CLRTC jumper from pin 1&2 to pin 2&3 for about 20 seconds.
Put the jumper back to pin 1&2, install the battery, connect the power cord and turn on the system for about 15 seconds.
Turn the system on, the system should speak “NO CPU INSTALLED” Turn the system off and reinstall CPU, heat sink and CPU fan.
Turn the system on, the system should speak “SYSTEM FAIL MEMORY TEST” Turn it off and install memory.
Turn the system on, the system should speak “SYSTEM FAIL VGA TEST” Turn it off and install and video card.
connect the monitor and turn the system on. If every thing works you should see display on the monitor.
[ASUS reply continued]
If this did not help, please contact ASUS tech support at 812-282-ASUS and request tech assistance.
Best Regards,
Berlie, Melaku
Lead Tech Engineer
ASUS Technology
Tech Support: (812) 282 – ASUS
http://livesupport.asus.com
RMA: (510)739-3777 opt 2
In Response to IAMCELT: I am aware of the procedure to restore SP2 from SP3. It was *after* an attempted restore of this type that I had a failure during the restore process that occurred after the Windows tech hung up. There was a corruption in the functionality of SP2 — one which could have been fixed — but at the time I thought SP2 was corrupted and required a clean re-install. If I am ever in this position again, I will not give up at that point again.
In any event thanks for the reply, but you did not answer my question about the purported ASUS procedural correction to this issue: Has anyone tried it, does it work, and how can one tell the problem is addressed without the risky attempted install of SP3?