- PCI Vendor and Device List
- BIOS - Everything you ever wanted to know
- Windows NT needs to be logged off twice
- Windows NT and the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
When confronted with a strange PC it is frequently difficult to know what Video card, Sound Card and network card are installed. Even removing the lid and looking at the cards (or motherboard chips) can often not be particularly helpful.
Some BIOSes list the PCI Vendor and Device ID briefly on the screen during start up. This information can be used to identify the Manufacturer and the chip used on the card.
This external web site is maintained by volunteers but has a very comprehensive list of PCI Vendor and Device IDs.
Example:
PCI Device listing . . .
|
Bus No. |
Device No. |
Func No. |
Vendor ID |
Device ID |
Device Class |
IRQ |
|
0 |
0 |
1 |
1039 |
5513 |
IDE Controller |
14 |
|
0 |
1 |
2 |
1039 |
7001 |
Serial Bus Controller |
10 |
|
0 |
9 |
0 |
10D9 |
0531 |
Network Controller |
11 |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
1039 |
6306 |
Display Controller |
NA |
Information obtainable from Vendor/Device ID
|
Network Controller |
|
|
|
Vendor ID |
10D9 |
Vendor ID: 0x10D9 |
|
Device ID |
0531 |
Chip Number: MX98715/725 |
BIOS - Everything you ever wanted to know
- Wim's BIOS Page
- Award BIOS Page (link updated 26/06/2007)
- AMI BIOS Page POST Beep codes (PDF)
Windows NT needs to be logged off twice
|
Symptom: |
When you attempt to logoff from Windows NT workstation, the screen darkens but does not actually logout. If you press Ctrl-Alt-Del, you will find that the workstation is locked. If you enter your password to unlock the workstation, you can then logout normally. |
|
Reason: |
The 'standard' screensaver '3D Flower Box' (and most of the other 3D screen savers) are incompatible with many modern video cards and cause Windows NT to hang or crash with a Blue Screen of Death. To prevent this happening, these specific screensaver files have been deleted from the \WINNT\SYSTEM32 directory. However, most users' profiles contain '3D Flower Box' as the screen saver to be invoked after 15 minutes of inactivity and when this happens, Windows NT enters a locked state, except there is no screen saver to mask the screen. You can continue to do most things normally, except logout. Individual users do not have access to the option to change the screensaver and hence cannot fix this problem themselves. |
|
Solution 1: |
Download and execute this
file. It will change the screensaver for your profile to the 'Moving Login
Screen' one. Ensure that you are logged in at only one workstation and logout
immediately afterwards to update your profile on the server. You will need to
repeat this for each user login. |
|
Solution 2: |
Download and execute this file. It will reinstall the
screen saver files that have been deleted from the computer. It will also
replace CONFIG.NT with a standard CONFIG.NT where FILES=255 has been added to
ensure that Alice for Windows will operate reliably. |
Windows NT and the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
When Windows NT encounters a catastrophic problem that it figures will prevent it from continuing reliable operation, it stops and displays a blue screen filled with white text most of which is gobbledegook to anyone other than a Microsoft NT internals expert. This is the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD), so called because it is blue and Windows has died. You cannot resume normal Windows operation after a BSOD. Any unsaved work has been lost. All you can do is reset the computer. Often the computer will restart OK and you can get on with your work. The causes of a BSOD are many and frequently obscure.
Almost any form of hardware failure has the potential to cause a BSOD. Software corruption can also be the cause. Generally an intermittent BSOD will be caused by a hardware problem while a BSOD that is predictable and repeatable will be software.
Main causes of a BSOD
Hardware
- Seized or slow CPU fan. The CPU overheats and becomes unreliable.
Solution: Replace the FAN. If the CPU has REALLY cooked itself, it may also be necessary to replace the CPU. - Bad memory.
Solution: Replace the memory
Software
- Corrupted operating system or application
programs.
Solution: Refresh the PC or reinstall the program - 3D screen savers and some video cards.
Solution: Disable the screen saver or select one that does not cause the BSOD. - Buggy or corrupt drivers.
Solution: Download the latest driver versions and reinstall. Video is most frequently implicated since almost everything that Windows does involves writing to the screen. Also network, printer and soundcard drivers may need to be reloaded
Interpreting the BSOD
The two items of information that can be very useful are both in the top left corner of the screen, the STOP CODE and the description. For example:
STOP : 0x0000007F UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
Following is a compilation of links to the Microsoft Knowledge base about the various stop codes.
|
Stop Code |
Brief Explanation |
Microsoft Knowdege base link |
|
0x0000000A |
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL |
|
|
0x00000019 |
BAD_POOL_HEADER |
|
|
0x0000001E |
KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED |
|
|
0x00000024 |
NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM |
|
|
0x00000050 |
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA |
|
|
0x00000077 |
KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR |
|
|
0x0000007A |
Kernel_Data_Inpage_Error |
|
|
0x0000007B |
Inaccessible Boot Device |
|
|
0x0000007F |
EXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP |
|
|
0x00000093 |
INVALID_KERNEL_HANDLE |
|
|
0x0000009C |
|
To obtain a full list of all the Knowlegebase articles on a specific stop code where there is no summary article, go to the Microsoft Support site at:
Select 'Windows NT Workstation' at 'My Search is about' and enter the search terms: STOP and the error code. For example: 'STOP 0x0000007F'
