Microsoft KB Archive/139733

= Windows NT 3.5x Setup Troubleshooting Guide =

Article ID: 139733

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51

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This article was previously published under Q139733



SUMMARY
     Microsoft(R) Windows NT(TM) 3.5x Setup Troubleshooting Guide

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Table of Contents

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1. Introduction 2. Pre-setup and Text-mode Setup Issues 3. Setup Failure During Reboot from Character-based to GUI-based Mode 4. GUI-Based Setup to First Boot Issues

1. Introduction

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This Troubleshooting Guide describes how to overcome problems installing Windows NT on Intel(R) architecture (x86) computers. These techniques may work for computers that are on the Windows NT Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) and for computers that are not on the HCL, that is, not certified by Microsoft to be Windows NT compatible.

The HCL is a compilation of computers and system hardware that have been extensively tested with Windows NT for stability and compatibility. It is the guide used by Microsoft Product Support Services to determine whether or not a computer is supported for use with the Windows NT operating system.

If you are installing a computer system which is mission critical, please see the HCL included in the Support directory of the Windows NT CD-ROM for a list of computers which are currently certified by Microsoft to be Windows NT compliant. If your system is not included on the list, contact Microsoft for an updated Windows NT HCL.

MICROSOFT DOES NOT MAKE ANY GUARANTEES THAT WINDOWS NT WILL INSTALL OR MAINTAIN DATA INTEGRITY AFTER FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS CONTAINED HEREIN

2. Pre-setup and Text-mode Setup Issues

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Architecture of Character-based Setup -

During the first part of Setup (referred to as character-based Setup) Windows NT examines your system architecture for foundation level information and drivers. This information includes:

CPU type (x86, MIPS(R), ALPHA or PPC), Motherboard type (PCI, VESA, MCA, EISA, or ISA) Hard Drive Controllers File Systems Free Space on Hard Drives Memory

Windows NT looks for any devices that must be initialized at system start up in order for your computer to run. Windows NT also constructs a "mini" version of Windows NT, which is used to reboot the system into the GUI-mode (Graphical User Interface mode) portion of Setup. Therefore, it is critical that the information which Windows NT gathers at this point is accurate.

Windows NT may incorrectly detect controllers and settings if the system is using non-standard or proprietary bus components or enhancements which do not follow industry set standards, these "non-standard" enhancements include SMP1.1, PCI 2.1, special bus drivers, or caching chips for burst mode transfer. If the information gathered is incorrect, Setup will most likely fail at a later stage. Incorrect detection is often a symptom of a hardware or configuration problem that ma also cause the installation to fail.

Before You Begin Installation of Windows NT ---

HARDWARE:

Windows NT is a 32-bit operating system and is very hardware intensive. In MS-DOS(R) and most 16-bit operating systems, hardware is not accessed until it is required. Under Windows NT, hardware drivers are written to and polled much more heavily for input/output (I/O) instructions. Hardware problems that have gone unnoticed or have appeared minor under other operating systems, are likely to be amplified when running under Windows NT.

Minimum Hardware Requirements:

Windows NT Workstation:

12MB of RAM VGA level video support Keyboard IDE, EIDE, SCSI or ESDI hard drive 386 or 486/25 processor or better CD-ROM, floppy or active network connection

Windows NT Server:

16MB of RAM VGA level video support Keyboard IDE, EIDE, SCSI or ESDI hard drive 386 or 486/25 processor or better CD-ROM, 1.44 MB or 1.2 MB floppy or active network connection

Note: On Windows NT Server, 16MB of RAM affords minimal functionality, Microsoft highly recommends 32MB of RAM or more. Microsoft also recommends the following preferred hardware:

486DX2/50 processor or better 28.8 v.34 external modem, for remote debugging and troubleshooting Windows NT compatible CD-ROM drive

Minimum Space Requirements for Windows NT Workstation and Server:

Standard Installation         90 MB free drive space WINNT /b                      94 MB free drive space Copying I386 directory to HD  125 MB free drive space

NOTE: For ease of supportability, Microsoft recommends at least a 300 MB FAT system partition for systems that do not require security. This space is used for Windows NT installation, pagefile and MS-DOS 6.22 or Windows(R) 95 installation. The advantage of this configuration is the ability to copy over drivers or boot files in the event of virus, file corruption or upgrade problems.

Disk Format:

To access a disk from Windows NT, the drive must be uncompressed or compressed with NTFS file compression included in Windows NT 3.51. Windows NT is not compatible with Microsoft DoubleSpace, Stacker or any other compression software or hardware. A Windows NT installation requires the boot drive be formatted with the FAT file system.

Windows NT supports only the following EIDE addressing schemes:

LBA, Logical Block Addressing ONTrack Disk Manager EZDrive ECHS, Extended Cylinder Head Sector

If you use one of the above methods, some implementations require special partitioning utilities and disk preparation utilities. Do not format these drives under Windows NT.

Hardware Configuration:

Prior to installing Windows NT, you should record configuration information on all adapter cards in your computer. This should include memory addresses and IRQ’s. Windows NT, as opposed to MS-DOS, does not install properly if adapter cards share IRQ’s. Windows NT often detects an adapter card, but not its memory address or IRQ. Use the following list as a starting point:

Adapter Card     Required information ---  -   Video             Adapter or chipset type Network Card     IRQ, I/O address, DMA (if used) connector type (BNC, twisted pair, etc) SCSI Controller  Adapter model or chipset, IRQ and bus type Mouse            Mouse type, port (COM1, COM2, bus or PS/2(R)) I/O Port         IRQ, I/0 address, DMA (if used) for each I/O port Sound Card       IRQ, I/O address, DMA External Modem   Port connections (COM1, COM2, etc). Internal Modem   Port connections or                     IRQ and I/0 address (for non-standard configurations)

NOTE: Windows NT currently does not support the following controller and BIOS enhancements:

32 bit I/O BIOS switch Enhanced Drive Access Multiple Block addressing or Rapid IDE Write Back Cache on disk controllers Power Management features

On some computers, Shadow RAM and L2 Write Back Cache cause detection and hardware problems, including hangs and STOP Messages (blue screens). These features must be disabled at the BIOS level. Check your computer user manual for information on disabling these features.

Verify that there are no POST (Power On Self Test) errors prior to starting Setup, and make certain that each adapter and peripheral device is set to an independent IRQ, memory address and DMA channel.

CHOOSING THE CORRECT SETUP METHOD:

Standard Setup:

Installing directly from the CD-ROM or floppy installation disks is almost always the best method of setting up your Windows NT system. It offers the best support for alternate hardware application layers (HALs), timing and third party drivers. If you have a supported CD-ROM drive, you should choose this install method.

NOTE: If you lose or misplace the setup disks for the standard install, run either "WINNT /OX" or "WINNT32 /OX" to create new boot disks for a standard installation.

WINNT or WINNT32 Setup:

This method of installation was designed for network installations or for computers with unsupported CD-ROM drives. It builds the boot disks and performs a file copy of the installation directory to the hard drive before the install procedure begins. It is the second best choice.

Network installs:

For networks where the Windows NT installation files are kept on a  central server, network installations can be accomplished using winnt or   by copying the entire "i386" directory from the install CD-ROM to the hard drive and then running WINNT from the local drive, this can reduce network traffic and dependency.

NOTE: The method of copying the i386 directory can also be used when there are hard drive or driver issues that otherwise block the use of the CD-ROM.

Unsupported Setup Methods:

"WINNT /B: or "WINNT32 /B" is used for floppyless installation. It copies the boot files to the root of the C: drive and then uses the hard disk as if it were the boot disk. If you have timing issues on your computer, such as problems accessing the hard drive or similar error messages this method can be used but "WINNT" is much more reliable. Please note that this method will fail if you are running BIOS level virus protection.

"WINNT /W" allows you to install Windows NT from within Windows, bypassing the drive locking and enhanced driver issues involved with a Microsoft Windows install. Again, this bypasses many of the Windows NT install safety features and is not recommended.

"WINNT /U" is the command for unattended installation. This can only be used on systems where all the components are standard and no user input is required. If there are any problems the install will stop until the problem is resolved.

Troubleshooting: Pre-Setup and Text-Mode Setup Issues -

Problem 1:

When I put the boot disk in I get an error "Operating System not found" and setup does not begin.

Resolution 1:

Check the system BIOS to make certain the A: drive is available as a boot drive. If it is and the error still occurs this is an indication of a bad boot floppy or a drive which is out of calibration. To create new floppies, format 3 disks on the computer where you are planning to install Windows NT, then from the CD-ROM \i386 directory type "WINNT /OX." This builds a fresh set of install floppy disks.

Problem 2:

Right after I boot the install disk, my system hangs and the floppy drive light stays lit, and it never goes any further.

Resolution 2:

This is an indication of a corrupt boot disk or a disk controller problem. Please run "WINNT /OX," as above, to create new floppy disks. The disks created will not be for a WINNT installation but for a standard floppy boot installation. If you are using a SCSI controller for your floppy disks, make certain that all internal and external devices are properly terminated.

Problem 3:

When Setup inspects the hard drive the error "Setup did not find any hard drives on your computer" appears.

Resolution 3:

Make sure all disk hard drives are powered up and properly connected to your computer. If you are certain that the hard drives are properly connected, check the following:

1. Scan the drive for viruses, if the Master Boot Record is infected Windows NT may not see the hard drive properly. Please use a commercial scan program, in addition to MS Virus scan. Even if the drive is NTFS, the Master Boot Record can become infected.

2. If the hard drive is SCSI, check the following:

a) Is there a valid boot sector on the drive?  b) Are all SCSI devices properly terminated? c) If you are using a passive terminator, upgrade to an active     terminator.   d) Is the BIOS on the boot (initiating) SCSI adapter enabled? e) Are the BIOS’s on all non-initiating SCSI adapters disabled?     When the BIOS on a non-initiating SCSI adapter is enabled it can      error at bootup and/or interfere with hardware interrupt 13 calls to      the initiating hard drive controller, resulting in the inability to      boot or random hangs during installation.   f) Was the hard drive partitioned and formatted using this SCSI adapter? If not, re-partitioning the drive or possibly low-level formatting the drive may be required. g) Verify that you SCSI configuration adheres to the following     standards:

Standard   Bit    Cable  Pin   Max. x-fer   Max SCSI   Description Width Name   Cnt. Rate MB/sec  Devices -     SCSI-1      8      A     50       5           8          Asynchronous SCSI-2     8      A     50       10          8          fast SCSI-2     16     A+B   50+68    20          8          fast+wide ** SCSI-2     32     A+B   50+68    40          8          fast+wide ** SCSI-3     8      A     50       10          8          fast SCSI-3     16     P     68       20          16         fast+wide * SCSI-3     32     P+Q   68+68    40          32         fast+wide **

* = with 1 cable ** = with 2 cables

NOTE: Windows NT currently supports only eight SCSI IDs, including the adapter ID.

Standard: The name of the SCSI standard as defined by ANSI.

Bit width: The number of bits that are transferred by the SCSI bus during the data transfer phase.

Cable Names: A is most common, P is getting more popular, A+B is     currently not popular due to cost and space issues.

Pin Count: The number of pins in the cable. Refer to the above table for specific numbers.

Max Transfer Rate (MB/sec): Number of bits transferred over the SCSI bus in one second.

Max SCSI Devices: The Maximum number of devices that can be connected to the SCSI bus with one host adapter installed.

Descriptions

Asynchronous: A handshaking protocol that requires a handshake for every byte transferred (Synchronous transfers a series                    of bytes before handshaking occurs, increasing the data                    transfer rate)

Fast:        Fast SCSI is an option that doubles the synchronous data transfer speed. The speed is achieved by removing excess margins from certain times and delays. To use the fast SCSI option, high quality cables are required. This option is compatible with normal synchronous SCSI and has:

- Up to 10 (megabytes) MB/second over an 8 bit bus.

- Synchronous Data transfer negotiation required.

- Single-ended implementation recommendations: maximum cable length of 3 meters and active terminators.

Wide:        Wide SCSI is an option that adds a second SCSI cable of                    68 conductors. This cable provides a data path for 16- or 32-bit data. This path has separate handshake signals and is for data transfer only. The transfer rate is two or four times the present transfer rate of                   SCSI-1. With the second cable, SCSI-2 remains compatible with the 8-bit SCSI.

Check the Hardware Compatibility List for notes regarding SCSI adapters and any limitations with specific adapter cards.

3. If the hard drive is EIDE, check the following:

a. Verify that the system drive is the first drive on the first IDE controller on the motherboard.

b. In the system BIOS, verify that file I/O and/or disk access are set to standard. Most computers ship with access set to either 32-bit or enhanced access.

4. If the drive is IDE or ESDI, check the following:

a. Verify the controller is functional in a different computer if     possible.

b. If the drive is larger than 1024 cylinders, make certain you are using a supported disk configuration utility.

c. Verify the drive is jumpered correctly for master, slave, or single drive.

Problem 4:

Windows NT gives me an error that I do not have a valid partition.

Resolution 4:

Refer to "Resolution 3" for hard drive troubleshooting information. Make certain that you have a valid primary MS-DOS partition on the drive. You can create one using Windows NT Setup or MS-DOS FDISK if necessary.

Problem 5:

When I try to format the partition, Windows NT gets to x% and then hangs.

Resolution 5:

Refer to "Resolution 3" for hard drive troubleshooting information. Make certain that your hard drives do not have caching enabled. Set drive controllers that have caching capabilities to Write Through, not Write Back. If necessary, format the drive to approximately 5-10 MB less than the actual size of the partition first selected.

Problem 6:

Setup hangs while copying files to the hard drive.

Resolution 6:

This is indicates one of 2 problems:

1. The incorrect HAL being loaded.

Restart Setup. As soon as the message appears "Windows NT is examining  your hardware configuration," press F5. This takes you to a menu with various HAL’s listed. If you are running on a Pentium(R) computer with a  single processor, choose the single processor HAL, if you are running on   a Compaq(R) or Sequent computer using an OEM HAL, select other and insert the disk provided by that manufacturer.

2. Setup is using memory reserved memory.

Disable "Video Shadow RAM" and/or "32-bit Enhanced File Throughput" in  the computer's BIOS.

3. Setup Failure During Reboot from Character-based to GUI-based Mode

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Architecture

During the reboot from Character-based to GUI-based Setup, Windows NT is loaded for the first time. Windows NT tries to find a valid hard drive and partition, poll the adapters and test the bus. This is the most likely point of failure, when the drivers are loaded into memory and multi- threading is initialized.

STOP Messages (Blue Screens)

Text mode STOP Messages or "blue screens" are used to identify and debug hardware and software problems that occur while loading or running Windows NT. When a mission critical operating system fails, is preferable to generate an obvious error message, such as the blue screen, rather than to simply fail in an "invisible" manner and possibly corrupt data. The blue screen consists of a STOP message, the text translation, the addresses of the violating call, and the drivers loaded at the time of the stop screen. The STOP screen give you and a Product Support Services Engineer the necessary information to locate and identify problem areas.

STOP Messages indicate where the error has occurred at both the address and driver levels, for example:

*** STOP: 0x0000001E (0xC0000047,0xFA8418B4,0x8025ea21,0xfd6829e8) Unhandled Kernel exception c0000047 from fa8418b4 (8025ea21,fd6829e8) *** Address fa8418b4 has base at fa840000 - i8042prt.SYS *** Address 8025ea21 has base at 8025c000 - SCSIPORT.SYS

The STOP Message identifies the type of exception, the exception indicates where the problem occurred, that is, whether it was user mode (involving user mode operating system software) or kernel mode (involving operating system, third-party drivers or hardware). The third and fourth line describe which components were immediately involved and at what addresses. For example, if the above error occurred during Setup, the problem might be in the driver which involves the SCSI portion of the operating system. If you receive this error during Setup, you should make certain that the SCSI controller you are using is compatible with Windows NT and that the IRQ’s, SCSI ID’s and termination are correct on the computer. If you are sure all of the above are correctly configured, then you can try swapping out the SCSI controller card for another and try installing again.

For more information on STOP Messages, see the Windows NT Resource Kit.

Troubleshooting: Character-based to GUI-based Mode Setup Failures -

Problem 1:

After removing the third setup disk from my computer and rebooting, a blue screen saying "STOP: 0x0000007b Inaccessible Boot Device" appears and Setup stops there.

Resolution 1:

See "Resolution 3" of Part 1: Troubleshooting: Pre-setup and Text-mode Setup Issues.

Problem 2:

After removing the third setup disk from the computer and rebooting, a blue screen with the location, "0x4,0,0,0" appears and Setup stops there.

Resolution 2:

See "Resolution 3" of Part 1: Troubleshooting: Pre-setup and Text-mode Setup Issues, this is a variation of the problem above.

Problem 3:

Setup does not boot and displays the following error message:

Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared by  the MS-DOS portion of Setup.

When you run the MS-DOS Windows NT Setup program, you must specify a  temporary drive that is supported by Windows NT. See your System Guide for more information.

Resolution 3:

You are using Setup boot disks which were created while running the "WINNT" variation of the install and trying to install from a CD-ROM. Create Setup boot disks using "WINNT /OX" or simply use the original Setup boot disks to install.

Problem 4:

Instead of rebooting from text-mode into GUI-mode, the error message "NTOSKRNL.EXE is missing or corrupt" appears.

Resolution 4:

If you are installing to a drive other than C: and the primary drive is FAT, edit your BOOT.INI file and change the partition information by doing the following:

1. Remove the Read Only and System File attributes from the BOOT.INI file. At an MS-DOS or OS/2(R) command line, type: ATTRIB -S -R C:\BOOT.INI

2. Edit the BOOT.INI file and change the partition number for Windows NT. Change the Windows NT line to the following:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(x)partition(y)\winnt="Windows NT on ?:"

-or-

scsi(0)disk(x)rdisk(0)partition(y)\winnt="Windows NT on ?:"

where x is the drive number, y is the partition number, and ? is the drive letter where Windows NT resides.

If you are using the Special Step-Up CD-ROM for Windows NT, note the following:

The Special Step-Up Edition of Windows NT 3.51 can be used to upgrade from Windows NT 3.5 to Windows NT 3.51. You can also use the Special Step-Up Edition to install Windows NT 3.51 into a new directory. The Special Step- Up Edition cannot be used to upgrade or install over Windows NT version 3.1.

Problem 5:

During the reboot from text-mode setup to GUI-mode Setup the error message "HAL.DLL is missing or corrupt" appears.

Resolution 5:

This error message occurs when a computer that is not listed on the Windows NT HCL is using an ASUSTECH (ASUS) dual-processor motherboard with only one processor present. NOTE: HCL certifies complete systems, not individual motherboards.

You can work around this problem by setting the J14 jumper (on the motherboard) for a dual-processor computer, even though the computer has only one processor.

Problem 6:

When you install Windows NT on a multi-processor computer, the following error message:

HAL: Bad APIC version. HAL: This HAL.DLL requires an MPS version 1.1 system. Replace HAL.DLL which the correct HAL for this system. The system is halting.

Resolution 6:

This error message occurs when a computer attempts to boot with a symmetric multi-processing (SMP) hardware abstraction layer (HAL) on a computer with Multi-Processor Specification (MPS) architecture that currently has only a single processor.

- To work around this problem, install Windows NT using Custom Setup and verify that the computer type is not identified as an MPS machine. If  setup detects the system as an MPS machine, change the machine type to   AT Compatible.

-or-

- Edit the TXTSETUP.SIF file on the Setup boot disk. In the [HAL] section change:

mps11_mp   = halmps.dll  ,2,hal.dll

to read:

mps11_mp   = hal.dll  ,2,hal.dll

This forces the standard ISA/EISA HAL to be loaded.

-or-

- If you are running Windows NT 3.51, select a different kernel and HAL when you boot Windows NT. If a second processor is added later, you may need to manually copy and rename the correct HAL file.

Problem 7:

You need to install other files during the reboot between text-based and GUI-based Setup, but cannot catch the boot menu when Windows NT reboots to GUI-mode Setup.

Resolution 7:

Boot from a system disk. If you need to access the previous operating system multiple times, boot from the previous operating system and with a text editor modify the BOOT.INI to pause indefinitely by changing the timeout value to "-1" as follows:

1. Remove the Read Only and System File attributes from the BOOT.INI file.

2. At an MS-DOS or OS/2 command line, type:

ATTRIB -S -R C:\BOOT.INI

3. Edit the BOOT.INI file and change the timeout line to look like this:

[boot loader] timeout=-1 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT35

This change cannot be made through Control Panel, because valid values are 0-999.

After making this value a negative number, the following error message appears:

Invalid Timeout Entry

You can disregard this error message.

Problem 8:

An error message appears when rebooting into GUI-mode Setup. If the error is hardware related, you may receive an error message from the BIOS, or from Windows NT in the form of a blue screen with a stop error message containing a hexadecimal number at the top of the screen such as:

0x00000080, 0x0000007f, 0x0000007a, 0x00000077, 0x00000077,0x00000051, 0x0000002f, 0x0000002e, or, 0x0000002d.

Resolution 8:

Check your system for viruses, or for hard drive corruption. In the case of a virus scan please use any available commercial virus scan which examines the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the drive. Viruses can infect both FAT and NTFS file systems.

These errors may also be a result of hard drive corruption, if you are using the FAT file system, use Scandisk, or other MS-DOS based hard drive utilities. If you are using the NTFS file system, try to reboot a previous version of Windows NT to run "CHKDSK /F /R". If you cannot boot from a previous version of Windows NT, try to install to a parallel directory to run "CHKDSK /F /R."

Another common cause of the above STOP Message is failing RAM memory. Use a diagnostic utility to test the RAM in your computer.

Check that all adapter cards in your computer are properly seated. You can use an ink eraser or Stabilant-22 to clean the adapter card contacts.

Finally, if all the above fail to correct the issue, take the system motherboard to a repair facility for diagnostic testing. A crack, scratched trace or bad component on the motherboard can also cause these problems.

Problem 9:

On rebooting from character-based to GUI-based Setup the screen shows that NTOSKRNL is loading and then before or at the blue screen either of the following stop codes appear: "0x0000000A" or "0x0000001E".

Resolution 9:

This may indicate the presence of a third party driver at the system level which is incompatible with the version of Windows NT you are upgrading to or a corrupt driver that did not get copied correctly during the text-mode of Setup.

Try installing Windows NT into a clean directory. If this installs correctly, try to access the first tree and replace the corrupt file or remove the files associated with any suspect third party drivers.

If you are unable to install Windows NT into a separate tree, check all essential hardware, including adapter cards, drive controllers, etc. If you have non-essential adapter cards in the system, remove them and try the install again.

Also verify that the essential hardware in use is Windows NT certified and has up to date firmware, if applicable.

Problem 10:

After you reboot, the video does not come back, that is, it stays "black" or the video is skewed.

Resolution 10:

This normally occurs if either the video is not resetting correctly during the reboot or the video is sharing an IRQ.

Power your computer down and bring it up again, if the video works, you will probably need to power the computer down each time you restart Windows NT. This problem is video and system BIOS related.

If the system comes back after power down in an unusable state, check for IRQ and memory conflicts with other cards on your system. If you are using a PCI based system make certain that the video is not using IRQ’s 2, 9, or 12.

4. GUI-Based Setup to First Boot Issues

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Architecture

During the GUI portion of Setup, Windows NT is installing the drivers, creating accounts, configuring the network settings and building the system tree. If there are hardware problems, or conflicting hardware settings, Windows NT will probably not succeed in installing or upgrading.

Problems after the final reboot of Windows NT Setup are normally due to incorrect information either in the BOOT.INI file or in the hardware configuration.

Troubleshooting: GUI-based Setup to First Boot Issues -

Problem 1:

The following error message appears during the GUI-mode Setup:

External library procedure NtPathToDosPath reported the following error. 'Unable to open the specified symbolic link object.'

Resolution 1:

This error indicates that the path to the installation media is no longer accessible. This error occurs when you have added new hardware to the computer (for example, a SCSI controller, a SCSI CD-ROM drive, or a ATAPI compatible CD-ROM drive) before running Setup, but without adding the device drivers in the original Windows NT installation first.

When Windows NT Setup reboots the computer to continue the GUI-mode Setup, Windows NT finds only devices installed under the previous version of Windows NT (because you are running in the context of the original Windows NT installation.)

To correct the problem, reboot to the original installation if possible, and add the appropriate driver.

If no hardware has been added, make certain that the hardware is accessible under the original version. If the hardware was not supported under the previous version, remove the hardware, complete the install and then add the device once setup has completed.

Problem 2:

When you attempt to install a driver located in the \DRVLIB directory on the Windows NT version 3.5 CD-ROM during GUI-mode Setup, the following error message appears:

NONCRITICAL ERROR

The external library procedure, CopySingleFile, reported the following error: Unable to do the specified file copy operation.

You may continue (ignoring the error), retry the operation, or exit Setup. If you choose to ignore the error, Setup may not be able to completely and/or correctly install the software. If you exit, you will have to repeat the Setup process from the beginning.

Resolution 2:

This problem occurs when you install Windows NT from an unsupported CD-ROM or a network drive.

Setup copies contents of the \I386 directory from the Windows NT CD-ROM to the local hard disk. When you reach GUI-mode Setup, communication to the unsupported media or the network drive is terminated.

To work around this problem, copy the required drivers from the \DRVLIB directory on the Windows NT CD-ROM to the local hard disk or to a floppy disk before running "WINNT."

Problem 3:

When starting GUI-mode Setup with multiple CD-ROM drives, one of the following messages appear:

Please insert Windows NT Workstation/Server disk #

-or-

Please insert Windows NT Workstation/Server CD-ROM.

Resolution 3:

To set up Windows NT 3.51 on a computer with multiple CD-ROM drives installed:

- Choose the CD-ROM drive that has first priority. You cannot view which CD-ROM drive has priority on your computer, but you can follow this list of priority:

SCSI devices IDE (ATAPI) devices Non-SCSI devices in the following order: Sony(R), Panasonic(R), Mitsumi

-or-

- Place the Windows NT 3.51 CD-ROM in each CD-ROM drive until the CD-ROM drive that has priority on your computer accepts it for copying files.

Problem 4:

During the network portion of Setup, you do not want to install an adapter card but want to install the protocols to preserve bindings and settings (This might be due to requiring a newer driver for your network card, or the use of a third party driver for Remote Access Service (RAS) or server capabilities).

Resolution 4:

If the computer is only a Server or Workstation, not a Primary or Secondary Domain Controller, when prompted for a network adapter choose the MSLoopback adapter and proceed with the installation of the networking as normal. Once the system is operational, you can go back and remove the MSLoopback adapter and install the correct adapter or third party driver.

Problem 5:

Should I create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) when requested?

Resolution 5:

In most cases an Emergency Repair Disk and a tape back-up are your primary tools for disaster recovery. If you choose not to create an Emergency Repair Disk you are greatly diminishing the chances of recovering an installation in the event of hardware or software failure.

Problem 6:

During the GUI-mode Setup, the system hangs at random intervals, either during file copies or between screens.

Resolution 6:

This usually indicates a problems with computer interrupt conflicts, problems with video or problems with the SCSI bus.

1. Reconfirm hardware configuration if the problem appears to be hardware interrupt related. For example, you install the network card and the system stops responding (hangs).

2. If the video appears to be failing after reboot during an upgrade, you should:

a. Power down the system and then try again to boot into the GUI-mode Setup

b. Modify the BOOT.INI file to boot to the VGA only mode during GUI-mode Setup as follows:

1. Remove the Read Only and System File attributes from the BOOT.INI file. At an MS-DOS or OS/2 command line, type:

ATTRIB -S -R -H C:\BOOT.INI

3. Open BOOT.INI with a text editor and change the default line to        include the flag. "/basevideo."

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Additional query words: prodnt 3.5 tshoot

Keywords: KB139733

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