CardWizard May Cause Boot Hangs after You Apply a Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

ID: Q171403

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

After you install Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later on a system using CardWizard for Windows NT version 2.0 or earlier, your system may stop responding (hang) during restart.


CAUSE

This problem exists because Windows NT Service Packs reinstall the Microsoft native Pcmcia.sys driver over the custom Pcmcia.sys driver provided in The CardWizard product.

The Windows NT Service Pack 3 Readme.txt file warns of this:

If you are running SystemSoft's CardWizard for Windows NT (support for PCMCIA) or PowerProfiler for Windows NT (support for Advanced Power Management), you must complete critical pre-installation procedures prior to installing this Service Pack. Otherwise, your computer may no longer boot after installation of Service Pack 3. These procedures can be found in the product section at http://www.systemsoft.com.


WORKAROUND

To get back into the system, rename the Pcmcia.sys file found in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers directory to something else.

For example: Pcmcia.old

On a FAT file system, start your computer from a MS-DOS disk and rename the file.

On a NTFS file system, you will need to perform a parallel installation Of Windows NT or follow the steps found in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q164471 Replacing System Files Using a Modified Emergency Repair Disk.
After you are back in Windows NT 4.0, uninstall CardWizard by running the Card Wizard setup. Then reinstall CardWizard for Windows NT 4.0.


MORE INFORMATION

SystemSoft has worked with Microsoft to provide a patch for this problem for Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3.

Unfortunately, this patch is not available for SP2 upgrades.

Instructions for installing this patch are on SystemSoft's Web site.

CardWizard is manufactured by SystemSoft, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

Additional query words: PCMCIA HANG sp2 sp3 


Keywords          : kb3rdparty kbsetup ntsetup ntboot NTSrvWkst 
Version           : Windows4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 23, 1999