Error Message on a Blue Screen After You Install Intel Pro/100 Network Adapter

ID: Q230013

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

After you install Windows NT 4.0 or one of its subsequent service packs on a computer containing an Intel Pro/100 (82558-based and 82559-based) network adapter, you may receive a STOP error message on a blue screen or the computer's network drivers may not start.


CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the Intel Pro/100 network adapters (82558-based and 82559-based) are changed and are no longer compatible with the drivers that are included with Windows NT service packs.

The newer network cards are incompatible with the driver for 82557-based network cards, but the driver name (E100b.sys) and hardware PnP ID are the same as previous network cards. This causes Windows NT to misdetect the network card during Setup, and it overwrites the OEM driver with an incompatible driver during service pack installation.


RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, contact Intel and replace the E100b.sys driver (NDIS 3.0) with a newer NDIS 3.0 driver (version 2.24 or later) that does not exhibit this problem.

The network adapters and network adapter drivers included here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.


MORE INFORMATION

If you receive an error message on a blue screen at startup, use the appropriate method to start the computer for driver replacement:

FAT File System (if the %SystemRoot% partition is accessible from MS-DOS)

  1. Start in MS-DOS.


  2. Rename the E100b.sys driver located in %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers folder to E100b.old.


  3. Restart Windows NT.


FAT or NTFS File Systems
  1. Physically remove the network card from the computer.


  2. Restart Windows NT.


After the computer is started, uninstall the network adapter (using the Network tool in Control Panel), and then install the correct OEM version of the driver.

Additional query words: e100bnt.sys 


Keywords          : 
Version           : winnt:4.0,4.0 SP1,4.0 SP2,4.0 SP3,4.0 SP4
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: June 16, 1999