Unattended Installation of Windows NT Service Pack May Leave System Unbootable

ID: Q171618

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51

SYMPTOMS

When you install Service Pack 5 in a mass deployment for Windows NT 3.51 on IDE-based systems, using the following command may render you system unbootable:

Update.exe -u

This service pack switch performs an automated installation. When the -u switch is used with Update.exe, it will automatically close all applications and restart the system after the service pack is applied.

You may see one of the following behaviors:

Computer gets to the boot loader (Boot.ini) file but will stop responding (hang) on Ntdetect.com (most common symptom)

Computer stops responding at the end of the POST at a black screen without displaying the Windows NT Boot menu options.

CAUSE

This problem is caused by the IDE Drives buffers (cache) not being flushed properly before the computer is reset.

RESOLUTION

To recover the system after the service pack installation, follow these steps:

Create a Windows NT boot floppy disk. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q119467 Creating a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition

When booted to Windows NT, run a chkdsk /f on the system drive.

NOTE: Because this is the system partition, you will need to keep the boot floppy disk in drive A so the computer can reboot and run chkdsk.

The system should now be recovered. Verify by doing a reboot without the Windows NT boot floppy disk in drive A.

MORE INFORMATION

Prevention

To keep this problem from happening with future installations of Service Pack 5, perform the following steps:

Create a batch file that will call the Update.exe and Shutdown.exe (Shutdown is a Windows NT Resource kit utility that will shut down the system).

For example:
```
      SPUpdate.bat

      %path%\update -u
      %path%\shutdown /L /R /T:60 /Y /C 
```
The above shutdown command forces a local shutdown (/L), reboots when shutdown (/R), waits 60 seconds before beginning shutdown (/T:60), Answers 'yes' to all prompts (/Y), and forces a close of all apps (/C). For more information on the shutdown command, please see the Windows NT 3.51 Resource Kit.

Modify the Update.inf in SP5 so that it does not automatically reboot when the -u switch is used. Below is a sample of code that should be commented out using a semi-colon (;) to stop the automatic reboot.


        Rebootend =+
      ;********* bypass reboot**************
          ;exit
          ;set Reboot = YES
          ;ifstr(i) $(Unattended) != TRUE
         ;install Install-Shutdown
          ;else
         ;ifstr(i) $(ForceClose) != TRUE
             ;set ForceAppsClosed = NO
         ;else
             ;set ForceAppsClosed = YES
         ;endif
         ;install Install-Shutdown2
          ;endif
      ;**********ends here********************

Additional query words: SP5 Hangs Unattended


Keywords          : 
Version           : WinNT:3.5,3.51
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: February 22, 1999