STOP Message Appears After You Add Second SCSI Adapter

 Last reviewed: May 14, 1997
Article ID: Q111999
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SYMPTOMS

After you add a second SCSI controller and install the Windows NT driver for that controller, a STOP message appears when you restart the computer.

CAUSE

Windows NT uses the ARC path specified in your BOOT.INI file to find the drive and partition containing the system files. If the path to the system drive changes without the BOOT.INI being updated, the STOP message appears when you restart the computer because Windows NT is unable to find its system files.

In this situation, the path to the system drive has changed because it is dependent on the order that the SCSI drivers load so if you install a second SCSI driver that loads before the one currently on the system and if the Windows NT system files are on a SCSI hard drive connected to the original controller, the STOP message appears when you restart the computer.

RESOLUTION

The immediate solution to avoid receiving this STOP message is to restart your computer to the Last Known Good configuration. After doing this, a permanent solution is to install the new SCSI driver, edit the BOOT.INI and change the ARC path BEFORE restarting the computer so it will be correct when you restart.

There are usually two lines in the BOOT.INI that need to be changed, although there may be more if you have more than one installation of Windows NT. The first line that needs to be changed is in the [boot loader] section and looks something like the following: 

   default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows
and the second line that needs to be changed is in the [operating systems] section and looks something like: 

   scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows="Windows NT Version 3.1"
   /SCSIORDINAL:0
The one thing that all the lines that need to be changed have in common is scsi(0). This indicates which SCSI adapter is connected to the system drive. If you have already tried to install a second adapter and received this error, you need to change all references to scsi(0) to read scsi(1). After doing this, you can restart your computer. For more information on the contents of the BOOT.INI file and ARC paths, see page 160 of the Windows NT Advanced Server "Concepts and Planning Guide" or query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   boot and arc
After you make these changes and restart your computer, use Disk Administrator to save the new drive configuration to the Emergency Repair Disk.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words: prodnt blue trap
Keywords : kbbug3.10 kbother ntstop
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kberrmsg

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Last reviewed: May 14, 1997
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