Troubleshooting Boot-Time Error Messages

CMOS checksum errors

Explanation: A checksum is computed as an error-detecting code, to protect the BIOS

settings stored in the CMOS memory. Each time the system is booted this number is
recomputed and checked against the stored value. If they do not match, an error message
is generated to tell you that the CMOS memory contents may have been corrupted and
therefore some settings may be wrong. BIOSes react in different ways to encountering
this sort of error. Some will warn the user and then continue on with whatever settings
were in the CMOS. Others will assume that the settings that were in the CMOS were
corrupted and will load default values stored in the BIOS chip "for safety reasons". The
error message will indicate which your system is doing.

Diagnosis: The most common cause of checksum errors in CMOS is a battery that is
losing power. Viruses can also affect CMOS settings, and motherboard problems can also
affect the stored values.

Recommendation: Follow the instructions in this section to address the CMOS

corruption. You should make sure that all of the BIOS settings in the system are correct,
by rebooting the system, going into BIOS setup and double-checking all the values
(hopefully against a recent BIOS settings backup).

CMOS display type mismatch

Explanation: The system has detected that the type of video card you have in the PC is
not the same as the one you told the system you had.

Diagnosis: The BIOS setting that controls the display type for the PC is set incorrectly.
Very rarely, there could be some other bizarre explanation for this problem.

Recommendation:

• Double-check and correct the video display type BIOS setting. It should be set to
"VGA" or "VGA/EGA" for virtually all newer PCs.
• Troubleshoot the video card if the BIOS setting is correct and this problem
persists.
• Troubleshoot the motherboard.

No boot device

Explanation: The system has attempted to find a drive to boot the operating system, but
has failed (the error message itself may not always be very clear that this is what has
happened, especially the infamous "NO ROM BASIC - SYSTEM HALTED"; see here
for more on that error.) The system cannot start up because there is no operating system
for it to load. The boot process will halt here. Some systems may give you the option to
retry the boot or to enter setup at this point, as a convenience. Otherwise, you must reboot
the PC.

Diagnosis: All of the bootable drives in the system are not functioning. Normally this
means that the floppy disk drive is either absent or not functioning, or has no disk in it,
and the hard disk is either not connected or has no bootable active partition on it.

Recommendation:

• If this is a new system with a hard disk that has never been formatted before, you
need to boot from a floppy first, and partition and format the hard disk. Try that.
• If you were trying to boot from the floppy disk drive, troubleshoot the floppy disk
drive.
• If you were trying to boot from the hard drive, troubleshoot the hard disk drive.

BOOT ISSUES

They can be:

 No Post; Black Screen; Blue Screen; OS Errors

No POST:
Cause:
• Loose cables
• Hardware failure
Solution:
• Check for beep codes
• Check for loose connections
• Disconnect any new Hardware
• Try a power drain with power cable disconnected

Beep Codes

Tone Problem

No tone Power out

Continuous tone Power supply defective
Many short beeps Defective motherboard
1 long RAM refresh
1 long, 1 short Defective motherboard or RAM
Black Screen or No Display
Probable causes:
 Defective monitor
 Defective Video Cable
 Defective Video adapter
 Incorrect BIOS settings
The graphics adapter may not be correct or may not be set correctly. Remove and
reinstall the graphics adapter software.
Change to a compatible display resolution and color depth setting from a standard
graphics mode.

Blue Screen Errors: Blue screens can be caused by poorly-written device drivers,
faulty memory, a corrupt Registry, or incompatible DLLs

Causes:

 Services, applications, or device drivers faulty or incompatible

 Hardware problems
 Disk or file system corruption
 Firmware or BIOS outdated or incompatible
 Viruses
When do STOP screens happen?

• Software condition detected by the CPU

• Hardware malfunction detected by the CPU

Common Stop Codes

 STOP 0x00000024 NTFS _FILE_SYSTEM

-----Caused by a problem that occurred in Ntfs.sys
-----Usually caused by disk corruption, disk defragmenters

 STOP 0x0000002E DATA_BUS_ERROR

------Caused by a parity error in the system memory
------Almost always caused by hardware problems being a
configuration issue, defective hardware, incompatible hardware
------If physical RAM was recently added to the system, remove it and see
if the error still occurs
------If the error still persists, try disabling memory caching in the BIOS
  STOP 0X00000050 PAGE _FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
------Caused when requested data is not found in memory;
the system checks the page file, but the missing data is identified as unable to be
unable to be written to the page file

 STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSIBLE _BOOT_DEVICE

-------Caused when Windows lost access to the system partition during the System
Process
-------An incorrect driver for a SCSI, RAID, IDE controller or a failed boot device.

 STOP 0x0000007F UNEXPECTED_ERNEL_MODE_TRAP

------Caused when the CPU generates an error that the kernel does not match
------Can also be caused by CPU over-clocking

 STOP 0x0000009F DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

-------Caused when drivers do not handle power state transition requests properly
-------Most frequently when shutting down or resuming from standby or hibernation
mode
-------Check power management compatibility and settings

Troubleshooting Stop Errors

1. Restart the computer

2. Make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. Unplug each new
Hardware device, one at a time, to see if this resolves the error.
3. Replace any hardware that proves faulty by this test.
4. Use a current version of your antivirus software to check for viruses on your
computer.
5. Verify that your hardware device drivers and your system BIOS are the latest
available.
6. Check system and Application Event logs.