recovering from driver update

[Guest]

[note - this is a win2k Prof workstation, but since there is not a forum in
the left-pane list for win2k under Windows - Older Versions, I am posting it
here....]

A customer brought in a win2k prof workstation that had been working fine
until he decided to load the latest motherboard drivers from Abit. Since
doing the update, it takes about 45 min - 1 hr to get from power-on to the
desktop. It takes slightly less than that in safe mode. Once it gets to the
desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for the mouse pointer to
move in response to mouse movement, so successfully doing something that
requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery.

When booting in protected (normal) mode, it spends a very long time at the
colored win2k banner, with the progress bar stuck at "corporation" and when
it finally moves on, it spends a very long time at "Applying security policy"

When booting in safe mode, it hangs for a long time after displaying the
loading of \system32\drivers\ac2003.sys. I've been told that this is showing
the last driver to successfully load, so I suspect the problem is with this
driver, or the one that is loading after it.

I haven't yet enabled boot logging, but once I indentify the culprit, how do
I roll back the driver, or disable it in such a way that I can get to the
point that I can get around in the desktop - at least in safe mode?

Part two of the question is: if the culprit is some kind of essential driver
that win2k needs to boot, does it automatically seek out an alternative base
driver in the case that I need to disable the culprit by renaming, etc?

I did try a repair reinstall of win2k, but this did not change the symptoms.

 

[DL]

There is no rollback in win2k
You can via hw devices update the driver, select manual and browse for
drivers, in order to find all drivers on the sys for the specific device

[note - this is a win2k Prof workstation, but since there is not a forum in
the left-pane list for win2k under Windows - Older Versions, I am posting it
here....]

A customer brought in a win2k prof workstation that had been working fine
until he decided to load the latest motherboard drivers from Abit. Since
doing the update, it takes about 45 min - 1 hr to get from power-on to the
desktop. It takes slightly less than that in safe mode. Once it gets to the
desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for the mouse pointer to
move in response to mouse movement, so successfully doing something that
requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery.

When booting in protected (normal) mode, it spends a very long time at the
colored win2k banner, with the progress bar stuck at "corporation" and when
it finally moves on, it spends a very long time at "Applying security policy"

When booting in safe mode, it hangs for a long time after displaying the
loading of \system32\drivers\ac2003.sys. I've been told that this is showing
the last driver to successfully load, so I suspect the problem is with this
driver, or the one that is loading after it.

I haven't yet enabled boot logging, but once I indentify the culprit, how do
I roll back the driver, or disable it in such a way that I can get to the
point that I can get around in the desktop - at least in safe mode?

Part two of the question is: if the culprit is some kind of essential driver
that win2k needs to boot, does it automatically seek out an alternative base
driver in the case that I need to disable the culprit by renaming, etc?

I did try a repair reinstall of win2k, but this did not change the

symptoms.

 

[Guest]

There is no rollback in win2k
You can via hw devices update the driver, select manual and browse for
drivers, in order to find all drivers on the sys for the specific device

Yes, I know that - I have win2k pro on 3 of my home machines. If you go back
and read my post, you can't get into device manager on this machine, even in
safe mode. I could have probably solved the problem if bootlogging
(\systemroot\ntbtlog.txt) used timestamps, like a real OS. That would have
made it possible to figure out which driver was the culprit, based on the
large time interval between it loading and the next in line. I could have
then replaced the offending driver with the older version, and that is what I
meant by "rolling back."

As it turned out, the customer needed business-critical data off this
machine, so I did a parallel install of win2k to get him going. He will have
to reinstall his programs, but at least he can get to his data.

[note - this is a win2k Prof workstation, but since there is not a forum in
the left-pane list for win2k under Windows - Older Versions, I am posting it
here....]

A customer brought in a win2k prof workstation that had been working fine
until he decided to load the latest motherboard drivers from Abit. Since
doing the update, it takes about 45 min - 1 hr to get from power-on to the
desktop. It takes slightly less than that in safe mode. Once it gets to the
desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for the mouse pointer to
move in response to mouse movement, so successfully doing something that
requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery.

When booting in protected (normal) mode, it spends a very long time at the
colored win2k banner, with the progress bar stuck at "corporation" and when
it finally moves on, it spends a very long time at "Applying security policy"

When booting in safe mode, it hangs for a long time after displaying the
loading of \system32\drivers\ac2003.sys. I've been told that this is showing
the last driver to successfully load, so I suspect the problem is with this
driver, or the one that is loading after it.

I haven't yet enabled boot logging, but once I indentify the culprit, how do
I roll back the driver, or disable it in such a way that I can get to the
point that I can get around in the desktop - at least in safe mode?

Part two of the question is: if the culprit is some kind of essential driver
that win2k needs to boot, does it automatically seek out an alternative base
driver in the case that I need to disable the culprit by renaming, etc?

I did try a repair reinstall of win2k, but this did not change the

symptoms.

 

[Dan Seur]

As DL said there's no W2k rollback.
The slowdown may be due to bad mboard driver(s), or a failing HDD, or
something else.
(1) See if the customer has the original driver(s) anywhere. CD? On the
HDD? If not, talk to Abit tech support.
(2) Run the HDD manu's diagnostic against the hard drive.
(3) There's a chance the customer isn't telling you all the facts. There
had to be a reason for installing new drivers; what was it? If the
customer opened the case for any reason, it's probably a good idea to
check all cabling connections and switches, including HDD jumpers.

[note - this is a win2k Prof workstation, but since there is not a forum in
the left-pane list for win2k under Windows - Older Versions, I am posting it
here....]

A customer brought in a win2k prof workstation that had been working fine
until he decided to load the latest motherboard drivers from Abit. Since
doing the update, it takes about 45 min - 1 hr to get from power-on to the
desktop. It takes slightly less than that in safe mode. Once it gets to the
desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for the mouse pointer to
move in response to mouse movement, so successfully doing something that
requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery.

When booting in protected (normal) mode, it spends a very long time at the
colored win2k banner, with the progress bar stuck at "corporation" and when
it finally moves on, it spends a very long time at "Applying security policy"

When booting in safe mode, it hangs for a long time after displaying the
loading of \system32\drivers\ac2003.sys. I've been told that this is showing
the last driver to successfully load, so I suspect the problem is with this
driver, or the one that is loading after it.

I haven't yet enabled boot logging, but once I indentify the culprit, how do
I roll back the driver, or disable it in such a way that I can get to the
point that I can get around in the desktop - at least in safe mode?

Part two of the question is: if the culprit is some kind of essential driver
that win2k needs to boot, does it automatically seek out an alternative base
driver in the case that I need to disable the culprit by renaming, etc?

I did try a repair reinstall of win2k, but this did not change the symptoms.


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[DL]

No you mentioned nothing about being unable to open device mngr

There is no rollback in win2k
You can via hw devices update the driver, select manual and browse for
drivers, in order to find all drivers on the sys for the specific device

Yes, I know that - I have win2k pro on 3 of my home machines. If you go back
and read my post, you can't get into device manager on this machine, even in
safe mode. I could have probably solved the problem if bootlogging
(\systemroot\ntbtlog.txt) used timestamps, like a real OS. That would have
made it possible to figure out which driver was the culprit, based on the
large time interval between it loading and the next in line. I could have
then replaced the offending driver with the older version, and that is what I
meant by "rolling back."

As it turned out, the customer needed business-critical data off this
machine, so I did a parallel install of win2k to get him going. He will have
to reinstall his programs, but at least he can get to his data.

[note - this is a win2k Prof workstation, but since there is not a

forum
in

the left-pane list for win2k under Windows - Older Versions, I am

posting
it

here....]

A customer brought in a win2k prof workstation that had been working fine
until he decided to load the latest motherboard drivers from Abit. Since
doing the update, it takes about 45 min - 1 hr to get from power-on to the
desktop. It takes slightly less than that in safe mode. Once it gets

to
the

desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for the mouse

pointer
to

move in response to mouse movement, so successfully doing something that
requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery.

When booting in protected (normal) mode, it spends a very long time at the
colored win2k banner, with the progress bar stuck at "corporation"

and
when

it finally moves on, it spends a very long time at "Applying security policy"

When booting in safe mode, it hangs for a long time after displaying the
loading of \system32\drivers\ac2003.sys. I've been told that this is showing
the last driver to successfully load, so I suspect the problem is with this
driver, or the one that is loading after it.

I haven't yet enabled boot logging, but once I indentify the culprit,

how
do

I roll back the driver, or disable it in such a way that I can get to the
point that I can get around in the desktop - at least in safe mode?

Part two of the question is: if the culprit is some kind of essential driver
that win2k needs to boot, does it automatically seek out an

alternative
base

driver in the case that I need to disable the culprit by renaming, etc?

I did try a repair reinstall of win2k, but this did not change the

symptoms.

 

[Guest]

As DL said there's no W2k rollback.

Depends on what you mean by "rollback" - I meant regressing the driver, not
trying to use a device manager function that was added in xp.

The slowdown may be due to bad mboard driver(s), or a failing HDD, or
something else.

The problem occurred immediately after updating the drivers. A parallel
install of win2k ran fine, so it isn't the hard drive.

(1) See if the customer has the original driver(s) anywhere. CD? On the
HDD? If not, talk to Abit tech support.

Yes, we have the original driver CD, but you can't get into windows to run it.

(2) Run the HDD manu's diagnostic against the hard drive.
(3) There's a chance the customer isn't telling you all the facts. There
had to be a reason for installing new drivers; what was it?

This guy has a bad habit of tinkering with things that work, and
unfortunately for him, he does it on machines that he uses to run his
business. A case where a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Besides, even if he was upgrading the drivers to fix a problem, it made
things much, much worse, so the real problem is how to get the system running
again.

If the
customer opened the case for any reason, it's probably a good idea to
check all cabling connections and switches, including HDD jumpers.

Again, a parallel install of win2k works fine.

 

[Guest]

No you mentioned nothing about being unable to open device mngr

I said...

"Once it gets to the desktop, it is useless as it takes several minutes for
the mouse pointer to move in response to mouse movement, so successfully
doing something that requires a mouse click is like hitting the lottery."

What I was trying to convey was that it was impossible to do anything within
windows once you get to the desktop. For example, if you press the numlock
key after it has finally gotten to the desktop, the numlock LED will change
state about 5 minutes later. If you move the mouse, the mouse pointer moves,
about 5 minutes later. This makes it functionally impossible to do anything
once you are the desktop.

 

[Dan Seur]

I see it's not hardware but doubtless related to that mboard driver (or
something else the genius didn't mentionb

Perhaps a DOS diskette (with NTFSDOS) would allow some file substitution
from original CD or parallel OS? That's the end of the road for
me...barring pulling the HDD & slaving it in some other machine to
substitute the drivers.

:




Depends on what you mean by "rollback" - I meant regressing the driver, not
trying to use a device manager function that was added in xp.




The problem occurred immediately after updating the drivers. A parallel
install of win2k ran fine, so it isn't the hard drive.




Yes, we have the original driver CD, but you can't get into windows to run it.




This guy has a bad habit of tinkering with things that work, and
unfortunately for him, he does it on machines that he uses to run his
business. A case where a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Besides, even if he was upgrading the drivers to fix a problem, it made
things much, much worse, so the real problem is how to get the system running
again.




Again, a parallel install of win2k works fine.



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[Guest]

I see it's not hardware but doubtless related to that mboard driver (or
something else the genius didn't mentionb

Well, he seemed to be forthcoming about what he had did - downloaded and
installed the latest and apparently not-so-greatest drivers from Abit. After
installing the drivers, the installation program instructed him to restart
the system, and that is when the fun started.

Perhaps a DOS diskette (with NTFSDOS) would allow some file substitution
from original CD or parallel OS? That's the end of the road for
me...barring pulling the HDD & slaving it in some other machine to
substitute the drivers.

A much more useful way of dealing with ntfs drives that won't boot is to use
BartPE. Some work is involved in making your bootable CD, but there are a lot
of plug-ins that allow you to do such things as view all folders and files -
including those masked by rootkits, edit the registry on the target drive,
retrieve the XP installation key, etc. Way more efficient than recovery
console or any other utility I've seen, and it is basically free, unlike
System Commander.

Even with that, one has to know what drivers were installed and have the
previous/earlier versions of same. Since he had saved the new driver zip file
to his hard drive, I could have extracted the files to get the list/dates.
Since I had the old driver CD, I could have extracted those files
(hopefully) and substituted them. As long as none of the filenames changed,
it would be tiresome but doable. If the file names had changed, it would have
been even more fun, as registry edits would have also been required.

All of this would have been much simpler if the ntbtlog.txt file entries
were timestamped, as there would have been a long, long interval between the
problem driver loading and the next in line. It is possible that replacing
one driver would have done it, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Jim Nugent]

In

Depends on what you mean by "rollback" - I meant regressing the
driver, not trying to use a device manager function that was added in
xp.

You mention that you can't do anything useful with it. If you've never
managed to log in (and the repair install didn't reset backup registry keys
used) you could choose "Last known good config" and see what happens.

 

[chris24ang]

Recovering From ABIT's micro-"boo-boo"

Look, heres the best way to fix your issue as I have had Abit boards galore...mostly the good 'ol [nf7-s, nf7-s 2.0] which really overclocked well I might add......but then came Robo-Board.....the Green Box was awesome and WoW!! ....is that a "digital" readout on the motherboard?!!....now theres REALLY a use for that kewl Side Windows on my fancy case besides showing off my super mushkin Ram and skinny cables run like rollercoaster trax with Strobe-Lights and U-V Srobe to boot!! Asthetics!! What would our world be without 'em? LOL

Moving right along.....heres what to do and its fast.

1) if you can from dos access the ac2003.sys file (DELETE IT!!!
you may find it in UPTO FOUR (4) locations on your drive. BUT you
most likely will run into what I did.....DOS>:\Del ac2003.sys = ACCESS DENIED <-----THAT REALLY PIS*ES ME OFF WHEN I SEE THAT....CAUSE I'M LIKE....."What now?....Eat Me already!!....I freakin' OWN YOU so do what I say!!"

2) This is what I finally dnded up doing and it didnt take too long (*choking*)
the only thing faster than this is to put in another drive with a wkg os in your computer and boot that disk into windows....and from there just do a search for *2003.sys.......(mine appeared as I said in like 4 spots). Now delete the crap!! From there depending on which os you just booted from.......navigate to your "\winnt\i386" directory (for w2k) and double click on: winnt32.exe. You can get there from the run command too. If the i386 is not on your HD the you'll have to do it from the cd.....and if your running XP......you cant run that earlier OS installation from the newer more efficient windows XP (lol) if you can....choose NEW INSTALLATION and under Advanced options which you'll come across after entering your product key.....select to "copy all files to the harddisk" button the the radio button "I want to choose the installation drive during setup"....should be checked. This will reboot and give you the opportunity to run the installation/upgrade of w2k as the 1st choice and it self executes and (inportant) at the 1st screen which says "To repair a Windows 2000 installation.....blah blah" <----do NOT choose that (it's the R for Repair key")....instead just hit enter.....(pause) F8=to accept the license agreement after which windows dows aa quick scan of all your drives......find your damaged windows 2000 installation on the list and select "R" to repair it. After that W2K will scan the disks....copy the files and then reboot to begin the installation but if sys hasnt been booted for a while (successfully) you may have to run througn the above steps 1 more time and in the......choosing "R" again at the same point....not the 1st time.

This is important to know, because it means the difference betweeen installing windows"on top of" or "over" the existing/damaged install.......and committing the ultimate sacrifice . . . actually "INSTALLING A NEW COPY", WHICH REALLY SUX CAUSE THEN ALL YOUR INSTALLED PROGRAMS WILL NOT RUN AS WINDOWS WONT SEE THEM AS BEING INSTALLED.

I HAVE ALSO (NOT HAVING A 2ND DRIVE) USED DOS PARTITION MAGIC.....RESIZED DRIVE AND CREATE NEW PARTITION....INSTALL AN OS FRESH INTO THAT PARTITION. YOURE RIGHT YOU CANT RUN THE PROGRAMS YOU HAD INSTALLED. DONT CRY!! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS "SEARCH" FOR FILES OR FOLDRRS NAMED *.* AGAIN ) = AC2003.SYS OF COURSE......THEN JUST MAKE SURE YOUR ORIGIONAL INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS O.S IS LISTED IN THE "BOOT.INI" OF DRIVE C AND YOU'LL HAVE IT AS A CHOICE UPON REBOOTING.

Well now my fangars uz gattin tared heh......so I'm endin' this here-------------------------------------V

Regards and Good Luck.....

Chris
ps....if you need further help call the number on my card or email me through this site.....as I just joined in order to reply to your issue aftera search on the internet.

Abit Rolls.....More than it does rock!!