Sources of Troubleshooting Information

In addition to the troubleshooting tools that are described in this chapter, there are several other sources of troubleshooting information:

• Chapter 6, "Troubleshooting Startup and Disk Problems," discusses what you can do to find the cause of problems when your computer fails to complete startup.
• The following chapters are in the Windows NT Workstation Resource Guide:
  • Chapter 23, "Overview of the Windows NT Registry," describes how to use information in the Registry for troubleshooting and configuration maintenance.
  • Chapter 25, "Configuration Management and the Registry," provides problem solving techniques using the Registry.
  • Chapter 39, "Windows NT Debugger," describes the different types of STOP messages. It also contains information about using the Windows NT Debugger.
• The Messages database, included in this Resource Kit, is another source of troubleshooting information. Here, thousands of messages are documented, with the probable cause and recommended solution to each of them. In particular, the Kernel STOP errors that appear when the system fails (with a blue screen) are documented in the Messages database. Chapter 38 in the Windows NT Workstation Resource Guide, "Windows NT Executive Messages," discusses the various types of messages generated by the Windows NT Executive, and categorizes them by their type and severity.
• Windows NT Help contains a troubleshooting topic.
• Appendix A in the Windows NT Server Start Here book describes how to overcome problems installing Windows NT 4.0 on x86-based computers.
• The Windows NT Server Start Here book describes Microsoft's AnswerPoint Information Services, which provides easy telephone access to the latest technical and support information for Microsoft products.
• The Microsoft Knowledge Base contains support information developed by Microsoft product support specialists. You can search for all Windows NT troubleshooting articles by specifying winnt and tshoot in the query. The Windows NT Knowledge Base is included on the Windows NT Server Resource Kit CD. It is also included in the:
  • Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) CD.
  • TechNet CD.
  • Microsoft Internet FTP host, ftp.microsoft.com.
  • Technical Support and Services category on the Web page http://www.microsoft.com/server.