Troubleshooting "STOP 0x0000002E" or "DATA_BUS_ERROR" Error Message

ID: Q218132

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SUMMARY

Your Windows 2000-based computer may stop with the following error message:

STOP: 0x0000002E (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)
DATA_BUS_ERROR

MORE INFORMATION

This stop message indicates that a parity error has been detected in system memory. This error is almost always caused by a hardware problem, but may be caused by any of the following items:

A failed or defective hardware component, including RAM, L2 RAM cache, or video RAM.

Hardware that is misconfigured or mismatched. For example, if memory has been added recently, there may be mismatched RAM speeds.

Incompatible hardware. For example, the speed of RAM recently added may be incompatible with another hardware component on the system, such as the L2 cache.

An ill-behaved device driver attempting to access an address in the 0x8xxxxxxx range that does not exist (that is, does not correspond to a real physical address mapping).

A virus has infected the Master Boot Record (MBR).

Hard disk damage.

Parameters in the Error Message

Virtual address that caused the fault.

Physical address that caused the fault.

Processor Status Register (PSR).

Faulting instruction register (FIR).

Possible Hardware Problems

The most common cause of this error message is a hardware problem. It usually occurs after the installation of faulty hardware, or when existing hardware fails. The problem is frequently related to defective RAM, L2 RAM cache, or video RAM. If hardware has recently been added to the system, remove it and test to see if the error still occurs.

If existing hardware has failed, replace or remove the failed hardware component. To determine which component has failed, use the diagnostic utility supplied by the hardware manufacturer. For information on how to use the vendor-provided diagnostic utility, please refer to the user's manual or other documentation provided by the hardware manufacturer.

Verify that all adapters (add-in cards) are properly seated and that contacts are clean. Electrical contact treatment can be used to ensure that adapter contacts are clean. Dissimilar metal conductivity, which occurs if the pins of a device and the slot that it plugs into are of different or dissimilar types, can cause this error message to appear.

If this problem occurs on a newly installed system, check the availability of updated BIOS revisions for the motherboard, SCSI controller, or network adapters. These updates are generally available on the hardware manufacturer's Web site or BBS.

If this error message appears after installing a new or updated device driver, remove or replace the driver. Examine the System Log in Event Viewer for error messages that might help determine the device or driver that is causing the error.

If this error message appears during startup on a system partition formatted using the NTFS file system, you may be able to start Windows 2000 in Safe mode to rename or delete the unsafe driver. If the driver is part of the system boot process in Safe mode, you must use the Command Console to start the computer to access the file. For more information about using Safe mode to diagnose the error, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q199175 Situations in Which Windows 2000 May Not Start in Safe Mode

Scan the system for viruses using any current commercially available virus-scanning software that examines the Master Boot Record.

File damage may also result in this error message. If the system is formatted using NTFS, use Chkdsk with the following command line switches:

chkdsk /f /r

NOTE: You must restart the computer before the disk scan begins. If you are unable to start the system, run "chkdsk /r" using the Command Console.

The error may be resolved by disabling the following items in the computer's CMOS settings. For instructions on disabling these features, consult your hardware documentation or contact the computer's manufacturer:

All caching, including the L2 cache, the BIOS cache, the internal/external caches, and the write-back cache on disk controllers

All shadowing

Any BIOS-enabled virus-protection feature

If none of these actions resolve the problem, have the system motherboard examined by a professional repair and diagnostic testing facility. A crack, a scratched trace, or a defective component on the motherboard may also cause this error message.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kberrmsg kbhw kbtshoot
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto