Troubleshooting Hardware Management Components

This section contains troubleshooting examples for the Windows 98 hardware management components.

Troubleshooting WDM

Most WDM troubleshooting involves the writing of WDM drivers.

For more information about troubleshooting WDM drivers, see the WDM DDK.

Troubleshooting System Buses

This section contains procedures for troubleshooting the system buses supported by Windows 98.

Troubleshooting USB

Because of the nature of USB devices, no resource settings could cause a USB device to function improperly or fail.

To resolve problems with USB speakers

• Most speakers are available in two modes: digital and audio. If you are using USB speakers and not getting any output, make sure the speakers are in digital mode.

To resolve most other problems involving a USB device

1. Check the host-controller firmware revision by viewing the host controller’s properties in Device Manager. The General tab lists the hardware version of the host controller. A version number of 000 indicates that the controller is using the A-1 stepping chip, which is not supported. Contact the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for an upgraded host controller.
2. If only one device is failing, reconnect that device to another USB port. If the device works, the original port is faulty and should be repaired. If the device does not work when connected to the new port, more than likely the device is faulty and should be repaired or replaced.
3. If the device is bus-powered, it could be drawing too much current to function when connected to a hub port. Connect the device directly to the host controller, bypassing any hubs.
4. If the bus configuration is multi-tiered, make sure the configuration adheres to the following guidelines:
   • A bus-powered hub cannot be connected to another bus-powered hub.
   • Bus-powered hubs cannot support more than four downstream ports.
   • Bus-powered hubs cannot support bus-powered devices that draw more than 100 mA.
   • The bus cannot exceed five tiers.
5. Remove the USB host controller from Device Manager and restart the computer. This allows Windows 98 to redetect and reinstall the entire bus.

Troubleshooting the IEEE 1394 Bus

If you are trying to connect two computers together on the IEEE 1394 bus, make sure you use the correct cable. This cable is not supplied with the bus and must be purchased separately.

Troubleshooting Hardware Devices

The following sections describe how to troubleshoot problems when installing hardware device drivers.

Resolving Fatal Exception Errors

If a Fatal Exception error occurs after you install a WDM driver for a hardware device, the device is most likely expecting a specific driver to be installed. To help you correct this error, the device manufacturer usually provides the specific driver on the installation disk.

Determining if a Hardware Device Is Using a WDM Driver

To find out if a hardware device uses a WDM driver, you can use Device Manager or the Microsoft System Information tool (MSInfo).

To use Device Manager

1. Right-click My Computer on the Windows 98 desktop and click Properties.

   – Or –

   In Control Panel, click System.

2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Device Manager tab.
3. Double-click the device name. From the device Properties dialog box, click the Driver tab.
4. Click Driver File Details. The Driver File Details box lists the device driver’s file name. If the file name has a .sys extension, the driver is a WDM driver.

To use MSInfo

1. Use the Find File utility to locate and run Msinfo32.exe.
2. In the left pane of the Microsoft Information window, expand Components to find the device in question.
3. In the right pane, locate the device driver’s file name. If the file name has a .sys extension, the driver is a WDM driver.

For more information about how to use the Windows 98 Device Manager, see Chapter 24, "Device Management."

For more information about MSInfo, see MSInfo Help.

Troubleshooting the OnNow System

Windows 98 troubleshooting techniques are continually being updated. For the latest information, see the Windows 98 Resource Kit Tools Help.

The following shows possible causes of common problems, and ways to resolve them.

Timers are idle.

If System standby, Turn off monitor, or Turn off hard disks is inaccurate or nonfunctional, the causes could be:

• An open application is keeping the computer from going on standby to protect data.
• An open application is performing periodic disk access.
• The BIOS settings are overriding the Windows timers.
• Hard disk spindown timers do not function with SCSI drives.

Try the following:

• Close all applications.
• Press CTRL+ALT+DEL, and then close all tasks except Explorer and Systray.
• Check the BIOS settings. If they are greater than the Windows timer settings, try making them less. For example, if the Windows monitor shutdown timer is set to 15 minutes, and the BIOS monitor shutdown timer is set to 2 hours, try changing the BIOS timer to 10 minutes. If the BIOS timer appears to be overriding the Windows timers, contact the hardware vendor for a BIOS update.

The computer is being placed on standby erroneously.

A possible cause is the BIOS settings overriding the Windows timer settings.

Try the following:

• Check the BIOS settings. If they are less than the Windows timer settings, try making them greater. For example, if the Windows standby timer is set to never and the BIOS suspend timer is set to 15 minutes, try changing the BIOS timer to never suspend. If the BIOS timer appears to be overriding the Windows timers, contact the hardware vendor for a BIOS update.

The computer appears to stop responding while in standby mode.

Note

To determine whether the problem lies in standby mode, the shutdown of the monitor, or the shutdown of the hard disks, set two of the three options to Never and the third to its original setting. Allow the timeout to occur, and determine whether the system appears to have stopped responding. Isolate the failure by trying each of the three combinations, first testing the monitor timer, then the hard disk timer, and then the system standby timer.

The system appears to stop responding after turning off the monitor.

The causes could be:

• The system is responding, but the display is not properly reinitializing.
• The display adapter does not fully support the calls made from Windows to turn off the display.

Try the following:

• While the display is off, move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard to try turning it back on. If this fails, perform the following keystrokes:

  CTRL+ESC
  r
  a:
  ENTER
  

  If the system is working, but the display is simply not properly initializing, this will cause the system to look for a floppy disk in the a: drive. Check for disk activity in this drive.

• Contact your hardware vendor for more information.

The system appears to stop responding after shutting off the hard disks.

Contact your hardware manufacturer for more information.

The hard disk does not support spindown functionality or is malfunctioning.

Contact your hardware manufacturer for more information.

The system appears to stop responding while in standby mode.

The causes could be:

• The system is responding, but the display is not properly reinitializing.
• An application or driver is allowing the system to go on standby but is causing the system to stop responding.
• The BIOS is causing the system to stop responding.

Try the following:

• See the response to "The system appears to stop responding after turning off the monitor" section earlier in this chapter.
• Close all applications. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL, and end all tasks except Explorer and Systray. Try uninstalling third-party system management programs, such as crash protectors, memory managers, and performance enhancement utilities.
• Try disabling all devices in Device Manager except the display adapter(s), the mouse, anything under the USB Devices category (if you have either a USB keyboard or a USB mouse), and anything under the System Devices category. Reboot the computer. If the system goes on standby successfully, re-enable one half of the currently disabled devices. Reboot again. If the system continues to go on standby successfully, re-enable half of the remaining disabled devices. Otherwise, disable the devices you just re-enabled, and re-enable the devices that were disabled. Continue in this manner until the offending device has been pinpointed.

Additional Resources