Blue Screen on Partmgr.sys Windows 7

Question

Hello all,

I recently bought a Brocade 815 Fibre Channel card, specifically because it says it supported Windows 7 64-bit  http://www.brocade.com/products/all/adapters/product-details/415-425-815-825-fibre-channel-hba/index.page

Only one other FC card maker says they support Windows 7 and their cards are expensive.

I certainly have the latest Brocade supplied drivers. Now, they do say that the Windows Server 2008 R2 are basically what I'm installing. But Windows 7 should be compatible with that driver.

The computer loads fine with just the card installed, but with the FC cable unplugged. However, the instant I plug the FC cable in, it looks like Windows forces partmgr to rescan the SCSI bus for disk partitions and it BLUE SCREENs right away. Every single time, few seconds after I plug it in.  If I keep the cable plugged in when I boot the system, it BSOD right after a login.

I would like to note that I tried an older PCI card from QLogic and the behavior was exactly the same. This leads me to believe its a Windows 7 issue with partmgr.sys. As you can see, its not handling a memory access violation exception and its trying to write to address 0x000000000000000B.  I'm included the WinDbg dump below. Any suggestions are appreciated.

1: kd> !analyze -v

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*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *

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SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (7e)

This is a very common bugcheck.  Usually the exception address pinpoints

the driver/function that caused the problem.  Always note this address

as well as the link date of the driver/image that contains this address.

Arguments:

Arg1: ffffffffc0000005, The exception code that was not handled

Arg2: fffff88000f6d9a7, The address that the exception occurred at

Arg3: fffff88002571498, Exception Record Address

Arg4: fffff88002570cf0, Context Record Address

Debugging Details:

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EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at "0x%08lx" referenced memory at "0x%08lx". The memory could not be "%s".

FAULTING_IP:

partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+813

fffff880`00f6d9a7 4c896808        mov     qword ptr [rax+8],r13

EXCEPTION_RECORD:  fffff88002571498 -- (.exr 0xfffff88002571498)

ExceptionAddress: fffff88000f6d9a7 (partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x0000000000000813)

ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)

ExceptionFlags: 00000000

NumberParameters: 2

Parameter[0]: 0000000000000001

Parameter[1]: 000000000000000b

Attempt to write to address 000000000000000b

CONTEXT:  fffff88002570cf0 -- (.cxr 0xfffff88002570cf0)

rax=0000000000000003 rbx=fffffa800e5f6190 rcx=fffffa800cae02e8

rdx=fffff8a001b2c5c0 rsi=fffffa800e5f6278 rdi=0000000000000000

rip=fffff88000f6d9a7 rsp=fffff880025716d0 rbp=fffffa800e5f61f8

r8=0000000000000010  r9=0000000000000002 r10=fffff8000224c000

r11=00000000ffffffff r12=fffffa800e9bb000 r13=fffffa800e5f6288

r14=fffffa800cae01b0 r15=fffffa800cae01b0

iopl=0         nv up ei ng nz ac pe cy

cs=0010  ss=0018  ds=002b  es=002b  fs=0053  gs=002b             efl=00010293

partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x813:

fffff88000f6d9a7 4c896808        mov     qword ptr [rax+8],r13 ds:002b:000000000000000b=????????????????

Resetting default scope

PROCESS_NAME:  System

CURRENT_IRQL:  0

ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at "0x%08lx" referenced memory at "0x%08lx". The memory could not be "%s".

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER1:  0000000000000001

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER2:  000000000000000b

WRITE_ADDRESS:  000000000000000b

FOLLOWUP_IP:

partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+813

fffff880`00f6d9a7 4c896808        mov     qword ptr [rax+8],r13

BUGCHECK_STR:  0x7E

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  NULL_CLASS_PTR_DEREFERENCE

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from fffff88000f6b398 to fffff88000f6d9a7

STACK_TEXT:

fffff880025716d0 fffff88000f6b398 : 0000000000000000 fffffa8000000000 fffffa800e5f61b8 0000000000070000 : partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x813

fffff880025717d0 fffff88000fba24a : 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 fffffa800e5f6040 fffffa800e92f060 : partmgr!PmFilterDeviceControl+0x228

fffff88002571830 fffff88000fbcdee : fffffa800ea4b000 0000000000001000 0000000000000000 fffff800022ce08a : volmgrx!VmxpSendDeviceControl+0x8a

fffff880025718c0 fffff88000fd3c99 : fffffa800e5f6040 fffff80002468280 fffff88000fb1110 fffff88000fb1110 : volmgrx!VmxpDiskGetDriveLayoutEx+0x5e

fffff88002571920 fffff88000f89bdb : fffff880025719f8 0000000000000000 fffff80002468280 fffffa800d2349c0 : volmgrx!VmxWholeDiskArrivedImmediate+0x99

fffff88002571990 fffff88000f8db32 : fffffa800d0631b0 fffff88002571ab8 fffff88002571af8 fffffa800dce2180 : volmgr!VmpWholeDiskArrivedImmediate+0x3b

fffff880025719c0 fffff88000f841cc : 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 fffffa800d063060 0000000000000001 : volmgr!VmpWholeDiskArrived+0x42

fffff880025719f0 fffff800025e9979 : fffffa800df53f28 fffffa800caca040 0000000000000000 fffff80002452588 : volmgr!VmInternalDeviceControl+0xec

fffff88002571a20 fffff88000f77c90 : fffffa800cae0200 fffffa800e5f6190 fffffa800e5f6190 fffffa800cae1630 : nt!IoForwardIrpSynchronously+0x75

fffff88002571a80 fffff88000f6cbe3 : fffffa800e5f6190 fffffa800d2349c0 fffffa800caca000 fffffa800e5f6100 : partmgr!PmGiveDisk+0x90

fffff88002571ab0 fffff800025bd633 : fffffa800e5f6040 fffff80002468280 fffffa800caca040 fffffa800caca040 : partmgr!PmNotificationWorkItem+0x3c5

fffff88002571b40 fffff800022d4851 : fffff80002577000 fffff80002468201 fffffa800caca000 0073da6500000005 : nt!IopProcessWorkItem+0x23

fffff88002571b70 fffff80002561e6a : 0073da650073da65 fffffa800caca040 0000000000000080 fffffa800cabb890 : nt!ExpWorkerThread+0x111

fffff88002571c00 fffff800022bbf06 : fffff880024a5180 fffffa800caca040 fffff880024b00c0 0073da650073da65 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a

fffff88002571c40 0000000000000000 : fffff88002572000 fffff8800256c000 fffff880025718a0 0000000000000000 : nt!KxStartSystemThread+0x16

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX:  0

SYMBOL_NAME:  partmgr! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+813

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: partmgr

IMAGE_NAME:  partmgr.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4f641bc1

STACK_COMMAND:  .cxr 0xfffff88002570cf0 ; kb

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x7E_partmgr!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+813

BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x7E_partmgr!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+813

Followup: MachineOwner

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Answer 1

Well, I was able to work around it by setting the following registry value:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\partmgr\Parameters

"SANPOLICY"=dword:00000002

Default value is 1.

See here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff715663(v=ws.10).aspx

1	Mounts all available storage devices. This is the default value.
2	Mounts all storage devices except those on a shared bus.<br><br><br>Examples of shared buses are: SCSI, iSCSI, Fiber, and SAS.
3	Does not mount storage devices.

What was likely happening is that partmgr automatically scans disks for partitions when the cable is plugged in. If it finds one that it doesn't understand, there must be some condition where it blue screens.

We have about 26 LUNs on one device that are formatted potentially with non-standard formats, both proprietary disk formats and MBR/GPT in both Windows and proprietary formats.

Works for now! In fact, even after a restart, as SAN disk was automatically mounted anyway even though I've set this registry value to 2.  This was likely because I've marked that disk as ONLINE.

Answer 2

Nicely done! Worked PERFECTLY on a new hard drive restored with Windows backup. THANK YOU!