Windows 2000 Stop Messages
This Stop message, also known as Stop 0x24, indicates that a problem occurred within Ntfs.sys (the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS drives).
Interpreting the Message
The four parameters listed in the message are defined in order of appearance as follows:
Source file and line number.
A non-zero value contains the address of the exception record.
A non-zero value contains the address of the context record.
A non-zero value contains the address where the original exception occurred.
All Stop messages due to problems with the file system have encoded in their first parameter the source file and the line number within the source file that generated the Stop. The high 16 bits (the first four hexadecimal digits after the 0x) identify the source file number, while the lower 16 bits (the last four hexadecimal digits of the parameter) identify the source line in the file where the stop occurred.
Resolving the Problem
Disk Corruption. Corruption in the NTFS file system or bad blocks (sectors) on the hard disk can induce this error. Corrupted SCSI and EIDE drivers can also adversely affect the systems ability to read and write to disk, thus causing the error.
Check Event Viewer for error messages from SCSI and FASTFAT (System Log) or Autochk (Application Log) that might help pinpoint the device or driver that is causing the error. Try disabling any virus scanners, backup programs, or disk defragmenter tools that continually monitor the system. You also need to run hardware diagnostics supplied by the system manufacturer. For details on these procedures, see the owners manual for your computer. Run Chkdsk /f /r to detect and resolve any file system structural corruption. You must restart the system before the disk scan begins on a system partition. If you cannot start the system due to the error, use the Recovery Console and run Chkdsk /r . For more information about the Recovery Console, see Troubleshooting Tools and Strategies in this book.
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Warning
If your system partition is formatted with the file allocation table (FAT16) file system, the long file names used by Windows 2000 can be damaged if Scandisk or another MS-DOS-based hard disk tool is used to verify the integrity of your hard disk from an MS-DOS prompt. (An MS-DOS prompt is typically derived from an MS-DOS startup disk or from starting MS-DOS on a multiboot system.) Always use the Windows 2000 version of Chkdsk on Windows 2000 disks.
Depletion of nonpaged pool memory. If you create a Services for Macintosh volume on a large partition (7 gigabytes or larger) with a large number of files (at least 100,000) while the AppleTalk driver Apf.sys is loaded, the indexing routine consumes a large amount of nonpaged pool memory. If the nonpaged pool memory is completely depleted, this error can stop the system. However, during the indexing process, if the amount of available nonpaged pool memory is very low, another kernel-mode driver requiring nonpaged pool memory can also trigger this error. To resolve this error, either increase the amount of installed random access memory (RAM), which increases the quantity of nonpaged pool memory available to the kernel, or reduce the number of files on the Services for Macintosh volume.
Microsoft periodically releases a package of product improvements and problem resolutions called a Service Pack. Because many problems are resolved by installing the latest Service Pack, it is recommended that all users install them as they become available. To check which Service Pack, if any, is installed on your system, click Start , click Run , type winver, and then press ENTER. The About Windows 2000 dialog box displays the Windows version number and the version number of the Service Pack, if one has been installed.
Occasionally, remedies to specific problems are developed after the release of a Service Pack. These remedies are called hotfixes. Microsoft does not recommend that you install a post–Service Pack hotfix unless the specific problem it addresses has been encountered. Service Packs include all of the hotfixes released since the release of the previous Service Pack. The status of hotfix installations is not indicated in the About Windows 2000 dialog box. For more information about Service Packs and hotfixes, see Additional Resources at the end of this chapter.
For more troubleshooting information about the 0x24 Stop message, refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base link, using the keywords winnt and 0x00000024 . For information about this resource, see Additional Resources at the end of this chapter.