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c0000026c {unable to load device driver}

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by antichron 1 view

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I fresh installed win2kPro. My computer: 700Mhz AMD Athlon / 320 MB RAM / MSI brand MS-6195 ATX IR3(a.k.a K7 Pro) motherboard / chipset AMD 751 and 756 / AMI bios upgraded 12/28/00 ver. Everything worked fine on my computer which has an AGP Voodoo 3 2000 graphics card / serial Diamond Supra Express modem / CNET PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. When I had win98 installed I also had a Diamond Monster Sound MX300 sound card. After installing win2kPro, I kept getting stop messages on startup. I wouldhave to restart over and over again to get it to finally start up. I used /sos and /noguiboot flags to trace the problem to the driver for the sound card. I removed it, and the computer operated fine. I searched for win2kPro drivers for the card and checked the HCL. Finally, I decided to get a new card. I bought a Creative Blaster Live! mp3+5.1 sound card and installed it. I got the same results. The computer runs fine and the card works, but if I restart the computer I can't get it to come back up without going into safe mode and either uninstalling or disabling the card. The new card is on the HCL and has win2k drivers. I thought perhaps the slot in the motherboard was faulty, so I tryed the card in various other slots. No luck. I recieve the same stop message at start up. Occassionally, this stop message is UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR. On rare occassion, I have recieved a INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE or KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. I have run chkdsk and it found no errors.

17 replies

by pault

Im just gonna take a stab at this to see if i can help. I have not used W2k so this is my best guess based upon the wording in your post.. Please see if i hit the bugger..

The problem in my opinion lies in the old sound card or the drivers of theold card i should say.. Make sure there is no referance to the old card in the (control panel), or whatever it is in W2k. Then search and delete any referance to the old card everywhere. ie. drives,registry.etc.. Good luck

by antichron

Sorry, that is not it. The old sound card driver is removed completely and the error message refers to the new sound card driver not being able to load. When the old card was in there, the same message came up, but refering to the driver for the old card.

by emcs

Go to Mircosoft knowledge base search page at: http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?ln=en-us, and look at: Q254986 - How to Troubleshoot Unknown Devices Listed in Device Manager.

This may give you a clue on the problem you have. I know you said the sound driver is on the HCL, but maybe it really is not the problem. Hope this helps.

Good luck.

dennie

by antichron

I read the article and thanks. However, the device is not unknown. It is fully plug and play compliant and is picked up by windows at startup.

by estebandelatorre

THE PROBLEM IS IS THE BIOS PNP ISA/PCI CONFIGURATION. SET "ASSIGN LECAGY IRQ" TO AUTO AND "PNP DETECTION" OPTION TO AUTO
YOUR BIOS CAN DETECT OR WILL NOT INFORM CHANGES TO THE O.S.UNLESS YOU SET THEM.
THESE ARE COMMON SETTINGS (THE ONES YOU HAVE) FOR COMPATIBLES MACHINES OR MOTHERBOARDS.

GOOD LUCK

by paul d. masley

The problem that you are having is related to settings in your bios. Remove the card in the device manager. It will leave your drivers intact. Reboot and go into your bios. Once there, go to the periphels, disable auto, then tell it to updad theescd. It should reset it to auto on you next boot. Also, set the bios so that it detects plug and play and will also recognize that a windows P&P is installed. This should let W2K find your card and reinstall it.

Paul.

by mike (from canada)

Do this. Take out the card and actually CHECK IT! something might have been broken on the card or even a connector of the PCI/ISA slot has been soldered with, or your motherboard might be touching the case and since the case conducts electricity, your problem might be solved if you at least stick paper towel or something (that doesnt conduct electricity) in between the motherboard and the case. If that doesnt work, you could try to re-install windows. also, make sure that the cards are FULLY inserted. Also, try configuring your bios to the correct settings. there might be an address conflict. If there are jumpers on the card, adjust them.

by antichron

I can almost assuredly say that a bad card is not the problem since I tryed 3 cards in the machine, then went and bought a brand new 4th card to try. The cards are fully inserted, and reinstalling Windows will not help as the problem was on the machine when I had Win2K Pro, and now as Win2K Server.

by mike (from canada)

Do this. Take out the card and actually CHECK IT! something might have been broken on the card or even a connector of the PCI/ISA slot has been soldered with, or your motherboard might be touching the case and since the case conducts electricity, your problem might be solved if you at least stick paper towel or something (that doesnt conduct electricity) in between the motherboard and the case. If that doesnt work, you could try to re-install windows. also, make sure that the cards are FULLY inserted. Also, try configuring your bios to the correct settings. there might be an address conflict. If there are jumpers on the card, adjust them.

by antichron

I can almost assuredly say that a bad card is not the problem since I tryed 3 cards in the machine, then went and bought a brand new 4th card to try. The cards are fully inserted, and reinstalling Windows will not help as the problem was on the machine when I had Win2K Pro, and now as Win2K Server.

by maxwell edison

According to Microsoft article Q160495 titled, "Err Msg: STOP: C000026C Unable to Load Device Driver"

SYMPTOMS:
When you install Windows, start Windows from the hard disk, or start Windows from the three Setup floppy disks during a repair process, you may receive one of the following error messages:

STOP: 0xC000026C [Unable to load device driver]

CAUSE:
This behavior can occur when one or more of the following conditions exist:

There is a damaged device driver file on the hard disk.

There is a damaged device driver file on one of the three Setup floppy disks.

RESOLUTION:
To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method:

Floppy Disks:
Create a new set of Windows Setup floppy disks by using the WINNT32 /OX command in Windows or the WINNT /OX command in MS-DOS. The Winnt32.exe and Winnt.exe files are located in the I386 on the Windows CD-ROM.

Hard Disk:
Use the Emergency Repair Disk to replace the missing or damaged driver file on the NTFS partition by following the procedure outlined in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q164471

Source:

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q160495

(REMOVE SPACES from the pasted URLs)

Maxwell

by maxwell edison

Have you looked at the article I suggested yet?

Microsoft article Q160495 titled, "Err Msg: STOP: C000026C Unable to Load Device Driver"

I think that may solve your problem.

Maxwell

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