From: james.ritterbusch_at_prudential.com
Date: Wed Apr 10 2002 - 12:49:36 EDT
I have an A21m that behaves erratically -- it crashes more often than it
starts. It has Win 2000 Pro installed as an after-market upgrade.
Here's what I know.
Many times, it will go to the Windows splash screen. The gas gauge goes
about 2/3 the way across, then I get a Blue Screen of Death that reads:
STOP: 0x000000E0, (0x00000002, 0x90000002, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
Your computer (BIOS) has reported that a component in your system is faulty
and has prevented Windows from operating blah blah blah
At this point, the only option that works is to power down and try again.
Sometimes, the 2nd time is the charm.
Sometimes, the nth works.
Sometimes, I just run out of patience.
Other times, it will hang on the IBM splash screen before it ever gets to
Windows. No messages here, it just stays on that screen.
Sometimes, pressing F1 will take me to the BIOS setup.
Sometimes, pressing F1 will display Entering IBM BIOS Setup, but it just
hangs there.
Sometimes, pressing F1 does nothing at all.
Sometimes, F1 doesn't display as an option, and pressing it does nothing.
Sometimes, pressing CTL-ALT-DEL here will cause Windows to start. It then
may work correctly, or it may exhibit the behavior above.
Sometimes, pressing CTL-ALT-DEL just reverts to the IBM splash screen.
Time to power down and try again.
Very occasionally, the screen comes up totally blank. The backlight seems
to be on, but there are no pixels illuminated. Power down, try again.
BIOS has been updated a couple of times and is current. Windows has had
critical updates applied a couple of times, and is within a few weeks of
current. None of the upgrades had any apparent effect, good or bad.
Running on the battery, or the AC adapter or both does not seem to have any
appreciable effect.
I have run DR. DOS diagnostics numerous times. Of course, everything
checks out perfectly.
At one point, I had a hunch that the problem was related to the diskette
drive. When I went into BIOS and changed its state to either disabled or
enabled, the machine seemed to boot correctly after that. However, that no
longer seems to work. Maybe it was just a fluke, or maybe it was just the
act of changing the BIOS that temporarily repaired it.
Here's what I was told third-hand. I have no reason to doubt these
statements, but cannot personally verify them.
IBM replaced the diskette drive, but they think that it's really a
"software problem".
IBM claim that since the machine was not shipped with Win 2000 installed,
they will not support the software.
Any help from anybody on the list would be hugely appreciated.
Jim Ritterbusch
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