Latest Installment of the Asinine Beyond Comprehension Newsletter

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to using Windows for mission-critical applications.

After installing the latest security patches on a Dell PowerEdge 2550 running Windows 2000 Enterprise Server, I promptly rebooted. Windows wouldn't load, and was terminating with the following stop code: *** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF201B848, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I called Dell, and explained the situation. The analyst sent me the correct perc drivers for the hardware config, and I booted off the w2k CD to restore the SCSI drivers. I asked him why this was happening to me, and he said that probably because I did something bad when I was a child, but also because of Windows Update. Evidently, in applying the latest patch, Microsoft overwrites the Dell SCSI driver with its own Microsoft SCSI driver. This is a known issue, to both parties, and apparently, happens all the time to unsuspecting sysadmins.

Here's what you have to do:

1. Go to ftp://ftp.dell.com/scsi-raid and download the appropriate driver for your system. Load the files onto a floppy disk. (This is the driver for the PowerEdge 2550).
2. Boot off the W2k CD.
3. F6 to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver.
4. Follow the directions on the screen, and once installed, reboot.
5. If the problem continues, use your ERD to recover Windows. (You do have recent ERDs? Don't you?)

Here's the exact email that the Dell analyst sent me upon my request to put his allegations about Windows Update in writing:

Dear Ms. Paley,

I am writing, upon your request, to confirm that your Dell Poweredge 2550 would not boot up into Windows because you installed Windows Update, which overwrote the correct SCSI driver with the incorrect one. That's right, I said it: it's all Microsoft's fault. But cheer up. Just think of Microsoft as the guaranteed employment act for system administrators.

Sincerely,
Walt

I suppose it helps to have a sense of humor about such things.