NetWare Client 4.6 Causes System to Hang
Novell NetWare Client 4.6 contains a code flaw that can lock up a Windows NT 4.0 system. According to Microsoft Support Online article Q253445, the client doesn’t communicate properly with the NT server, resulting in a continuous loop of requests for a message from NT and denials by NetWare. The locked loop causes the network packet traffic between the servers to run out of control, increasing the NT system’s CPU usage until it hangs.
Symptoms of this problem on the NT server include a pegged System process in Task Manager and a dramatic increase in the "Packets received/sec" counter in Performance Monitor. You can correct the problem by installing the Novell patch for the NetWare client on the NT server. The patch is available at Novell’s Web site. Look for document 10019679, "Broadcast Message Causes High Workstation Utilization."
Printing Issues
Here are two new print problems and a nifty utility that helps you migrate printers and print queues from one NT 4.0 system to another:
- HP4000 print driver problem. If you install Hewlett-Packard’s HP4000 print driver on NT 4.0, the print spooler and the associated print queue might hang intermittently. You can eliminate the spooler’s misbehavior by replacing the HP4000 driver with the equivalent driver (HP4si or HP5si) from the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM. Microsoft describes the problem in Microsoft Support Online article Q255213.
- Print spooler access violation. When you try to add Line Print Remote (LPR) ports or local ports on an NT 4.0 system, an access violation might occur in spools.exe. Also, when you click New Port, nothing happens. This behavior can occur when you have not checked the "Allow Service to Interact with Desktop" check box in the Spooler service. To correct the problem, run the Services applet in Control Panel, highlight the Spooler service, click Startup, and check the "Allow service to interact with the desktop" option. See Microsoft Support Online article Q255197 for details.
- Printer migration utility. When you need to upgrade a print server that hosts many printers, recreating the printers and print queues manually is time consuming. Supplement 3 of the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit contains a utility called printmig.exe that lets you back up and restore printer and print queue definitions from one NT 4.0 system to another. The print migration utility backs up all defined print queues, seven types of printer ports, print drivers, and printer shares in cabinet file format to a file called <%Systemroot%>\System32\Spool\Pm\pm.cab. The utility saves the current print server status in a file called pm.log in the same directory. For a detailed look at the printmig.exe command-line options and procedures for backup and restore, check out Microsoft Support Online article Q214795.
Windows NT Option Pack and Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator
The Windows NT Option Pack exhibits a new problem when you install it on a cluster server running Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC). Microsoft Support Online article Q255184 indicates that MSDTC might cause errors during installation or might not start after you install the option pack. To correct the problem, you must delete the MSDTC log file and Registry keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSDTC and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CURRENTCONTROLSET\Services\MSDTC, and then reinstall MSDTC in standalone mode. The article cautions that when you install software on a cluster server, you must apply products in a specific order to ensure success, so be sure you read the whole article before you perform these remedial steps. Your odds of success will increase if you also read article Microsoft Support Online Q191138.
Compaq Carbon Copy Blue Screen
When you’re using Compaq's Carbon Copy software on a computer with a Cirrus Logic video adapter, your system might stop responding and display a Stop 0x7f error message once or twice a day. This error message can appear either while a your computer is connected to the server that’s using Carbon Copy or when it isn’t connected. An outdated video BIOS causes the blue screen; upgrade the Cirrus video BIOS to eliminate the problem. Microsoft documents this issue in Microsoft Support Online article Q255191.
