Bad SAP Packet Causes Stop 0x0000000A in Afd.sys

Computers running Windows NT will blue screen with a Stop 0x0000000A shortly after the Logon Screen appears or if the computer was removed from the network during startup, it will blue screen approximately 10 seconds after being put back on the network.

Stop screen:



The blue screen will show Afd.sys, Nwlnkipx.sys, and Ntoskrnl.exe on the stack.

The first and last BugCheck parameters will vary.

This will be most evident if there are many computers running the SAP Agent.

A faulty network interface card (NIC) is broadcasting bad SAP packets on the network with a large value for Bytes Remaining. The computer has to have SAP Agent loaded for this to occur. It does not matter if the computer is using the Gateway Services for NetWare (GSNW) or intraNetWare client redirector but must have either redirector loaded. The SAP Agent is allowing the packet to be passed up the stack.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this problem, remove the computer running Windows NT from the network to start it up and then disable SAP Agent. After this service is disabled, the computer can then be put back on the network. The resource broadcasting the bad SAP packet must then be found and removed from the network.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 6.