Upgrade Installation of Windows NT on HP NetServer Generates Error Event ID: 7026

When you restart your computer after upgrading Windows NT on a Hewlett- Packard NetServer with a Hewlett-Packard Array Controller, the following message is displayed:


The system event log shows the following event:

During the upgrade, Windows NT was allowed to detect mass storage devices and loaded the DAC960NT driver, but the original HPDANT driver was not disabled.

Hewlett-Packard recommends that you use the Hpdant.sys driver with its Hewlett-Packard Array Controllers and not the Dac960nt.sys driver that comes with Windows NT. Perform the following steps to remove the Dac960nt.sys driver and install the latest Hpdant.sys driver from Hewlett- Packard without having to re-run the upgrade.

1. Make a current Emergency Repair Disk if you do not have one.
2. Contact Hewlett-Packard and obtain the latest firmware, BIOS and drivers for the Hewlett-Packard Array Controller.
   
   NOTE: If you have the most current version of the Hpdant.sys driver already installed on the system prior to upgrade, you can skip to step 14. Otherwise continue with step 3).
3. In Control Panel, double-click SCSI Adapters.
4. Click the Drivers tab. You should see the following drivers:
   
   Hewlett-Packard Disk Array Adapter (Not Started)
   Mylex DAC960/Digitial SWXCR-Ex Raid Controller (Started)
5. Select Hewlett-Packard Disk Array Adapter and click Remove.
6. When prompted, "Are you sure you want to remove this driver?" click Yes.
7. Click Add.
8. Click Have Disk.
9. Insert the floppy disk into the appropriate drive and click OK.
10. Select Hewlett-Packard Disk Array Adapter and click OK.
11. When prompted, "Do you wish to use the currently installed driver(s) or install new one(s)?" click New.
12. Enter the drive letter in which the Hewlett-Packard drivers disk is installed.
13. When prompted to restart the computer, click No.
14. In Control Panel, double-click SCSI Adapters.
15. Select Mylex DAC960/Digitial SWXCR-Ex Raid Controller and click Remove.
16. When prompted, "Are you sure you want to remove this driver?" select Yes.
17. Close the SCSI Adapter window.
18. In Control Panel, double-click Devices.
19. Scroll down to the HPDANT device. Confirm that the Startup Type is set for Boot. If it is not, change the Startup Type to Boot.
20. Close the Devices window.
21. Remove the Hewlett-Packard drivers disk from the floppy drive.
22. Restart the server.

If the server fails to start correctly or fails with a STOP 0x0000007b, restart the system and select the Last Known Good option. This will return the DAC960NT driver back to the primary driver. You can then restart the process at step 2.

Hewlett-Packard provides a driver for the Hewlett-Packard Array Controller with its Hewlett-Packard NetServer Windows NT drivers disk, Hpdant.sys. Microsoft Windows NT comes with a different driver for the Mylex Array Controller card used in the Hewlett-Packard Array Controller. The Microsoft driver for the Mylex Array controller is Dac960nt.sys.

If, during the original installation of Windows NT, the option to specify additional devices was used with the Hewlett-Packard NetServer Windows NT drivers disk, the Hpdant.sys driver can be installed for the Hewlett- Packard Array Controller.

When running an upgrade installation over the original installation, mass storage detection is used instead of specifying the drivers; the Dac960nt.sys driver will be installed for the array controller. When restarting after the upgrade, you will see the error message that a service did not start. The system event log will show that the Hpdant.sys driver failed to load. This is caused by the Dac960nt.sys driver loading before the Hpdant.sys driver so that, when the Hpdant.sys driver attempts to load, it fails.