Consider the following scenario:

• You have an Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drive or controller.
• You receive a new computer that was configured by an OEM to start up into the default Windows Out-Of-Box Experience (OOBE).
• When OOBE runs, the system restarts unexpectedly. When it restarts, you receive the following error message:
  

  Failure occurred during online installation. Online installation cannot complete at this time.

• The computer restarts before you finish OOBE. When this occurs, the operating system will not start. You must restore the computer back to the factory default configuration from the OEM recovery media.

Additionally, you receive the following stack dump entry:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)

IMAGE_NAME: msahci.sys
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0xA_msahci!AhciHwInterrupt+17

Note: This issue occurs with OOBE. It can also occur under different circumstances with a SATA controller.

Consider the following scenario:

• You use the netsh command to enable a network interface on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista. The computer retrieves IP addresses from a DHCP server.
• You use the netsh command to set a default gateway for the network interface.

In this scenario, the default gateway is set successfully. You can verify it by running the ipconfig /all command. However, the default gateway of the network interface is missing after the computer restarts. If you double-click the following registry entry, you find that a null character exists in the value data of the DhcpDefaultGateway subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\<GUID>\DhcpDefaultGateway

Consider the following scenario:

• On a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2), you have the new direct memory access (DMA) chip from Intel. The code name of this DMA chip is “Crystal Beach.”
• You enable the Network Direct Memory Access (NetDMA) feature on the new “Crystal Beach” (DMA) chip from Intel.

In this scenario, the computer may receive various stop codes and then restart automatically.

Assume that you have a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. You uninstall the driver for a graphics device, restart the computer, and then reinstall the driver. When you restart the computer for the first time after the driver reinstallation, the startup process stops at a blank screen.

Note: This problem does not occur if you uninstall a driver and then reinstall the driver immediately without restarting the computer.

Consider the following scenario:

• The OpenFileById function opens a folder on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista.
• The handle returned by the OpenFileById function is used to rename files that are in this folder.

In this scenario, the computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista encounters a Stop error, 0×00000050, and then the computer restarts automatically.

Consider the following scenario:

• A USB device is installed on a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. The USB device works correctly.
• You plug and then hot-unplug (surprise remove) this USB device several times.

After you plug the USB device into the USB port in this scenario, the device does not appear in Device Manager. Additionally, the device does not work. If you try to shut down the computer on the Start menu, or if you make additional surprise removal attempts, the system generates the following Stop error message and then automatically restarts:

Stop 0×000000FE (Parameter1, Parameter2, Parameter3, Parameter4)

Notes:

• The four parameters in this error message vary, depending on the computer’s configuration.
• Not all “Stop 0×000000FE” errors are caused by this problem.

Consider the following scenario:

• You create more than 99 volumes on one or more dynamic disks in a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista.
• The size of one of the volumes is larger than 2 TB.
• You bring online all dynamic disks, take offline all dynamic disks, or you restart the computer.

In this scenario, you cannot access the volumes. In the Disk Management snap-in of Microsoft Management Console (MMC) window, all the dynamic disks are marked as Invalid. Additionally, if you try to make these disks active, you receive the following error message:

“The operation is not allowed on the Invalid pack”

This problem occurs when the system is under a heavy load. When this problem occurs, you may receive random Stop error messages, and the computer restarts unexpectedly.

On a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), you repeatedly encounter stop error code 0×00000050 during the user logon or logoff process. Then, the computer restarts automatically.

When this issue occurs, the following event may be logged in the System log:

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-General
Date: date & time
Event ID: 5
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: computer name
Description: {Registry Hive Recovered} Registry hive (file): '\??\C:\Users\user name\ntuser.dat' was corrupted and it has been recovered. Some data might have been lost.

Note: This issue frequently occurs on Windows Server 2008-based terminal servers.

You have a Windows Vista-based or Windows XP-based computer that has Windows Disk Protection enabled. However, you cannot restart the computer after you use System Restore to restore the system to a point that was created before Windows Disk Protection was turned on. In this case, you have to reinstall the operating system.