A machine check error may occur without any noticeable symptoms in Windows Server 2003

A machine check error may occur without any noticeable symptoms. When a machine check exception occurs on a multiprocessor computer, the computer may restart unexpectedly.

A machine check exception occurs when an internal fault is detected in your CPU. Some of these faults are recoverable, and others are fatal. To signal a hardware error, the processor generates a machine check exception (Interrupt 18) that indicates the detection of a machine check error. The processor populates a specific set of registers that Windows can use to report that the error occurred and to display parameters that you can use to decode the exception.

Sometimes a machine check error occurs, but the processor does not populate these descriptive registers. In this case, Windows may continue operation without reporting the error to the user or without stopping the computer.

Note The system BIOS or a third-party system utility may be able to detect this error when it occurs.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required.

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: