How to troubleshoot ESCD error message.

A friend got this computer from his company when they closed down a plant,and it was operating fine with win 95. I installed a lager hard drive (10gig) and loaded Win ME. It was working fine, so I continued the planned upgrade, and installed a creative sound blaster sound card and a USB card (unsure of manufacture). When I first turned it back on after installing both cards, there was no signal to the moniter (light on moniter flashing, as if moniter was on and computer off). This system does not have on board video, it does use a Trident card. I removed the USB card and video signal was restored, but it would not load windows. After the first screen (post) the next screen comes up that shows system info (cpu and speed, primary and secondary master and slave info, memory info, etc.) and right below the info box it read :

updating ESCD.........._

the cursor blinks, but the computer never continues past that point, and no keys seem to perform any function. Removing the sound card makes no difference

This question was answered on March 3, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Updating ESCD...

Explanation:

ESCD stands for "extended system configuration data", and is where resource information is stored on a system that uses Plug and Play This message is displayed when the system detects a change in the hardware configuration and therefore updates the Plug and Play information that it has stored In some systems it may appear every time the PC is booted, however, even if the hardware configuration has not changed.

Diagnosis: Depending on the circumstances, this message may indicate an error or a normal operating condition

If the system displays "Updating ESCD..." and then hangs up the boot process, either with or without displaying "Success", then there is a problem with updating the extended system configuration data This is probably a problem with an expansion card, especially if you just added one to the machine It could also be a problem with the motherboard You should troubleshoot this as an expansion card problem, and if this fails, troubleshoot the motherboard

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Posted by Enyenihi of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on March 3, 2003

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