What is SM Driver / SM bios service?

[Anthony S]

I've recently noticed a new entry in my Device Manager list. It's a top-level entry called SM Driver with a single item = SM bios service which is flagged with a warning icon. Properties gives device status as "Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)".

What am I missing? And could this be the cause of the Bugcheck crash I now get whenever I reboot?

I recently upgraded to BIOS 2.12 and various other ThinkPad updates.

I'd be grateful for any hints and help. TIA.

[ryengineer]

I believe the registry for that driver has gone corrupt. Uninstall it and restart your Windows, it will get reinstalled again.

Directly from Microsoft:

Code 19
Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. To fix this problem you can first try running a Troubleshooting Wizard. If that does not work, you should uninstall and then reinstall the hardware device. (Code 19)

Recommended resolution

A registry problem was detected.

This can occur when more than one service is defined for a device, if there is a failure opening the service subkey, or if the driver name cannot be obtained from the service subkey. Try these options:

On the General Properties tab of the device, click Troubleshoot to start the Troubleshooting Wizard. Click Uninstall, and then click Scan for hardware changes to load a usable driver. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, and then select Last Known Good Configuration. This rolls back to the most recent successful registry configuration.

As a last resort, you can edit the registry directly.

Edit: Get CCleaner (freeware) and get your registry cleaned.

[Anthony S]

I believe the registry for that driver has gone corrupt. Uninstall it and restart your Windows, it will get reinstalled again.

Thanks for your quick reply. The Microsoft site you quote says "...uninstall and then reinstall the hardware device". But which device? What is this SM Driver/SM Bios Service? If I uninstall the driver, where will it get re-installed from?

Hope you can help further.

[gator]

SM stands for system management. The following link has excellent information on the SM BIOS:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/pl ... MBIOS.mspx

[Anthony S]

gator - thanks for the lead on SM = System Management.

ryengineer - I've now followed your initial advice and uninstalled the SM driver. It's now disappeared in Device Manager, even after reboot. But, I still get a kernel crash in Windows on restart (after which it boots normally), so perhaps that's an unrelated issue.

[ryengineer]

If I uninstall the driver, where will it get re-installed from?

Windows has the ability to reinstall system drivers itself, if it didn't then run windows update or lenovo system update, they'll take care of it.

But, I still get a kernel crash in Windows on restart (after which it boots normally), so perhaps that's an unrelated issue.

That seems unrelated to me. Are you dual booting?

[Anthony S]

Windows has the ability to reinstall system drivers itself, if it didn't then run windows update or lenovo system update, they'll take care of it.

I'm fully up to date on Windows and all ThinkPad stuff, but the SM Driver / SM BIOS Service doesn't re-appear. So, I still wonder if its absence could be the cause of the crashing on reboot.

Are you dual booting?

No.

[shleebr]

[quote="Anthony S"][quote="ryengineer"]
Windows has the ability to reinstall system drivers itself, if it didn't then run windows update or lenovo system update, they'll take care of it.[/quote]
I'm fully up to date on Windows and all ThinkPad stuff, but the SM Driver / SM BIOS Service doesn't re-appear. So, I still wonder if its absence could be the cause of the crashing on reboot.


You can reinstall the SM Driver / SM BIOS Service drivers.

How to:
The Exe files are located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo.
Start->run->cmd -> CD C:\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo

1) SM BIOS Service: psainst.exe -install
2) SM Bus Service: i2cinst.exe -install

[icantux]

Hate to bring up an old post, but thought this additional info (below) may be relevant for those seeking an explanation about SMBios..

System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) is a data structure exported by most modern BIOSes on x86 platforms, including those currently produced by Sun. SMBIOS is an industry-standard mechanism for low-level system software to export hardware configuration information to higher-level system management software. The SMBIOS data format itself is defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). Refer to dmtf.org if you want to read a copy of the specification itself.

The SMBIOS image consists of a table of structures, each describing some aspect of the system software or hardware configuration. The content of the image varies widely by platform and BIOS vendor, and may not exist at all on some systems. However, it is the only known mechanism for system software to obtain certain information on x86 systems. A simple example of information found in SMBIOS is the actual name of the platform (e.g. Sun Microsystems v40z), the BIOS vendor, version, and release date. More advanced records describe the DIMM slots in the machine, their labels (i.e. how you can locate them if you crack open the case), and various other slot types and properties.

Not much attention has been paid to SMBIOS: Windows uses it to get the system serial number and is beginning to emphasize its importance to hardware vendors, and the Linux dmidecode utility (DMI was the original name of the SMBIOS spec) has been available for some time to dump it all out in human-readable form for hackers and administrators who wish to peek at some of the details of the underlying hardware on their platform.

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