Knowledge Base

DNS: System Error 13 When Starting DNS Service

Article ID: 195669

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006

Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition

This article was previously published under Q195669

SYMPTOMS

After applying Service Pack 4 for Windows NT, your DNS service may fail to start with the following error:

System error 13 has occurred. The data is invalid.

The following events will be logged in the System Event Log:

   Event ID: 7023
   Description:
   The Microsoft DNS server service terminated with the following error:
   The data is invalid.

   Event ID: 1501
   Description:
   DNS server could not parse database file <file name> for Zone <Zone
   name>.

   Event ID: 1503
   Description:
   DNS server could not parse the database file <file name> line <line
   number>.

CAUSE

This problem is because there is an invalid HINFO record in the zone file.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, correct the HINFO record.

MORE INFORMATION

RFC 1034 stated that an HINFO record requires two strings.

Example of Invalid HINFO Record:

   Test     IN      HINFO   "WWW Server"

Example of Valid HINFO Record:

   Test     IN      HINFO   "WWW Server"   "Customer Sites"

Keywords: kbprb KB195669