INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

[JustKeith]

Greetings, all

I have a situation that is similar to one that has been floating around here for apparantly some time. Years ago, when W2K first came out, I put it on a computer that had two 60GB HDs in it. At the time it was a whopping amount of space, but in the time since MS has put out Service Packs. Well, when the time came I installed SP2 and was greeted by a BSOD when I rebooted. After much searching, I came away with nothing, so I undid the install.

SP3 yielded the same results. So did SP4.

I've seen the BSOD discussion here on the same STOP condition, and have indeed performed a Repair. No help.

I reinstalled SP4 and tried to do the Repair again, and this time it does not BSOD in the 'white graphical startup screen with the small bargraph'. Rather, that particular bargraph gets to the end and the whole thing reboots.

Further Repairs and Safe Modes have yielded nothing.

HELP!

 

[firewolfrl]

Have you tried a slipstreamed version of 2k with your update?
if you try that and do a repair/reinstall it may work. But, backup first because its not reversable that way

 

[JustKeith]

I'm not familiar with "slipstreamed

 

[firewolfrl]

here are some links to help:

http://old.bink.nu/bootcd/

http://www.msfn.org/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=49

http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=284

http://www.thetechguide.com/win2kbootcd/

this site is great

http://www.petri.co.il/windows_xp_sp_slipstreaming.htm

this should help

 

[JustKeith]

Ah. This looks like a good thing to do when I know W2K works with SP4 on my PC.

But, before running headlong into yet more uncharted territory, is there any solution here?

Like I've said, I've done a CHKDSK /r in the recovery console, and done an Install/Repair. Both do not solve the problem.

I can boot into SafeMode, though, and have also Expanded certain .SYS files into the i386 directory. Still nothing.

The only way I can get this computer to operate is to remove SP4, but that eliminates a whole lot of things.

 

[zooomcasper]

Maybe someone can help me w/a similar problem. I also got the blue screen of death and STOP inaccessible_boot_drive. I hadn't done anything with my computer, or added any hardware. I cannot go to safe mode, or anything. It is like the drive is not even there anymore. Any suggestions? Is it my drive?

 

[BaudKarma]

I've seen older machines BSOD with the inaccessible boot drive error after a patch is installed. I've had some success booting them into safe mode once, then bringing them back up normally.

My theory is that Win2K times out when it's trying to install all the patches at the same time it's loading all the boot processes. Booting in safe mode cuts down the number of processes 2K tries to load at start, and lets all the patches install. Once the patches are installed, 2K can start normally.

I try not to let my ignorance prevent me from offering a strong opinion.