inaccessible HD?

[Pinocchio]

I got two HD on my computer, one is 4GB, the other is 10GB. I want to install Win98 on the 4GB one and Win2K on the 10GB one. However, after I installed Win98 and just try to reboot my PC I got an error message for Win2K as following:



"Inaccessible boot device.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer.

If this screen appears again, following these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer.

Remove any newly installed HD or HD controllers.

Check your HD to make sure it is properly configured and terminated.

Run CHKDSK /F to check for HD corruption, and then restart your computer."



So, I did the fdisk and format both of my drive again just to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. However, the same error message pop up again. Do you have any suggestions?

PLEASE HELP, I tried so many times it just won't work. WHY?

p.s. I tryied just update win98 to win2k but same error msg.
I also tried install a fresh W2K to other directory and same error again.
I AM SO HOPELESS. HELP

Thank you

 

[Lars_Coleman]

You wouldn't happen to have this drive on a controller card of any type, would you? Cause if you do you will have to Press F6 to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver. I have seen that message when that is the case.

If that's not the case then check all your settings in the BIOS and make sure that the drive is detected properly.

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[Pinocchio]

I don't quiet understand what you mean but I do have a SCSI CD-RW connected. Is that what you mean?
Would you provide more detail for this?

Thank you very much for your help

 

[Lars_Coleman]

Is the drive that you are installing to a SCSI or IDE drive? Are you installing Windows 2000 from the SCSI CDRW? Is the drive that you are installing to on a card plugged into a PCI slot on the motherboard or plugged into the motherboard directly? Does the motherboard only have two spots to connect an IDE ribbon cable?

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[Pinocchio]

Is the drive that you are installing to a SCSI or IDE drive?
*Both of my HD are IDE, one as Primary Master, the other one as Secondary Master.

Are you installing Windows 2000 from the SCSI CDRW?
*No, I install W2K from an IDE CD-ROM as primary slave device.

Is the drive that you are installing to on a card plugged into a PCI slot on the motherboard or plugged into the motherboard directly?
*I don't know about this one. Sorry

Does the motherboard only have two spots to connect an IDE ribbon cable?
*Yes, I only have two IDE ribbon cable spots on Azus A7V133 motherboard.

*I hope my info helps.
Thank you very much

 

[Lars_Coleman]

So you must have an Asus A7V133-C or an Asus A7V133-M? The standard A7V and A7V133 have four controllers on them. Which if you had those then your answer to "Does the motherboard only have two spots to connect an IDE ribbon cable?" would have been yes. Which leads me to a problem with the hard drive. Maybe run some diagnostics on the drive?

Try making the 10GB hard drive a slave to the 4GB hard drive. That way they are both on the same cable. As long as all the BIOS settings are set accordingly for the device to be a slave then you shouldn't have a problem detecting it. Once you have all those settings set correctly, see if Windows 2000 has the same problem. Maybe you would want to set the 10GB hard drive up in the spot of the 4GB and install Windows 2000 to it while it's the only hard drive in the system.

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[Pinocchio]

The following is my Boot setting under BIOS 1005a
Boot Sequence:
1. Removable Device: Legacy Floopy
2. IDE HD: Maxtor
3. ATAPI CD-ROM: NEC
4. Otherboot device: Onboard ATA100 Board
[INT18 Device(Network)as default]

Plug & Play O/S: NO (as default)
Reset Configuration Data: NO (as default)
Boot Virus Detection: Disabled (Enabled as default)
Quick Power on Self Test: Enabled (as default)
Boot Up Floopy Seek: Disabled (as default)
SCSI/ATA100 Boot Sequence: SCSI/ATA100 (ATA100/SCSI as default)
Load Onboard ATA BIOS: Auto (as default)
Primary VGA BIOS: PCI Card (as default)

Is there anything I should change to make it work right?
Thanks again for your help

 

[Pinocchio]

I don't know I am having A7V133C or M one for the motherboard but like you say I do have only two spots to connect an IDE ribbon cable.
However, my HD works fine before when one connected as Primary Master and the other connected as Secondary Master. In that time, I configured two O/S on the 4GB HD as upgrade from Win98 to Win2K. So, I guess I had the problem during that time already.
Hmm...this is driving me crazy already
I will try AGAIN tonight to see if it will work.

btw, why I cannot set both HD as Master? I am just curious.

Thank you

 

[Lars_Coleman]

btw, why I cannot set both HD as Master? I am just curious.

You can. Try to install Windows 2000 [FRESH INSTALL] to the 10GB hard drive while it's a Primary Master as the only hard drive in the system. If you can do that then that will narrow your problem down to configuration. If you can't do that then your problem lies with the drive (could also be configuration).

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[Pinocchio]

when I put the other drive to Primary Master, I got the following message:
Setup did not find any HD drives installed in your computer. Make sure any HD drives are powered on and properly connected correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3.

Thank you

 

[Lars_Coleman]

Did you make sure the drive is being seen in the BIOS? Did you change any settings for the configuration change?

I don't understand how you could partition and format a drive in DOS mode and then reboot and Windows see's it as one hard drive without doing anything else. The only way I know that is possible is by making a software RAID in Windows XP. I hope your nose isn't getting bigger while you leave things out? *JOKE*

<font color=red>People and hard drives are like bandwagon fans and sports!</font color=red>

 

[mbs081200]

Boy, really seems like you're having a good time.

My suggestion would be process of elimination. Load an OS onto one HD at a time (leaving the second HD completely out of the computer so there is no possible interference.) If that one works, remove it and place the second drive in the computer and load the OS again.

If both HD's work as singles, than you will eliminate the possibility of a bad drive.

Also, I don't mean any disrespect but did you double check the jumpers on the HD's themselves to make sure they were set correctly? I actually spent a couple of hours trying to fix a HD that I never connected to the power line, so it pays to double check even the obvious.