New Board - No FAT 32 Volume Found - HELP!

[innerscension]

Ok so long story short is this: a board bricked after a botched BIOS flash so I bought a new board, Intel's DP35DP - an oldie but goodie. All systems are go but with one hitch, Dr Dos/Caldera reports "No FAT32 Volumes Found exiting...." and the systems halts after a few more lines of code ending with an A: prompt. -

Do not pass Windows, go directly to Fail. 😛

First some facts. There are 2 HD's both SATA and the first one contains WinXP, the second is extra storage. Bios recognizes both drives, the boot HD is second in the boot sequence. During boot when Dr Dos loads, it notes my partitions on C: and D: respectively. BIOS is set to handle SATA in IDE Mode.

Everything checks out. I know the drives are good, so what gives? I have checked EVERYWHERE and found no definitive cause or fix for the problem. I really do NOT want to have reformat either drive (and I really shouldn't have to).

Thanks for any and all help.

edited for unintended bad grammar and side effects

 

[mathew7]

Are you booting from a CD or floppy?
DR-DOS old OS. It is (still) used by many Hw manufacturers as it does little and allows the flashing app full control (since you talked about BIOS flashing).
It has nothing to do with WinXP, and supports only FAT file systems (like the ones from digital cameras). WinXP by default will install in a different filesystem (NTFS).

However, booting XP installed on the old MB could be problematic on the new MB. But you should see the "Windows XP" logo, followed probably by a reset. I recommend you have an install CD ready (along with your key) because you could start a repair install which can fix the HW changes. The procedure is to boot from the CD, skip the 1st repair option (go to windows setup) and when the installer shows you the partition list (where to install Windows), press "R" instead of "enter" with the existing installation selected. If R is not available, then you should reboot and look for other ways to save your data.

 

[innerscension]

You hit the nail on the head in that I see the splash screen and then a BSOD (when I disabled system restart on error). The error code 0x0000007b is one that generates when windows can't initialize supposedly - everyone and their mother saying that only happens when there is a serious communication error with the hard drive, though it could be either software or hardware related.

I do have an install CD and key. Going to install a fresh copy on the alternate - turns out there's nothing important on the second drive anyway. Going to just take ownership of any files protected under my profile on my botched windows and start from scratch (probably could use it anyway).

I will try just for &^$#s and giggles to repair the old installation, but various "experts" tell me the odds are stacked against me.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[mathew7]

7B means it cannot access the boot drive, probably because the storage controller is not loaded. It can appear when switching between IDE - AHCI - RAID for the 1st time, as after installation other drivers are set to not load at boot. So if the install was made using IDE, then it could work also on IDE. If it was AHCI, it could also work.
However, the problems I had were related to other (chipset??) drivers, not storage. And repair install solved my problem, although I did not like the "hybrid" system and made a clean install (psychological problem, not technical).