Stop 0x0000007B Inaccessible Boot Device - but my rescue floppy is corrupt too!

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Jamie Furlong - 09 Jul 2007 15:02 GMT

Please help! I'm suddenly getting a
Stop 0x0000007B Inaccessible Boot Device message - the system brings up
the splash screen, gets halfway, goes two more "blobs" and then
bluescreens with the error.

I've read everything I can:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/122926
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124550
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=%2Fservicedesks%2Fwebcasts%2Fen%2
Ftranscripts%2Fwct071603.asp
http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/578976-stop-0x00000007b-0xf78a2528-0xc0000003
4-0x00000000.html

etc etc. Spent about 3 hours on it last night.

The problem is that it appears my rescue floppy is so old, it's not
readable. Pressing "L" at the recovery part says it can't find NT, which
is odd, as it can boot it halfway.

When all is running, for some odd reason, the system looked like this:
c: < fat32, 20GB, spare for backup
e: < NTFS WINNT directory, 20gb

When I try the "C" recovery console, I can't seem to "see" the NTFS
partition. I tried lots of hard drive analysis tools, including some DOS
virus scanners, both of which found nothing. Maxblast found no drive
errors and the advance S.M.A.R.T. test found one error in something
called the "CAH command", but I can't find any reference to this.

All other tools reported the drive and surface as OK.

I've done all the recommended things - moved to PIO, moved to a
different controller, unplugged everything else, tried a 40 wire HDD cable.

As you can see, I've pretty much tried everything - I'm now officially
at my wits end as we did a lot of work on Sat and Sun morning, and of
course, we didn't back up.
Also, to re-install ALL the things all over again would be hell.

So, any help fully appreciated!

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Dave Patrick - 10 Jul 2007 02:09 GMT

More than likely a drive controller issue or possibly the boot partition has
changed. Boot.ini may now be incorrect. Try creating a boot disk. For the
floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000 the disk must contain the "NT" boot
sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows 2000 machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so
the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy), and copy Windows 2000
versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to
give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot. Below is an
example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating system located on
the first partition of the primary or first drive (drive0). Then drive0
partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"

Another possibility is to try loading the controller driver also from
floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000 the disk must
contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows 2000 machine,
not a DOS/Win9x, so the "NT" boot sector gets written to the floppy), then
copy ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the boot.ini to give it a
correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.

In order for this to work you'll want to change the arc path in boot.ini
from multi syntax to scsi syntax to indicate that Windows 2000 will load a
boot device driver and use that driver to access the boot partition. Then
also copy the correct manufacturer scsi driver to the floppy but renamed to
ntbootdd.sys

Something like this below;

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"

In order to start the RC you will need to boot the Windows 2000 setup disks
or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is inspecting
your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection, and select
S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to insert the
manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's controller in
drive "A"

Signature

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

> Please help! I'm suddenly getting a
> Stop 0x0000007B Inaccessible Boot Device message - the system brings up
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>
> So, any help fully appreciated!

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