INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE with Win2000 on a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Mobo.

[Ken Moore]

I've just upgraded a motherboard and processor to a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP with an AthlonXP 2100+ and things look more or less OK (1) but when I try to boot into Windows 200 Pro it gives me an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE message.

The machine has also the ability to boot into WindowsME which it does without difficulty and it is quite happy booting into Win2000 when I put the old Mobo back in.

The disk drive in question is a Samsung device of some type of around 30Gb partitioned as (sizes are approximate):

WinME boot disk - FAT32 - 4.5Gb
Extended Partition
Data Area - FAT 32 - 14.3 Gb
Program Area - NTFS - 6.8 Gb
Win200 Boot Disk - NTFS - 3 Gb

Checking the disks with Partition Magic reveals no problems.

The Microsoft site tells me...
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Stop 0x0000007B - Inaccessible Boot Device

This Stop message, also known as Stop 0x7B, indicates that Windows 2000 lost access to the system partition during the startup process.

This error can be caused by a number of factors, including the failure of the boot device driver to initialize, the installation of an incompatible disk or disk controller, an incompatible device driver, disk cabling problems, disk corruption, viruses, or incompatible logical block addressing (LBA).

The system BIOS allows access to fixed disks that use fewer than 1024 cylinders. Many later disks, however, exceed 1024 cylinders. LBA is used to provide support for these disks. Such support is often built into the system BIOS. However, there are potential problems with LBA, such as:

* If partitions are created and formatted with LBA disabled, and LBA is subsequently enabled, a STOP 0x7B can result. The partitions must be created and formatted while LBA is enabled.

* Some LBA schemes are not compatible with Windows 2000. Check with your vendor.
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but it works OK with the old mobo and anyway, what do I do to fix it?

Hope someone can help!

(1) When the m/c starts up it seems to be reporting XP1500+ but whether that is normal or not I don't yet know and I haven't even started looking into that yet!

[phishhead]

have you tried to fdisk the mbr? or with win 2k I think its fixboot.

[Reverend]

What chipset does your old motherboard have?
I see your new Gigabyte board uses the newer KT400 chipset.
If you replace a mobo with one that uses a different chipset this can cause problems.

There are several solutions,which all refer to problems that arise when changing motherboards.You can find them here

If none of the above fix it,use the recovery console and run either Fixboot,or Fixmbr. Instructions here

Good luck

[Ken Moore]

Deffo it's a different chipset. I'll have a try along the lines you suggest.

[rustblack]

That really toots. Here's what I would do. Install old Mobo. Install PCI disk controller. Boot up for system to detect new H/W. Shutdown and connect disks to PCI card controller. Boot up and let W2K normalize.

Upgrade mobo and leave PCI controller in place. Boot up.

Resolve conflicts with onboard disk controller for the new mobo, install drivers, etc. Reboot.

Reconnect disks to onboard disk controller or leave in the PCI controller, whatever.

Doing this will bypass the onboard problems related to mass storage device and driver. But it's still possible to have other problems if the upgrade changed the H/W architecture, such as going from AMD to Pentium, Celeron to Pentium, etc...

[Ken Moore]

Thanks to all who replied. It's all sorted now and was indeed down to the fact that the new chipset differed and the NE HEL didn't know about the new controller.

Since I was putting another disk in the machine as well anyway I took the easy (and most secure) way out of rebuilding the NT system to boot from that disk.

Ken.