Compaq EVO 610c & inaccessible_boot_device error?

B

Bill Crocker

I work for a large IT outsourcing company, that has deployed thousands of
Compaq EVO 600, and 610c laptops. We imaged them using Norton's Ghost.
Several months ago, the image creation responsibility was taken over my
another group. Since then, we've been plagued with numerous BSOD errors;
inaccessible_boot_device. It's also interesting to note, if you start up
the defrag utility that comes with Win2k, it shows the expected "C:"
partition, and then above it, and identical sized partition (the entire
drive), without a drive letter assigned to it! I might also mention, we're
running ROXIO's Easy CD Creator v 6.0. We've suspected everything from bad
hard drives, to ROXIO, etc. We're still unable to isolate the problem. It
is random, and does not strike all the systems, only some.

I've searched Google, and all the newsgroups, until I was exhausted. Any
ideas?

Thanks,
Bill Crocker
 
X

XMan

Some suggestions

1. The drivers for the HDD in the SOE no longer match the revision of the
disk controller on newer versions of the HDD?

2. The MBR is corrupted somehow in the image - although I'm not sure this
would generate the BSOD

3. If you do a clean install of W2K and Sps onto one of the HDD that has
failed does it exhibit the same behaviour??

4. Do the offending machines have a later BIOS version etc etc

There are lots of combinations you could research here

I would be interested in the results of 3 which would suggest that if your
W2K install is service packed and all drivers at latest version and still
getting BSOD then it's a hardware imcompatibility issue.
If no BSOD then the image needs updating

Just my 2 cents worth..

Mike
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

Bill Crocker said:
I work for a large IT outsourcing company, that has deployed thousands of
Compaq EVO 600, and 610c laptops. We imaged them using Norton's Ghost.
Several months ago, the image creation responsibility was taken over my
another group. Since then, we've been plagued with numerous BSOD errors;
inaccessible_boot_device. It's also interesting to note, if you start up
the defrag utility that comes with Win2k, it shows the expected "C:"
partition, and then above it, and identical sized partition (the entire
drive), without a drive letter assigned to it! I might also mention, we're
running ROXIO's Easy CD Creator v 6.0. We've suspected everything from bad
hard drives, to ROXIO, etc. We're still unable to isolate the problem. It
is random, and does not strike all the systems, only some.

I've searched Google, and all the newsgroups, until I was exhausted. Any
ideas?

Thanks,
Bill Crocker
Click to expand...

Look at all the issues raised by XMan, and try this too:

1. Set an "Inaccessible Boot Device" machine aside.
2. Apply your Ghost image to a machine where it runs well.
3. Replace the current driver for the IDE Master Controller
with the generic Microsoft driver.
4. Create a new Ghost image.
5. Apply it to the machine set aside in Step 1.

If this cures the problem then the problem is caused by
a change in the IDE controller. It could be a subtle change -
I have seen it with machines that were almost indistinguishable
from each other.

You need to keep in mind that Microsoft do not support
imaging unless the hardware is 100% identical. A recommended
option is outlined in the link below, but it does not lend itself to
bulk loading. If you want an absolutely reliable product then you
would have to script your installation process.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824125
 
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