Re Failure to boot in Safe Mode

[Oldster]

Further to my earlier messages:- My machine is running XP Pro SP3,
and I recently changed my disc over to be connected via a PCI card "ITE
IT8212 ATA RAID Controller". This was necessary as the motherboard does not
support large discs in the bios. The system loads OK in normal mode, but
will not load in Safe Mode. It gets to the state where I see a display of
the drivers being loaded, but then drops back to the initial loading
sequence. Further, if I try "last good", I'm pretty sure that a program
error of some sort occurs (I see a quick flash of a blue screen with what
looks like some error message), and again the machine drops back to the
initial loading sequence.
How can I diagnose these problems (I guess they are connected). I
don't seem to have the option of a bootlog for the Safe mode, and, if I set
it on in the boot init file, surely it will also be on for the normal load
following, and overwrite the data I want to see!

PS I have checked that I have the most recent driver for the board (dated
2007).

 

[John John (MVP)]

Go in the System Properties and change the option to Automatically
Reboot on System Failure to have the computer halt on the BSOD. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320299 for more help.

John

 

[Oldster]

Tried that. Unfortunately the failure seems to occur too early in the load
process. The system just went off and loaded again back to the select type
of load. No information seems to logged anywhere! This is really frustrating
because although I don't need to have this working at the moment, there may
come a time when I do!!!!

 

[DL]

You stated earlier that you had the latest drivers, did you also update the
card Bios?
http://www.ite.com.tw/software_download/software_download2.asp#IT8212 ATA133 Controller

 

[Oldster]

There seem to be two current Bios versions. I'm unclear which I need!
The one I have says "ATAPI BIOS (for ATAPI device)" . That one is the one
in the device. Should I try the other version one "ATAPI BIOS (for ATAPI
device)"?
Thanks

 

[Oldster]

As a second reply.... I now believe that the card I have does NOT support
flashing the bios!!

 

[DL]

Since you are using IDE devices it would be that bios.
The model # you gave is the only one listed on their site

 

[Oldster]

So, where to now? Have I come up against an XP limitation with "Safe
Mode", in that it won't load via the PCI card?
Note that it does seem to load lots of drivers....but perhaps there's some
extra ones needed. If so, then I don't know how I would go about adding them
anyway. Presumeably some changes in the registry around the "safeboot" area.
Any thoughts anyone? And how would I go about finding the missing driver (if
that's what it is)?

 

[DL]

I boot from a PCI card, that has raid drives configured, there is no problem
in booting to safe mode

 

[Oldster]

I have just come across a Microsoft article Q316434, Which contains the
following:-

Note You cannot use Safe mode with networking support when you use a modem
or a PC Card connection to a network because modem drivers and PC Card
drivers do not load in Safe mode or in Safe mode with networking support.

I assume that this means that my PCI card for my disc cannot be used in safe
mode!!!

 

[John John (MVP)]

No, that isn't the same thing, a PC Card is not a PCI card. Windows XP
can be booted to safe mode on a PCI controller, there is something else
wrong with your installation. Doing a repair install and feeding the
controller drivers on a floppy diskette (F6) may fix things.

John