The problem concerns computers with the following configuration/condition:
1. A computer with multiple hard drives (any mix of S-ATA or P-ATA it
turns out) and a S-ATA drive being used for the operating system install
2. Any of the 2nd, or higher, drives has been setup as having a logical
partition/partitions
3. The user installs Vista by booting from the DVD
When a drive is setup with a logical partition, 8 meg of unallocated space
is reserved at the beginning of the drive.
The Vista installer, it appears, creates a small (corrupted) partition in
the unallocated space
on a 2nd, 3rd or 4th drive. The installer then starts installing boot code
to this partition. I
have used a hex editor and have found this code there. This 8 meg space is
quickly filled
and the installer places the remainder of the code on the disk chosen by
the
user for the
Vista install.
I have seen situations where, if the above happens, it will corrupt the
2nd,
3rd or 4th drive
and make it unusable. In these circumstances I have had to delete all
partitions
from the drive and then create/format new partitions. All information on
the
drive will have been lost. Again, this occurs only sometimes.
Anyway, the Vista install completes and the user removes the DVD. Upon
startup, the
user finds that Vista will not boot. Vista is looking for the boot code on
the drive where the user had chosen to install Vista (system partition).
It
is not there. Part of it resides on another drive where it is not being
accessed/recognized.
If the user puts the DVD into the drive tray, Vista boots fine. Startup
apparently uses code from the DVD.
This should not occur, but it is too late to change the code on the Vista
DVD's at this point. The work around is start fresh, physically
disconnecting
any drive that you do not want the Vista installer to touch. In this way,
all of
the code is written to the desired drive/partition.
Upon arriving at the initial Windows desktop, go to system management |
Disk
Management and change the drive letters for your CD drive, DVD drive, USB
drives, card readers etc. to the end of the alphabet. This gets them out
of
the way prior to you shutting down the computer and reconnecting your
other
drives.
Now, shut down your computer and reconnect your drives. Upon booting to
the
desktop, you will see that the new drives are recognized and initialized.
You will also see that the drive letters are in sequence, and not broken
up
by the various other drives (you previously moved them). You may be asked
to
reboot so the changes can be made permanent. Do so if directed.
The next time you boot to the desktop you can rearrange those re-lettered
drives at the end of the alphabet if you so desire.
Now, I am not certain how pervasive this problem is but I have seen it on
old/new motherboards from 3 major M/B manufacturers. It is not, of course,
going to affect those who purchase a new computer with Vista on it. It
"will" affect those who upgrade or build their own computers, as these are
the users who are more likely to have multiple drives installed in their
machines.
I hope this has been of help to you.
--
Regards,
Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)
Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
