Disk IO Status 0000AA00

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Meehan
  • Start date Start date
J

John Meehan

Hi. I've got a weird one. I've tried googling it but I can't find any
references.

Here's the background:
a while back, my hard drive died. I got a new 300 GB IDE drive, and as an
experiment, before I reinstalled Win2K, tried some Linux distros. (Ubuntu
7.10 and Zen Walk 4 to be specific). One used GRUB, the other LILO, but the
Linux installs went well, and things worked fine. After all the
experimentation, I removed all the partitions, and I tried to go back and
reinstall Win2k from my cdrom.

The CD boots fine, and it loads all the necessary drivers, but instead of
reaching the first screen (install/repair/etc.) it freezes with a "Disk I/O:
Status: 0000AA00" message. Ctrl-Alt-Del won't reboot the computer, and I have
to do a hard power cycle to get out.

Since the disk didn't have any partitions, I thought it might be an MBR
issue. So I tried to restore it using Norton Ghost (gdisk /mbr). That didn't
work and I still get the same (AA00) error.

Any clues as to what the problem and fix is?
 
To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *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 controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Uh-huh. I have indeed read the fine manual. And done plenty of installs.

Including, just before I did my experimentation, a *successful* install on
this very same drive.

I am not getting to the Win2k Pro screen, much less the license agreement
screen.

Still clueless about what the error means.

--
What do you want?
Information.


Dave Patrick said:
To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *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 controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
Click to expand...
 
Your post was rather vague hence the boiler plate reply. Sounds like
possible hardware failure. Have you run the manufacturer's diagnostic tools?
Disk and drive controller?


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
I'm trying to be as clear as I can. Unfortunately, the only diagnostic error
message I have is "Disk I/O: Status: 0000AA00".

In answer to your other questions:
My initial suspicion was hardware failure as well. But the drive performs
correctly (as far as I can tell); or at least, I can continue to install and
run Linux on it.

I have not been able to run the manufacturer's diagnostics because the
CD-based programs require Windows (which of course, I can't install), and the
DOS-based ones require a floppy (that I don't have). The few BIOS diagnostics
available to me say everything's OK though.

Ultimately, the question boils down to - 1) Is the problem with the Setup CD
itself (unlikely since it boots, IMO)? 2) Is the problem with the hard drive
(in which case it's something weird), and if so do I need to replace it with
a new drive, or is it something that is reparable?

Having to buy a new version of Windows is not desirable. Neither is having
to buy another hard drive, though it's more palatable than a new Windows CD.

Knowing the meaning of the error message (which was my original question),
will help determine which course I follow.
 
I'd temp connect a floppy so you can run the manufacturer's tools and
possibly low level format the disk.

--

Regards,

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

What name brand 300 GB IDE drive did you buy?
If it came with a utility disk, run it and see if you can write Zeros to the
drive. Also if you Google again, try the follow and nothing else in your
search......

0000AA00

Id also check ALL cables in the system as it's possible something is loose
but you can't see it enough to tell.
 
Sorry, it's taken me so long; I had to buy a USB floppy drive before I could
do anything else, and Xmas shopping season being what it is...

Anyway...

@SG: It's a Western Digital. I haven't had problems with them, despite their
reputation.

And just 0000AA00 pulls up either stuff in German (darn it), or this post.
I'll double check the connectors, just to be sure.

@SG and Dave:
Well, I've *tried* to run the diagnostics, but the program keeps complaining
about a version/drive mismatch. Mind you, according to WD the things are
supposed to be golden. (I.e. I downloaded the ones they say should work.) I'm
tempted to go talk to WD, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

The non-diagnostic tools *do* work, and don't indicate any problems.

I'm still not quite ready to buy a new drive, as I'm sure it's just a SW
issue somewhere, and not a mechanical one. I'm tempted to boot back into a
Linux live CD and use dd to write zeroes to the entire disk. (Since the WD
tools don't work.)

I *have* made some progress, however - the problem is definitely on the
disk, not the CD. Not that I didn't think that before, but now I'm *sure* of
it.

So, I know the problem's on the Disk, I still don't know what the problem
is, or how to fix it. And I still don't know what the error message means
(exactly).
 
John said:
Sorry, it's taken me so long; I had to buy a USB floppy drive before I could
do anything else, and Xmas shopping season being what it is...

Anyway...

@SG: It's a Western Digital. I haven't had problems with them, despite their
reputation.

And just 0000AA00 pulls up either stuff in German (darn it), or this post.
I'll double check the connectors, just to be sure.

@SG and Dave:
Well, I've *tried* to run the diagnostics, but the program keeps complaining
about a version/drive mismatch. Mind you, according to WD the things are
supposed to be golden. (I.e. I downloaded the ones they say should work.) I'm
tempted to go talk to WD, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

The non-diagnostic tools *do* work, and don't indicate any problems.

I'm still not quite ready to buy a new drive, as I'm sure it's just a SW
issue somewhere, and not a mechanical one. I'm tempted to boot back into a
Linux live CD and use dd to write zeroes to the entire disk. (Since the WD
tools don't work.)

I *have* made some progress, however - the problem is definitely on the
disk, not the CD. Not that I didn't think that before, but now I'm *sure* of
it.

So, I know the problem's on the Disk, I still don't know what the problem
is, or how to fix it. And I still don't know what the error message means
(exactly).
Click to expand...

Win 2000 does not natively recognize drives larger than ~137Gb and is probably
throwing the first error msg it comes to. Support for large drives comes w/ SP4.
 
The Saga Continues...

Well, after taking a break from it for a bit, I revisited the problem. My
first thought was to buy a 120 GB HD, but apparently, that's not possible
anymore.

So I tried slipstreaming SP4 into my install CD, to take care of the
potential "large disk" problem. I still get the same result.

I'm rapidly approaching the point where I just give up entirely on this, and
using Windows on my home computers. If I do that though, I'll lose access to
a few important programs.

So after lots of wheel spinning, I still don't have a Windows Desktop and
the Win2k disk still bombs with the indecipherable "Disk IO: Status:
0000AA00" message.

Any more ideas?
 
What was it you tried? Slipstreaming has no effect as far as the LBA thing
goes.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Slipstreaming itself, no. But since my install disk is pre-SP4, it doesn't
support drives larger than 120 GB, and I thought/hoped that might be the
problem. And if that was the case, slipstreaming SP4 would have solved it.
Alas, no such luck.

And LBA thing?

I really am pretty much at my wits end here. Right now, I'm pretty much
stuck. I can't get a replacement HD (all drives smaller than 120 are notebook
drives, which doesn't help my desktop), and I can't determine a software fix.
And paying $200-300 for a retail copy of XP that may or may not solve the
issue isn't really an option.
 
Ref my 12/12/2007 post

--
What do you want?
Information.


Dave Patrick said:
Have you run the manufacturer's diagnostic tools? Disk and drive controller?


--

Regards,

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

John Meehan said:
Slipstreaming itself, no. But since my install disk is pre-SP4, it doesn't
support drives larger than 120 GB, and I thought/hoped that might be the
problem. And if that was the case, slipstreaming SP4 would have solved it.
Alas, no such luck.

And LBA thing?

I really am pretty much at my wits end here. Right now, I'm pretty much
stuck. I can't get a replacement HD (all drives smaller than 120 are
notebook
drives, which doesn't help my desktop), and I can't determine a software
fix.
And paying $200-300 for a retail copy of XP that may or may not solve the
issue isn't really an option.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I said:
"Well, I've *tried* to run the diagnostics, but the program keeps complaining
about a version/drive mismatch. Mind you, according to WD the things are
supposed to be golden. (I.e. I downloaded the ones they say should work.) I'm
tempted to go talk to WD, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. "

In short, I tried to, but was unable to run the diagnostic programs.
Remember, the drive still works fine under Linux distros, so whatever the
problem with the disk is, it's something specific to Windows, possibly even
to Win2k. I'll try to get the diagnostics working again, and I'll call up WD
to see what I can find out. But I don't have a whole lot of hope.

--
What do you want?
Information.


Dave Patrick said:
You didn't answer or didn't run them IIRC


--

Regards,

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

John Meehan said:
Ref my 12/12/2007 post
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If your suspicion is linux then you'll want to low level the disk by writing
zeros to it. The manufacturer tools are one way to accomplish this.


--

Regards,

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