SATA Win2k Install - "Couldn't open the boot partition to check for signature"

  • Thread starter Thread starter sdac
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sdac

Hi, I have a problem with installing Win2k and after hours of reading
on the net and trying things out.. I haven't made any progress. A
friend pointed me to XPC.

I got a new SATA hard drive connected to my MB through a SiliconImage
SATA controller, trying to install Win 2000 onto this drive.

Here's a detailed history of what happened:



PREPARATION:
Unplugged old IDE HD.


INSTALLATION AND PROBLEMS:
1. Booted with Win2k CD and pressed F6 then installed SATA card drivers
so SATA HD can be detected. (image #1)

2. Installed Win2k on new drive.

3. After restart...system is unable to boot from SATA HD and shows
message "Couldn't open the boot partition to check for signature"
(image #3)

4. system then proceeds to boot from CDROM into Win2k setup.


EXTRA NOTES:

* The SATA card BIOS is bieng shown on boot after the system bios
screen comes up indicating that card and drive are detected by my BIOS
and that SATA card is bootable. (image #2)
* SATA card must be working as I tried connecting and booting WinXP
from the old IDE HD and I was able to succesfully install the card,
where in the properties tab it showed me that my new SATA drive was
connected to it (WD 1200JS)
* SATA HD has no jumpers set in the back.. ie ID 0.
* BIOS Settings:
Boot Sequence -> 1.SCSI 2.HDD0 3.CDROM
Flash protection, virus protection are off to allow win2k setup
to write to the MBR.
* There is an old thread from 2003 on XPC forums describing a
similar problem, I already read that but it seems that case is
different as the hardware was faulty and that card's BIOS scren wasn't
even showing.



SPECS:
Hard Disk -> WD Caviar SE 120GB SATA
Sata Card -> Silicon Image SIL3124-2 with RAID.


Any help on this issue would be appreciated.


image 1
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4686/1driveselectgs8.jpg
image2
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1227/2satascreeafterbioscm9.jpg
image3
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4343/3failedbootso3.jpg
 
You need to edit your BOOT.INI .
FORMAT a floppy on a Win2K system, go to CMD box, attrib *.* -r -h -s,
copy ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini to the floppy. Add a standalone
editor to the floppy or edit the floppy to a different Win2K system.
Edit boot.ini. My guess is you have to change the drive number (0, 1,
....) rather than the partition number (1, 2, ...) You can add up to 8
system IDs in boot.ini . Boot up and one of them will work.
 
Stubby said:
You need to edit your BOOT.INI .
FORMAT a floppy on a Win2K system, go to CMD box, attrib *.* -r -h -s,
copy ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini to the floppy. Add a standalone
editor to the floppy or edit the floppy to a different Win2K system.
Edit boot.ini. My guess is you have to change the drive number (0, 1,
...) rather than the partition number (1, 2, ...) You can add up to 8
system IDs in boot.ini . Boot up and one of them will work.
Click to expand...


But I have no jumpers set on the SATA drive. Doesn't that mean it has
an ID 0 and the installation works on ID 0 by default ?

note: I have no other drives connected to the system.
 
sdac said:
But I have no jumpers set on the SATA drive. Doesn't that mean it has
an ID 0 and the installation works on ID 0 by default ?

note: I have no other drives connected to the system.
Click to expand...

The boot.ini file may be using a signature syntax, in which case you may
need either the SATA driver (renamed to NTBOOTDD.SYS) on the root folder
of the system partition, or change boot.ini syntax to match the device's
ARC path instead of using signature syntax.

To obtain the correct ARC path you can boot to the Recovery Console
(remembering to use the F6 option to load the SATA drivers) and use the
MAP ARC command. To edit the boot.ini file you can boot with a
Windows 9x boot diskette and use EditBINI to change or modify the file.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html Using the EditBINI
utility without first going in the Recovery Console will immediately
reveal the contents of the boot.ini file and let you know the syntax of
the file. To use the NTBOOTDD.SYS driver simply copy the proper driver
to a diskette and rename it to NTBOOTDD.SYS then use the Recovery
Console to copy it to C:\. If the problem is indeed the signature
syntax any one of these methods should fix things.

John
 
Is the Sil card the same version sata 1 or 2 as your hd?
If Sil card is sata1 and hd is sata 2 you need to set the jumper on the hd
to force sata1, or you would need to check hd manu site to see if the sata2
hd will run on a sata1 controler

At Image 2 did you F4 to enter the raid utility?
Depending on the raid controler it is sometimes necessary to set raid as
JBOD if you are using a single hd
 
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