BUG: Floppy Drive Inaccessible on Computers with 512 MB of Memory Until Service Pack 4 Is Installed (268830)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
This article was previously published under Q268830

SYMPTOMS

The floppy disk drive is inaccessible on computers with Intel 810e or 815 motherboards with 512 megabytes (MB) of memory installed, and on computers with Intel 830 motherboards with 256 MB or more of memory installed, until Service Pack 4 (SP4) or higher is installed. This problem limits how Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 can be installed on these computers because the Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM does not contain Service Pack 4. The three-floppy-disk method of installation does not work correctly. You will see a blue screen with an error message that is similar to the following:
STOP 0x0000007B (0xF2813BD4, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
You can install by starting from the Windows NT 4.0 CD, but you cannot load third-party drivers from the floppy disk drive until Windows NT 4.0 is installed and Service Pack 4 (or higher) is installed.

CAUSE

Windows NT 4.0 does not correctly allocate resources for floppy disk drives on these computers (as described in the "Symptoms" section).

RESOLUTION

To work around the problem:
  1. Install Windows NT 4.0 from the CD-ROM.
  2. Restart the computer and log on.
  3. Install Service Pack 4 or higher from the CD and restart the computer.
  4. Install a third-party driver from the floppy disk.
  5. Reinstall the Service Pack if networking or some other operating system component was installed with the driver.
You can also work around this problem by installing Windows NT 4.0 from a network install share that includes the third-party drivers. This method is described in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/15/2002
Keywords:kbBug kbDSupport KB268830
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.