NT Server 4.0 won't boot off diskette. Huh.?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

NT Server 4.0 (Sp 6a) on Intel i386

A few weeks back I needed to boot this machine on a diskette to
perform a Ghost clone (a once-a-month backup procedure) and was
surprised to see that it wouldn't boot from the diskette. Just
ignored it. Not even a seek and error message.! After the screen
character POST messages (and at the point when it would normally
display the OS message from the diskette) the computer just hangs with
the flashing white cursor. A Black Screen of Death.!

Undeterred, I tried a few other diskettes in the A: drive which all
had the same problem. Hmmmm. Must be a BIOS issue. Messed around in
the machine's setup but the A: drive was first on the boot list,
nothing unusual anywhere else.

Then I tried moving the hard drive to another machine so that I could
at least get the backup I wanted. I half expected that there might be
blue screen issues, but was amazed when the drive did exactly the
same. Just would not even try to access the diskette. Exactly the
same issue as when in the first machine. Black screen at the point
where the OS on the diskette would normally display.

Tried a third machine with a similar config but a different brand
motherboard. Exactly the same result.

In all three machines if there is no diskette in the drive, the NT 4.0
OS boots perfectly. Conclusion: something in the NT setup (or a
virus) is causing the diskette boot problem.

The drive has been checked several times with online scanners such as
Symantec, Pandaware and BitDefender.

The only change that *may* have occured prior to the problem is that
the boot partition (C upgraded itself to NTFS-5 when placed in an
XP-Pro machine, but probably that happened after the boot problem was
discovered. In fact, the drive was placed in an XP-Pro machine in an
attempt to clone it there because the diskette problem already
existed. So that just complicates the environment now, but would not
have caused the original problem.

Anyone with any suggestions please.?

thanks

.les.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

You never did mention what was on the boot floppy.

--
Regards,

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

"Les Juby" wrote:
| NT Server 4.0 (Sp 6a) on Intel i386
|
| A few weeks back I needed to boot this machine on a diskette to
| perform a Ghost clone (a once-a-month backup procedure) and was
| surprised to see that it wouldn't boot from the diskette. Just
| ignored it. Not even a seek and error message.! After the screen
| character POST messages (and at the point when it would normally
| display the OS message from the diskette) the computer just hangs with
| the flashing white cursor. A Black Screen of Death.!
|
| Undeterred, I tried a few other diskettes in the A: drive which all
| had the same problem. Hmmmm. Must be a BIOS issue. Messed around in
| the machine's setup but the A: drive was first on the boot list,
| nothing unusual anywhere else.
|
| Then I tried moving the hard drive to another machine so that I could
| at least get the backup I wanted. I half expected that there might be
| blue screen issues, but was amazed when the drive did exactly the
| same. Just would not even try to access the diskette. Exactly the
| same issue as when in the first machine. Black screen at the point
| where the OS on the diskette would normally display.
|
| Tried a third machine with a similar config but a different brand
| motherboard. Exactly the same result.
|
| In all three machines if there is no diskette in the drive, the NT 4.0
| OS boots perfectly. Conclusion: something in the NT setup (or a
| virus) is causing the diskette boot problem.
|
| The drive has been checked several times with online scanners such as
| Symantec, Pandaware and BitDefender.
|
| The only change that *may* have occured prior to the problem is that
| the boot partition (C upgraded itself to NTFS-5 when placed in an
| XP-Pro machine, but probably that happened after the boot problem was
| discovered. In fact, the drive was placed in an XP-Pro machine in an
| attempt to clone it there because the diskette problem already
| existed. So that just complicates the environment now, but would not
| have caused the original problem.
|
| Anyone with any suggestions please.?
|
| thanks
|
| .les.
|

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 09:28:45 -0600, "Dave Patrick"
<mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote:

>You never did mention what was on the boot floppy.

The floppy is a Win98 bootable diskette with ghost 6 executables.

It was tested on several other machines and they boot directly to the
floppy, no problems. Also have several copies of the same floppy.

The real issue here is that the NT Server 4.0 OS won't even try to
access the floppy, and doesn't give the usual error messages that
would be generated if it couldn't see the diskette...

.les.


o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Les Juby lesjuby@anti-spam.iafrica.com
Webpro Internet - - - Prosoft Microsystems
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
P.O.Box 35243, Northway 4065, South Africa
Tel: +27 31 563-8344 Fax: +27 31 564-4928
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
(you *do* know to take "anti-spam" out the address....?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

This has to be a system bios or hardware issue. The contents of the fixed
disk wouldn't enter into this since the pc should be starting from the
devices in order of selection in cmos setup. I'm guessing one or the other
floppy drives is bad. (head offset) Symptoms are floppy works in the drive
it was last written from but not in another drive.

--
Regards,

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

"Les Juby" wrote:
| The floppy is a Win98 bootable diskette with ghost 6 executables.
|
| It was tested on several other machines and they boot directly to the
| floppy, no problems. Also have several copies of the same floppy.
|
| The real issue here is that the NT Server 4.0 OS won't even try to
| access the floppy, and doesn't give the usual error messages that
| would be generated if it couldn't see the diskette...
|
| .les.
|
|
| o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
| Les Juby lesjuby@anti-spam.iafrica.com
| Webpro Internet - - - Prosoft Microsystems
| Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| P.O.Box 35243, Northway 4065, South Africa
| Tel: +27 31 563-8344 Fax: +27 31 564-4928
| o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
| (you *do* know to take "anti-spam" out the address....?