Microsoft KB Archive/245162

= Cannot Access Hard Disk After Booting from Floppy Disk =

Article ID: 245162

Article Last Modified on 1/25/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 95
 * Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q245162



If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/w98?sid=460



SYMPTOMS
After you start your computer from a floppy disk for troubleshooting purposes or to install an operating system, you may receive the following error message after you attempt to change to the hard disk, even though the hard disk is correctly partitioned and formatted:

Invalid Drive Specification



CAUSE
This error message can occur if you have a drive overlay program installed and you do not follow the proper procedures to boot from a floppy disk. When a drive overlay program is loaded, you cannot boot directly from a floppy disk if you want to be able to access the hard disk. You must first load the drive overlay program and then boot from the floppy disk.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, check the documentation included with your drive overlay software, or contact the hard disk manufacturer for information about how to boot from a floppy disk and access the hard disk.



MORE INFORMATION
Drive overlay or geometry translation software may be used when a computer does not support Logical Block Addressing (LBA) for gaining access to hard disks over 528 megabytes (MB) in size. Drive overlay software may also be required when a computer's BIOS does not support INT 13 Extensions to gain access to hard disks larger than 8.0 gigabytes (GB) in size.

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

186057 How to Tell If Drive Overlay Program Is Installed in Windows

122052 Logical Block Addressing (LBA) Defined

Additional query words: HWFDCTL HWDDRV

Keywords: kb3rdparty kbenv kbprb KB245162

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.