Microsoft KB Archive/268830

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

Article ID: 268830

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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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 &quot;Symptoms&quot; 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.

Additional query words: sp4 sp5 sp6

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix KB268830

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