Article ID: 830656
Article Last Modified on 10/26/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
SYMPTOMS
Consider the following scenario: You have both Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disks and Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) hard disks installed, and you create a system partition on the SATA hard disk. You assign the drive letter C to that partition, and then you install Microsoft Windows 2000 on the computer. In this scenario, the Windows 2000 Setup program may ignore the active partition on the SATA hard disk, and the PATA hard disk may receive the drive letter C.
CAUSE
This problem occurs when all the following conditions are true:
- The SATA hard disk is configured as Disk1, and the basic input/output system (BIOS) has set the disk to be the primary (C) hard disk.
- The PATA hard disk is configured as Disk0 and is set to be the secondary (D) hard disk.
Although the BIOS recognizes this configuration correctly, the Setup program assigns the drive letter C to Disk0 (the PATA drive) during the hard disk enumeration phase of the Setup program. This behavior occurs because the Setup program recognizes the first hard disk (Disk0) at system startup and then queries all partitions on Disk0 for a system partition. If the Setup program finds a system partition, it assigns the drive letter C to the partition. If the Setup program does not find a system partition, it queries all partitions to find a primary partition. If a primary partition is found, the Setup program assigns the next drive letter to the partition. (If this is the first partition found, the Setup program assigns the drive letter C.) Then the Setup program proceeds to the next hard disk (Disk1). In this scenario, Disk0 always receives the drive letter C if there is a system partition or a primary partition present, even if the primary partition is not a system partition.
RESOLUTION
Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.
To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites are required.
Restart requirement
You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.
Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.
File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
Date Time Version Size File name ---------------------------------------------------------- 21-Oct-2003 22:26 5.0.2195.6867 111,488 Hal98tmr.dll 21-Sep-2003 01:36 5.0.2195.6824 29,712 Mountmgr.sys 21-Oct-2003 21:24 5.0.2195.6867 1,699,008 Ntkrnlmp.exe 21-Oct-2003 21:24 5.0.2195.6867 1,698,432 Ntkrnlpa.exe 21-Oct-2003 21:24 5.0.2195.6867 1,719,168 Ntkrpamp.exe 21-Oct-2003 21:24 5.0.2195.6867 1,676,672 Ntoskrnl.exe
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article.
MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages
824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates
Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbbug kbfix kbqfe kbwin2000presp5fix KB830656
