inaccessible_boot_device - how to fix besides re-install

[Kando]

Finally got one that is not so minor. Have an optiplex gx260 running Windows 2000 with 256mb ram. I installed another 512mb ram and when it was rebooted it said that the amount of memory had changed. Went into the bios and confirmed the amount as 768mb. Saved and exited, the various Windows screen go by and then the inaccessible boot device screen came up. I figured the ram was bad so I switched it out with a 128mb chip. Same sequence, same result. Took out the 128mb and left the 256mb and rebooted. Same sequence, same result.

I booted up with a Win98 floppy and went to fdisk. It looks like somehow the C: drive no longer exists as such. The screen shows partition 1, with 71mb and partition 2, with 19gb and active.

I ran chkdsk c: /f but it did not work as it did not see a "c" drive.

Now here is the kicker. The bios has a password, I can go into it and hit enter whereupon it says incorrect password and allows me to look at the settings but not change any. I don't know the password, I called the DOE help desk and they had no idea. The boot order is floppy, hard drive, cd and that can not be changed because of the password issue.

I have the Windows 2000 start up floppies and cd but they are not the same version that is on the computer.

The answer from the help desk is to install the hard drive externally and save the data, then they come in and re-image.

How do I fix this without removing the drive? Can it be fixed?

[piaaz]

I have a good news and bad news. Every desktop computer motherboard has a backdoor to the BIOS -that's the good news. open the side panel and look for a jumper that says anything in regards to BIOS.....usually jumpers are set for configuration position, if you remove them or change the positioning on it, then it will clear the BIOS password and will allow you to get in (you have to clear put it in the same position after you made your changes.

Bad news is that, you may have done more damage then good by running the checkdsk C: /f , Windows 98 boot disk or CD and fdisk will not show you the real size of the drive unless your drive is less then 98 gig and it's in FAT32 format.

If your drive is actually FAT32, boot from the disk and on the prompt type in fdisk /mbr  (I have seen this work in may instances)

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Kando]

Fdisk showed the size of the drive correctly, 20gb formatted as NTFS. I will try the jumpers. I have done that before but I guess I am getting old since it just did not occur to me in this case.

Will fdisk /mbr work since it is not FAT32?

[piaaz]

It might work but I know it will not make it worst.