Device VCOMM?

[Daveman]

Howdy,
I'll start with the problem first. I can only boot to safe mode. If I try to boot normally; I get a blue screen with the message: "While initializing device VCOMM. Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer. System halted.".
I've tried starting with out the startup group, win.ini,or anything; and it still wont boot.
I had installed a new Maxtor 160 gb hdd and then realized that my Partition Magic wont run with the Maxtor softwware installed. Maxtors site told me to uninstall thier software and update my bios and mobo drivers to properly read the new hard drive. So I removed the drive; started uninstalling the Maxtor software and now I have this problem.
I am running Windows Me'. Can anyone help?

[GaryRouth]

Sorry for the long delay in answering (been on vacation)

It sounds like you installed a drive overlay program to help an older motherboard work with the 160gb drive? [Maxtor may call it "Ez-Bios" or "MaxBlast"]. If so, such programs usually alter the "mbr" of the drive ["Master Boot Record" - which contains partition information & such].

The trouble is that Partition Magic also writes it's own "mbr" onto that part of your hard drive [to allow it to do it's partitioning magic - which it does well]. That's the catch - there can only be one program in the "mbr".

If you made backups of all your data before all this started, you'll be fine.

From another computer, visit the website of your motherboard's manufacturer & look for a recent bios update that can read 160gb drives. Follow the directions from the site exactly & with caution: for if the bios update is interrupted, the motherboard can become unusable. If all goes well, reformat your 160gb drive with either your Maxtor tools, or with an updated fdisk from Microsoft's download site (you need the fdisk that was updated to work with drives larger than 60gb - the Win9x/Me fdisk doesn't go that high). Then reinstall from scratch, and add back your extra non-system data from your backups.

If you haven't any backups, try slaving the drive in another computer and making backups first, then give the update a try.

The Maxtor site was steering you the right direction, you just hit a bump in the road.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[Daveman]

Gary,
Thank's for the reply. I was wondering if anyone was going to be able to help me.
Well, you hit the nail on the head. I've found updates for my bios and my HPT 370/372 driver (Abit says this is what I need). They also state that I'm better off going to their web site and let them choose and install the proper bios updates; but I'm not able to do that since the machine is unable to connect to the internet in safe mode.
One thing I've been thinking about is that I've heard that you can reinstall Windows Me' over the original copy and not loose all of my or info (or something to that effect). Have you heard of this or know how to do it?
I'd appreciate any input you could give me. Thanks again for the reply.
Daveman

[GaryRouth]

Do you have two drives in the system (an older one with a Partition Magic mbr and the operating system, and the newer 160gb that had the MaxBlast on it?) - or did you copy everything from an older drive onto the 160gb?

[Daveman]

Gary,

Yes I've got my original hard drive with a partition magic mbr (I'm assuming) and a new 160 gb hard drive with a maxblast mbr (assuming it's still there after trying to uninstall it). But have temporarilly removed the new drive trying to straighten out the original drive that won't boot to windows.

Any suggestions?

[GaryRouth]

When you first installed Partition Magic on your original drive, you may have been prompted to create a set of floppy Emergency/Recovery diskettes (usually two). Do you have these available? I believe you can boot from them & check the status of the Partition Magic mbr with those, and restore it if it needs to be. The exact details would be either in your Partition Magic manual or at the PowerQuest website. If I remember, it's a fairly straightforward procedure.

I'm thinking that you might not need to worry about the mbr issue on your original drive, though - since the system can boot to Safe Mode. For a quickfix, you can try booting into Safe Mode and using System Restore to choose a system restore date prior to the 160gb/MaxBlast install. [just before trying this, see if you have an uninstall for MaxBlast still listed in the Add/Remove applet in Control Panel - if so, try the uninstall again].

I'm not sure whether or not you'd be successful with an over-the-top on a WinMe system that has a Partition Magic mbr running. If you have backups of everything, I suppose you could try it & if worse comes to worse reinstall things & restore data from your backups. Some over-the-top details (there are two methods, so read down the thread to see which suits your situation better) are here http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=70846

Since the quickest remedy is System Restore in Safe Mode, you might start there.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.
. . . Gary

[Daveman]

Gary,

No I don't have a set of recovery disksettes. I don't think the partition magic program itself is installed on my computer(other than the mbr) since I just run it from a set of floppies when changes are needed to be made. I will go to the powerquest site and see if and see if I can find any info on checking the partition magic mbr.

In the last few years since I've had Windows Me'; I've tried it's System Restore feature several times with very few successfull results.

I'll also check out the info on the over-the-top windows install also.

Thank's again for the info. If you think of any other suggestions please post them.

Daveman

[GaryRouth]

If you decide to try the System Restore angle, it seems to be less cranky if you first try to uninstall any software/hardware added since the restore point you want to go back to.

Well, that plus a lucky day, a horseshoe, shamrock, and some salt over your shoulder.
. . . Gary

(the 2nd "over-the-top" [the setup /p f method] might be the first try if your headed that direction - and if it doesn't go, you could try the full win.com rename procedure)

[GaryRouth]

Drive Overlay correction:

Earlier in this thread, I said "there can be only one program in the mbr". Sorry, that's not quite right. There can be more than one, so long as they are compatible. [What I should have said is that "there usually can only be one 'interrupt 13 translation program' in the mbr]

The trick with Partition Magic and Ez-Bios drives co-exisiting in a system is that Ez-Bios has to be installed first, then Partition Magic. (both programs will run from the mbr at boot: EzBios first, then Partition Magic)

Daveman -

I'm not entirely sure (because I haven't the MaxBlast manual handy), but I'm wondering if MaxBlast's Ez-Bios needs to be installed on both the boot drive containing the operating system as well as the large drive needing the special translation to be used to its full size. [if so, then that would be why it overwrote your PM mbr]. You can check on your original drive by booting with the MaxBlast cd or diskette, going to Advanced Options, and selecting Uninstall MaxBlast. If it's not present, it will say so. If it is, it will offer to remove it. You can then see if Windows will start normally. If not, see if using your Partition Magic diskettes (the ones you usually boot from), contain a help file to recreate the Partition Magic mbr: which might then help the system boot from that drive normally again. ---> Then you could try the bios update for the large drive and add it without any special mbr (except perhaps Partition Magic's, if you decide you want to use it on that drive too)
. . . Gary