I am trying to install a Maxtor ata/100 card on my presario 5220, attached to a Maxtor 30g hdd which I formatted and copied files from my orignial hdd while the Maxtor was attached to the ata/100 card and the original drive was attached to the mobo controller. When it boots into windows 98, it frequently crashes immediately with the following error message: "The volume that was removed had open files on it. Next time, please check first to see if the volume can really be removed". I "hit any key" and then get the following message: "The file system mounted on the volume had data that needed to be flushed. Some data on the volume was lost. Next time . . .". I "hit any key" and finally get the message "A fatal exception OE at 0167:BFF9DBA7". Now, the computer will boot up fine in Safe Mode, and sometimes boots up okay, but sometimes Windows crashes. I suspect it is a driver conflict of some kind, possibly a driver that came with the ata/100 card. Interestingly, in a recent issue of SmartPC magazine, somebody wrote about installing a Promise ata/100 (Essentially the same card) in a computer and getting the same error message at bootup. They went to the Promise site and downloaded a new driver. Maxtor offers no new drivers, and I am not able to locate the driver described in the SmartPC article. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

This sounds More like you had programs running at the time you did the Copy.
Those programs and files were closed on the original drive when you shut down.
But the copies on the new driver were not.

Do you still have the original Drive intact?
You may need to repeat the process and make sure ALL the programs are shut down.

In the mean time you may want to try one thing.
Boot to the DOS prompt.
Then change to the Temp Folder ( Normally C:\windows\temp) and delete all the files in that folder.
Then use Attrib and remove the hidden attributes for the windows Swap file and delete that as well. ( windows will recreate it at boot up.)
( C:\windows\win386.swp)

Reboot the system and see what happens

Rick:

I did the copy using DriveCopy 3.0, which is a DOS process that uses a DOS bootup disk. So there should be no programs running in the background. As far as having the original drive, unfortunately (this is total anguish, total), I managed to screw up the boot sector or whatever when I made the copy (more anguish, embarrassment, humilitation), so I cannot use it anymore. I may have to use, gulp, the Compaq restore disk as a last resort. Fortunately, I did backup crucial data before I did the copy. I will try your other suggestion. Thanks. And I am open to any other suggestions.

Just to clarify something (sorry, I'm using my work computer for all of this, very much on the fly): I can always get into Windows using Safemode. Sometimes, I can get into Windows using the regular or normal mode and everything seems to work fine, while other times I get those error messages. Thanks.

Problem apparently solved . . . I removed all the files in startup, and the computer booted fine. Ran it for a couple of days, no problems. I then added files one at a time. The first two caused no problems booting. However, the third file I added conflicts somehow or another with the new ata/100 card yielding that weird error message. I can live without it at bootup, and it does not seem to cause any problems when I run it after the computer has fully booted (it's sort of a memory-resident file that lets me use the buttons on my HP scanner for instant scans). I am going to add the last two remaining files and see if they cause any problems. Anyway, hope this might help someone else with a similar problem. Just dump your startup files, see if the computer boots up into windows okay, and then add one file at a time to see which one or ones conflict.

[This message has been edited by alex666 (edited 06-16-2001).]

Some of those HP programs can be big problems...see if HP has an update for it. Also you may be able to get it to start by using a third party start manager that allows you to set the order the the background programs start. Some also allow you to set a delay for the programs until the previous one is loaded...


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

HP does have an update, I downloaded it, and it wouldn't work!!! In the process of unzipping, one of the files couldn't execute. I may try to download the file again, as I paused for several hours in the process of downloading it, and I wonder if this might have caused some problems. Anyway, MJC, thanks for the info.

[This message has been edited by alex666 (edited 06-17-2001).]