Installing Windows NT On a Caching SCSI Controller (130376)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
This article was previously published under Q130376 SYMPTOMS
When you install Windows NT 3.5 on a Windows NT file system (NTFS)
partition using a SCSI Host Adapter with an onboard cache, Windows NT may
not get installed correctly. After the initial installation completes the
system reboots for the first time and then tries to convert the FAT
partition to NTFS. The conversion appears to take place correctly and then
reboots a second time. The system continually reboots itself.
CAUSE
When the conversion from FAT to NTFS takes place, the SCSI controller
caches information about the converted partition (in this case NTFS). When
the computer is rebooted, the SCSI controller is supposed to write status
information to the disk, indicating that it is now an NTFS partition. Some
computers, such as the Intel P90 PCI, issue a hard reset when the computer
is rebooted. This flushes the partition status information from the
controller's cache before it is written to the disk. Because the data in
the cache is lost, the Windows NT continues to try to convert the FAT drive
to NTFS after the computer is rebooted.
WORKAROUND
In some cases this problem can be avoided by either disabling the SCSI
onboard cache or by physically removing it. The cache for some controllers
may need to remain enabled. In particular, on some controllers that support
hardware RAID, disabling cache is not possible. In that case, the only
workaround is to install Windows NT as FAT on the boot drive.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.5.
This problem was corrected in Windows NT version 3.51.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/4/2003 |
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| Keywords: | KB130376 |
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