reinstall windows error: ftdisk.sys

[wiz329]

I am reinstalling windows on a computer, so I wiped the drive with DBAN, then used the windows disc that came with the computer. However, I got an error:

File ftdisk.sys caused an unexpected error (47872) at line 5897 in d:\xpsp1\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

I tried googling but didn't come up with much. Sounds like maybe a driver problem?

[phaZed]

Shouldn't be a driver problem... especially if it is the OEM disk that came with the computer.

I would consider swapping memory out and/or testing it.

Are you getting this error before Windows loads the installer, during the install, or upon reboot?

Does the installation see your hard drive?

[Tekko]

Format the drive with a boot disk and then re-try the install.

[wiz329]

I don't think it is a memory problem. It was running just fine before I wiped it. But I'm doing diagnostics to check for that now.

It gets past the BIOS screen, boots into a blue plaintext screen that says "Windows Setup Utility". At the bottom it says it starts loading various things (kernal debugger dll, windows setup, PCI bus driver ... various other drivers), then when it gets to "Mount Point Manager" it stalls, then gives me the error.

[Mr.Mike]

Problems with the OEM disk? Problems with CD/DVD ROM? Check for smudges on the disk. Something seems to be interfering with the data transfer from the disk.

[wiz329]

edit: I managed to reformat from GParted Live ... but still got the same error screen.

Could anything be causing this besides a bad DVD drive? Just broke the CD out of its shrink wrap, so I don't think it would be damaged.

[phaZed]

Some thing to try would be to change IDE/AHCI mode in BIOS and see if that helps.

How did that memory check come out?

It certainly is easy enough to swap out the DVD drive and see if that changes the situation as well.

Swap out the SATA/IDE cable; longshot.

Worst case scenario would be to install the OS on a different machine and transplant the drive back to the goofy machine.

[xxsilk109xx]

Do you have another install media that you can try? I use a universal windows xp cd that has all flavors, and just activate with key on customers computer.

[Mr.Mike]

Originally Posted by phaZed

Worst case scenario would be to install the OS on a different machine and transplant the drive back to the goofy machine.

So that would set the mode to what ever the native setting (IDE or AHCI) were originally there? Interesting.

[phaZed]

Originally Posted by ScarletPathos

So that would set the mode to what ever the native setting (IDE or AHCI) were originally there? Interesting.

No, it wouldn't change the IDE/AHCI setting, rather it would install Windows using either IDE or AHCI depending on what your "install" computer is set on like usual. I offered this suggestion because you could at least get windows installed fully onto the drive and put it into the system that doesn't seem to want to install correctly.
What happens is that Windows disables the IDE or AHCI driver respectively depending on what it is installed on. You simply need to enable the driver via the registry.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976 <--MSFixIt here and manual edit info.

You will need to be able to boot Windows to change the registry key, you can use D7 (which is awesome! Props to FoolishIT) under the "Tweaks" section, and I suppose you could do an offline registry edit although I have never done it offline before for AHCI/IDE driver issue.