XP loading to drive E instead of C

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I've just installed a new OS (Windows XP Professional) on a new Maxtor 100GB HD which has developed "issues" very quickly once installed. I've already wiped the disk once (Eraser Nuke Boot Disk) after installing the OS, device drivers, and eighty-three Microsoft security updates, to address the same issues.

The first unusual event was the Windows XP disk twice assigning the HD as drive "E." Isn't the primary drive usually assigned as drive "C," and does that matter? The zip drive was assigned: "C" and the DVD RAM, drive "D."

At some point of installing / running additional programs, an error window began to pop-up. It read: Windows No Disk...Exception Processing Message c0000013 Parameters 75b6f9c...which I've found being discussed all over the internet. I changed the name/path of the zip drive from "C" to "K" which seems to have resolved the error message - or so it seems.

As the OS is loading, a message box opens to say "Processing Auto Configuration" which results in a slightly larger desktop image and no icons, buttons, menus, mouse...nothing. It's as if the computer is looking for info on drive "C" that is actually located on drive "E."

Any ideas on how I can resolve this and get a reliable system up will be greatly appreciated. I'm almost out of time for this "little" project and don't want to start from scratch again – and possibly end up with the same issues again.. Anyone know if there's a limit to how many times you can get the same security updates for the same OS from Microsoft?

Thanks!

IRT
 
It looks as if you have no choice but to start again. A 100Gb disk is almost certainly a SATA device, which except on the latest motherboards, usually requires a motherboard driver, which you must install (early) during the installation of the OS, otherwise you are in trouble of the sort you are seeing.

At an early point in the installation, you will be invited to press F6 to add motherboard drivers, which is easy if you have a floppy disc, otherwise you have to have the drivers on another Cd (supplied with the motherboard, or downloaded from the manufacturer website and copied to a floppy or CD) which is swapped in temporarily.

Another thing to check is the bios, which often requires you to declare if the SATA or IDE channels are the primary channels. Maybe the wrong one is set in your case.

On the last question, no known limit to how many times you can get security updates, but it is a lot quicker to download a complete image of all the updates together as a CD image from MS site. You obviously need a fast broadband connection for this, as it runs to 100's of Mb. I do believe you can get MS to send you an actual CD, but that will take time.
 
Thank you both for the info. I didn't even think of disconnecting any of the other drives (zip / floppy) during the initial install, as the (PATA) HD is the only drive on the primary channel and is selected as Master. The DVD RAM is selected as Master on the secondary channel with the internal zip set as slave - no SATA drives.

If I have to do another clean install - which is how it's looking, I'll disconnect the zip drive first and hope that these issues (or others) don't develop.

IRT
 
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