ATDISK Driver Fails to Start After Upgrade

 Last reviewed: September 14, 1996
Article ID: Q136990
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51

SYMPTOMS

Your computer uses an enhanced IDE controller and you upgraded your previous installation of Windows NT to Windows NT 3.51. The following message appears when you boot Windows NT: 

   At least one service or driver failed during system startup. Use
   Event Viewer to examine the event log for details.
Event Viewer shows that the message is caused by ATDISK.

CAUSE

Computers capable of connecting four Enhanced IDE (EIDE) devices actually contain two separate EIDE adapters. Windows NT 3.51 uses ATAPI.SYS to handle EIDE adapters, whereas ATDISK.SYS is used for only IDE and other WD1003 compatible disk controllers. In Windows NT 3.5, ATDISK.SYS handles the first adapter's IDE drives. ATAPI.SYS handles ATAPI devices, such as CD- ROM drives and hard disks, on the second adapter. When you update to Windows NT 3.51, ATAPI takes over the IO addresses from the first IDE adapter. When ATDISK initializes it cannot allocate the IO addresses and it terminates.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem,, run Control Panel, choose Devices, and manually disable the ATDISK driver.

KBCategory: kbsetup kbhw kb3rdparty
KBSubcategory: nthw ntsetup
Additional reference words: 3.51 prodnt startup system log western digital
wd

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Last reviewed: September 14, 1996
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