How to Rebuild Corrupted or Missing SYSTEM Partition on DEC ALPHA Computers

    _________<4GB______________________________________________

   | SYSTEM PARTITION - FAT   |  BOOT PARTITION - NTFS or FAT  |
   |                          |                                |
   | \Os\Winntxx\Osloader.exe | \Winnt\System32\Ntoskrnl.exe   |
   |            \Hal.dll      |                                |
   |            \*.PAL files  |                                |
   |__________________________|________________________________|
        SYSTEMPARTITION (1)            OSLOADPARTITION (2)
				

MORE INFORMATION

To rebuild the SYSTEM partition, you must either run a built-in program contained in the ALPHA firmware or use a utility called Arcinst.exe from the Windows NT installation compact disc's Alpha directory to delete and then create the SYSTEM partition.

DEC has two different kinds of firmware: the new AlphaBios firmware and the original ARC MULTIBOOT firmware. Depending on the model number and age of the computer, either kind of firmware could be in place.

NOTE: The screens and menu items may vary from one firmware revision to the next. Use the appropriate section below for instructions on deleting or creating a new SYSTEM partition.

Deleting and Creating a SYSTEM Partition Using AlphaBios Firmware

To delete a system partition and then create a new one, use the following steps:

1. Turn on power to the system.
2. After POST initialization completes, press F2 to enter SETUP; the menu will look similar to the following:
   

         Display System Configuration
         Upgrade AlphaBios
         Hard Disk Setup ...
         CMOS Setup ...
         Install Windows NT
         Utilities
         About AlphaBios
   						

3. From the AlphaBios SETUP menu, click Hard Disk Setup.
4. A map of the drives and partitions will be displayed along with selections for deleting and creating or formatting partitions. The map will resemble the following diagram:
   

         -----------------------------------------------------------
         Disk 0  QLISP10x0    SCSI  ID  0      4091MB
               Partition 1                   4081MB FAT
               Partition 2                     10MB UNKNOWN
   
   
         Insert=NEW   DEL=Delete   F6=Format   F7=Express   Esc=Exit
         -----------------------------------------------------------
   						

5. Select the damaged SYSTEM partition, and then either press F6 to format, or choose DELETE and then create a new partition and format it.
   
   NOTE: If you are recovering a Windows NT 3.51 installation, it will be necessary to start Windows NT using the boot floppy as described in the following Knowledge Base article:

   172806 Creating a WinNT Boot Floppy for DEC ALPHA RISC Computers

   This is necessary because the Windows NT repair process fails to copy the Windows NT loader files if the Os\Winnt351 directory structure is not found on the newly-created partition. After you manually recreate this directory structure on the SYSTEM partition, copy the six boot files manually from the Windows NT installation compact disc, or perform a normal shutdown and then continue with step 5 from within the AlphaBios SETUP menu.
   
   
6. Go back to the main menu, and then click Install Windows NT.
7. At the first Windows NT Setup screen, press R to repair.
8. When you see the following menu, select only this repair option:
   

        [ ]  Inspect registry files
        [ ]  Inspect startup environment
        [x]  Verify Windows NT system files.
   						

   
   By selecting this option, Windows NT 4.0 setup will recreate the Os\Winnt40 directory structure on the newly created SYSTEM partition, and then prompt to replace the following files from the Windows NT installation compact disc:
   

          - A221064.PAL
          - A221066.PAL
          - A221164.PAL
          - A321064.PAL
          - Osloader.exe
          - Hal.dll
   						

   
   NOTE: If you have any Windows NT service packs installed, it is very important that you only allow Windows NT to replace the above six files, then select F3 to exit repair after they have been replaced. Do NOT select A to replace all files during Repair.
9. After repair is complete, restart the system. The system should start up using the re-created SYSTEM partition.

Deleting and Creating a SYSTEM Partition Using ARC Multiboot Firmware

1. Insert the Windows NT installation compact disc into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Start the system. The first menu will be the Boot menu, which will appear similar to the following:
   

         Boot menu:
   
            Boot Windows NT Server Vx.xx
            Boot an alternate Operating System
            Run A Program
            Supplementary menu...
   						

3. Click Run a Program on the menu. Type the following path, and then press ENTER:
   

         cd:\alpha\arcinst
   						

   
   Arcinst.exe will load from the compact disc and give you the following choices:
   

         CONFIGURE PARTITIONS
         EXIT
   						

   
   Click Configure Partitions. Next, you will see this menu:
   

         CREATE SYSTEM PARTITION
         DELETE PARTITION
         MAKE EXISTING PARTITION INTO THE SYSTEM PARTITION
         EXIT
   						

   
   Click Delete Partition, and then select the small ~4 MB FAT partition. Click Create a New System partition; the program will prompt you to enter the size of the new partition:
   

         ENTER SIZE IN MB (1-4)
   						

   
   After the partition is made, it will be automatically formatted.
4. Exit Arcinst.exe and go back to the main Boot menu.
   
   NOTE: If you are recovering a Windows NT 3.51 installation, it will be necessary to start Windows NT using the boot floppy as described in the following Knowledge Base article:

   172806 Creating a WinNT Boot Floppy for DEC ALPHA RISC Computers
   

   This is necessary because the Windows NT repair process fails to copy the Windows NT loader files if the Os\Winnt351 directory structure is not found on the newly-created partition. After you manually recreate this directory structure on the SYSTEM partition, copy the six boot files manually from the Windows NT installation compact disc, or perform a normal shutdown and then continue with step 5 from within the ARC Multiboot menu.
   
   
5. Select Run a Program from the main Boot menu. Type the following path, then press ENTER:
   

         cd:\alpha\setupldr
   						

6. At the first Windows NT Setup screen, press R to repair.
7. When you see the following menu, select only this repair option:
   

       [ ]  Inspect registry Files
       [ ]  Inspect startup environment
       [x]  Verify Windows NT system files.
   						

   
   When you select this option, Windows NT 4.0 setup will recreate the directory structure os\winnt40 on the newly-created SYSTEM partition, then prompt you to replace the following files from the Windows NT Installation CD-ROM:
   

          - A221064.PAL
          - A221066.PAL
          - A221164.PAL
          - A321064.PAL
          - Osloader.exe
          - Hal.dll
   						

   
   NOTE: If you have any Windows NT service packs installed, it is very important that you only allow Windows NT to replace the above six files, then select F3 to exit repair after they have been replaced. Do NOT select A (replace all files) during Repair.
8. After Repair is complete, restart the system. The system should boot using the re-created system partition.