Windows 10: Unusually unfixable BSOD preventing booting: Inaccessible Boot Device

The problem: system worked well for many months until an insertion of a regular Lexar USB somehow caused a reboot, but unknown to me with the BIOS reset. SATA RAID had reverted to SATA AHCI and the boot locked up. On reboot I checked BIOS, found the change, and reset back to RAID. From then on, I have been plagued with a BSOD – Inaccessible Boot Device (BSODibd). The RAID 1 drive has 4 standard partitions, BIOS boot/MBR, and a dual boot BCD (Win 10/Win 7)

I can’t afford a complete re-install (would take weeks to customize and activate everything), and I have no idea when/whether this might happen again. So far I’ve spent ages discovering that no one seems to have a real handle on this error.

What is not the problem or doesn’t work:
-not a disk signature collision (eg. boot with clone active) – all h38 BCD signatures match, and generalizing the BCD to {boot} doesn’t work either
-there are no hardware errors or partition errors and all data is accessible by WIN PE’s.
-Recovery USB command and other options don’t work: startup repair (automatic or manual), SFC, standard Bootrec, BCDboot commands including /rebuildBCD still cause BSODibd
-MBR repair does nothing since the MBR and boot recs check out fine, and I know the boot does access the BCD
-Third party software like Easy Recovery Environment doesn’t recognize the multi-partitions on the RAID and thinks it’s a screwed up GPT so it was useless, as were Dual Boot Repair, Easy BCD and others which all claim success at what they do but still result in the BSODibd.

What I just discovered does work to give me the multi-boot selection screen (even though it still leaves me high and dry with application installations and activations) is replacing just the Windows 10 registry hive (not the Windows 7 one) with an older version.

What exactly could the boot process be referencing in the registry that could cause a BSODibd under these circumstances, does anyone know?

:)

 

Blue screen

Hello,

Please refer following fix:

https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-inaccessible-boot...

Let us know if this helps!

 

"INACCESIBLE BOOT DEVICE" problems

Hello,

See if this fix helps you:

https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-inaccessible-boot...

Let us know if this helps!

 

It does sound like your drivers aren't loading (or something is trying to load that shouldn't). I suppose you tried automatic repair or can't you get that far? That replaced the old last good configuration option.

You could also check (from winPE) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services. In each service there is a flag called start. This has a value between 0 (load at boot) and 4 (disabled) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/103000

I don't have raid so I don't know which ones to look at but I had a similar problem with booting a VHD native and had to update Start key in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci to get it to boot when none of the repair options worked.

You could also try (from PE) replacing the whole HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services with one that works as that should keep your activations etc.

 

Thanks 1x07, Yes automatic repair has run n times in the 97 reboot attempts I've gone through in trying to resolve this thing.

I'll check out your registry idea tonight, and replacing the entire data for the key seems like a good place to start. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't try replacing the whole HKLM key. Good idea.

Any idea why it going to load drivers for Win 10 (though it is the default) when I could decide to load Win 7 in this dual boot setting? I hadn't considered a registry issue for all this time because I was thinking too logically I guess.

 

With regards to your last point I think in dual boot it partially (or mostly I don't know) loads the default OS. Once it is loaded (whether fully or partially) you get the screen to choose OS. If you pick the other one it starts again.

I'm not sure where this cut-off is but in my system I have an initial boot loader called rEFInd which if called by the EFI firmware and runs before Windows loader. I have 10 as the default OS.

When I boot it goes rEFInd > Windows 10 starts to load > Windows 10 OS choice screen. If I pick 10 the log on screen is almost immediate.

If I chose another OS (for example 7) it goes like this:

rEFInd > Windows 10 starts to load > Windows 10 OS choice screen (then I pick 7) > booting restarts > rEFInd > Windows 7 loads (with no OS choice this time).

That is only my experience though... If you updated the BCD to make 7 default it may then boot 7 using the 7 drivers. I've not tried it though and as I don't know how it really works technically I'm not sure it would work.

 

Makes sense, unless the boot process is really as voodoo-like as it seems to be becoming. Can't get to the registry test yet, just managed to blow the power supply (maybe the eight disks I've got hanging off this thing now have something to do with it). I'll let you know when I get to try them, but I have hope now that it's fixable. Thanks again for taking the time and for the idea.

 

I got the system to boot finally after replacing the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services key as was suggested by 1x07!

I've got residual problems with missing drivers due to the time difference in the saved VS current registry values, and that has left some logic controllers non-functioning, and my network hobbling, but those are at least visible and fixable.

It's great to have a sharing and knowledgeable community willing to help, and thanks to you 1x07 who had the singular insight about the default registry that I and so many others hadn't considered.

 

That is really good news. Make another thread if you get stuck on updating your drivers but presumably you're only doing what you've done before.

Best make a system image once it is all working just in case. Before plugging in that Lexar USB again anyway *Wink