Vista - Replaced SCSI adapter, system won’t boot.

In XP there was some file in the root of the C:\ drive that was simply a renamed copy of the SCSI adapters driver and replacing it with the appropriate file would have resolved this situation. I can’t remember what that file was called in XP (NTsomething.sys I think) but it doesn’t matter because it’s not the same in Vista.

I’m running Vista Ultimate upgraded to SP1. I fried my SCSI adapter when I was working on my system and got careless. I have acquired a replacement but it’s a totally different make and model. How can I introduce the new driver to windows without reinstalling the whole OS? I’m familiar enough with the Vista CD recovery tools and I’m no stranger to the command prompt and regedit. I just don’t know enough about Vistas guts to guess where to begin.

I have searched the Microsoft Knowledge Base and the web to no avail. I reach out to you, my fellow newsgroup reader, in my hour of need!

Thank you for your time.

On Jun 15, 9:32 pm, Soong <gu...@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:I am assuming that you are booting from your SCSI hard drive and it is
not in a RAID configuration, since you did not specify. I have
replaced a SCSI controller with a different brand and model twice, but
the original SCSI controller was still in functioning condition. What
I did was to leave the original SCSI card and the HDD still connected
to it, and then add the new card to another open slot. When you boot,
Vista will recognize your new SCSI card and attempt to load drivers
for it (or ask you to supply them). Once that is done, you should be
able to shut down, connect the SCSI HDD to the new card and you should
be good to go. You did not provide any details about the old and new
SCSI card, but is there anyway you can borrow a card with same
manufacturer and bus type (PCI, PCI Express?) as your original so you
can boot up and load the new SCSI card drivers?

I had an Adaptec 29160N which is no longer functional. I have ordered an Adaptec 29160 (no N) to replace it but that will not be here for a week or so. In the mean time I have picked up an LSI20320-R with version 5.10.03 of the IME BIOS from a local retailer. I was hoping to use it in the mean time.

You are correct. The SCSI drive is my boot drive. Because the original card is dead I cannot boot up and load the driver for the new card. I may have to just wait until the replacement card arrives. It stinks being stuck with a three of four year old laptop though.

I can understand your frustration. If you have a Vista retail DVD, you can
boot from it and choose the "repair my computer" option (NOT the install
Vista option). It will search for your current Vista installation, which it
will likely not find since it probably won't see your hard disk. But it
does give you the option to load drivers from a floppy or CD, assuming you
have them available. That will enable the program to find your Vista
installation partition. But at that point, I don't know if it will actually
install the drivers to the hard drive. It may just load them into RAM
temporarily. Might be worth a try. I don't think it will hurt anything,
but I wouldn't do it unless you had a backup image, just in case.
Otherwise, looks like you'll just have to wait for your new Adaptec card.
The 29160 should be able to use the same existing Windows drivers as the
29160N, you should be fine.

"Soong" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
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