driver install corrupts disk.sys

I recently bought a solid state drive, which connects to the computer via USB (fitted in an enclosure) or directly to a SATA port on the motherboard.  Which ever way I connect it, on starting Windows a message tells me that it it is searching for a driver, whch it finds and installs and tells me that I need to restart the computer.  But on restart Windows opens (as though in Safe mode) with a window entitled 'Your computer was unable to start'; it searches for and finds a solution, the information from which is

Boot critical file d:\Windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys is corrupt

Repair action: System restore

(my system drive is normally C:).

So, unless I disconnect the device, on restarting again successfully, Windows re-loads the driver and the whole cycle is repeated.

I have been in contact with the manufacturer of the SSD but haven't got anywhere with them.  They suggested that the system might be trying to use the SSD as the boot disk.  So after Windows had loaded the driver, I shut the system down, and on starting up again, checked the BIOS to ensure the boot disk was indeed my normal system disc.  The error still occured. I repeated this, but also removed the SSD before starting up again.  Still the same error.

Out of interest I plugged in a 'normal' USB hard drive that I used to use with a previous computer.  Again Windows loaded a driver, but did not ask for a restart.  The HDD appeared in Windows Explorer and I was able to view its contents.  However, when I did restart Windows, I got the same error and the system was restored.  Thus I believe the problem is not with the SSD but with the driver installation process, which I assume is provided by Windows.

After this I checked the 'normal' USB hard drive by plugging it into a USB port of my laptop, to which it had not previously been connected; the laptop (same version of Windows as the problem machine) loaded a driver and the disk and its contents were viewable in Windows Explorer. The laptop restarted with no problem.

Operating system: Windows 7 Professional, Service Pack 1

System type: 64 bit

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H

Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T

I'd be extremely grateful if anyone could suggest a solution to this problem.

Tried the USB enclosure version of the SSD on a different machine yet?

This Works ! I fixed mine with this!

If windows 7 hangs after disk.sys just take out your RAMs and put it one by one. Make sure you are putting balanced RAM eg: 2+2 / and not 4+2 combination. It is basically RAM error.

Still struggling to solve this. Perhaps the following info might enable some kind person to spot what could be wrong.

Firstly, because the SSD device connected with no problems via USB to my laptop, I formatted it there, disconnected it and attached it as a SATA device to my desktop machine.  When the driver had been installed, despite it saying it required a computer restart, it showed in Windows explorer. So before restarting, I used the Acronis software supplied with the SSD Upgrade kit to clone my system drive (which, by the way, is a PATA drive - my other two hard drives are SATA. My intention is to replace the PATA drive with the SSD).

But on restarting the computer, exactly the same problem occured as in my original post and Windows performed a system restore.

After starting the computer cleanly (after a system restore) without the SSD connected, in Device Properties I see...

ATAPIiHAS124 BATA Device    DVD/CD-ROM Device

Location:        Location 1 (Channel 0, Target 1, Lun 0)

Disk:              CD-ROM 0

Type:             DVD

Status:           No Media

Partition style:    Not Applicable

Capacity:                  0 MB

Unallocated space:    0 MB

Reserved space:        0 MB

[This is my D: drive, doesn't show this in Device Properties]

ST380011 ATA Device            Disk drives    

Location:        Location 0 (Channel 0, Target 0, Lun 0)

Disk:              Disk 2

Type:             Basic

Status:           Online

Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR)

Capacity:                  76318 MB

Unallocated space:    1 MB

Reserved space:        0 MB

Volume: System (C:)

WDC WD10EARS-22Y5B1 ATA Device        Disc drives

Location:        Location 0 (Channel 1, Target 0, Lun 0)

Disk:              Disk 1

Type:             Basic

Status:           Online

Partition style:    Master Boot Record (MBR)

Capacity:                  953869 MB

Unallocated space:    2 MB

Reserved space:        0 MB

Volume: GB1000 (E:)

WDC WD5000AAKS-00UU3A0 ATA Device    Disc drives

Location:        Location 0 (Channel 0, Target 0, Lun 0)

Disk:              Disk 0

Type:             Basic

Status:           Online

Partition style:    Master Boot Record (MBR)

Capacity:                  476940 MB

Unallocated space:    0 MB

Reserved space:        0 MB

Volume: GB500 (F:)

In Computer Management / Disk Management I see...

Disc 0 - GB500 (F:)      465.76 GB NTFS (Active, Primary Partition)

Disc 1 - GB1000 (E:)    931.52 GB NTFS (Active, Primary Partition)

Disc 2 - System (C:)     74.53 GB NTFS (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

If I then restart the machine, still with the SSD disconnected, and look at the BIOS Set-up I see...

In Hard Disk Boot Priority -

1. SCSI-0:     ST380011A
2. Ch0 M.:    WDC WD5000AAKS-00UU3A0
3. Ch1 M.:    WDC WD10EARS-22Y5B1
4. Bootable Add-in Cards

In First Boot Device -

Floppy

LS120

Hard Disk    [*]

CDROM

ZIP

USB-FDD

USB-ZIP

USB-CDROM

In Second Boot Device -

Floppy

LS120

Hard Disk

CDROM        [*]

ZIP

USB-FDD

USB-ZIP

USB-CDROM

In Third Boot Device -

Floppy        [*]

LS120

Hard Disk

CDROM

ZIP

USB-FDD

USB-ZIP

USB-CDROM

And looking at Boot Menu I see...

    Floppy

    LS120

  +Hard Disk

    CDROM

    ZIP

    USB-FDD

    USB-ZIP

    USB-CDROM

    USB-HDD

    Legacy LAN

Windows starts up cleanly.

---

I then shut down and power off the machine, connect the SSD (as a SATA device to the motherboard) and restart the machine.

In the BIOS set-up I see...

In Hard Disk Boot Priority -

1. SCSI-0:     ST380011A
2. Ch0 M.:    WDC WD5000AAKS-00UU3A0
3. Ch1 M.:    WDC WD10EARS-22Y5B1
4. SCSSI-1:    OCZ-VERTEX PLUS
5. Bootable Add-in Cards

First, second and third Boot Devices - same as before

In the Boot Menu I see the same as before

After exiting the Boot Menu and before Windows starts, the two devices are listed briefly:

HDD0: ST380011A

HDD1: OCZ-VERTEX PLUS R2

Windows starts and the driver for the SSD is automatically installed, with a message that the system must be restarted.  But BEFORE restarting,...

Looking in Device Manager / Disk Drives, the first device listed is OCZ-VERTEX PLUS R2 ATA Device. In its Properties a message says 'You need to restart your computer before changes you made to this device will take effect.'  

Location 0 (Channel 0, Target 0, Lun 0)

Disk:            Disk 3

Type:           Basic

Status:         Online

Partition style:    Master Boot Record (MBR)

Capacity:                  117975 MB

Unallocated space:    1 MB

Reserved space:        0 MB

Volume: System (G:)

The other disks' properties remain the same as before.

In Computer Management / Disk Management I see the same as before with the following appended:

Disc 3 - System (G:)    115.21 GB NTFS (Active, Primary Partition)

If I open two Windows Explorer windows and compare the contents of C: with G:, at a quick-ish glance they appear to be identical, so the cloning process seems to have worked OK.

---

I restart the computer with the SSD still connected. The BIOS and Boot Menus look exactly as they did when the SSD was connected but the driver had not yet been loaded (i.e. as the step described above).  Again, just before Windows starts to load, the same two devices are listed...

HDD0: ST380011A

HDD1: OCZ-VERTEX PLUS R2

Windows fails to start and the 'Your computer was unable to restart' window opens and after searching for a solution a system restore is performed, as described in my initial post.

Sometimes at this stage the problem information is slightly different; usually it reports as described, but once or twice it has reported

Boot critical file e:\Windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys is corrupt

i.e. drive E: instead of D:

and occasionally it reports

Root cause found:

A recent driver installation or upgrade may be preventing the system from starting.

---

I have tried changing the Hard Disk Boot Priority in the BIOS to various orders (but with the system drive always at the top), to no avail.

So it appears that the driver installation has somehow caused Windows to try to boot from the wrong disk on restart, despite the BIOS having the correct disk listed as the first boot device.

I have also tried uninstalling the driver (before trying to restart the computer), shutting down, diconnecting the SSD then restarting - the same problem occurs and a system restore is done.

If anyone has any idea what could be going wrong and how it can be fixed, I shall be eternally grateful to them.

A further piece of info - I tried the (USB) SSD again on the desktop machine, but before plugging it in I noted the date created and date modified of disk.sys from Windows Explorer.  After the drivers had been loaded but before restarting the system, I checked these again - they had not changed.  So I guess that Windows is just looking in the wrong place (wrong disk?) when it starts and just not finding disk.sys.  I do check the BIOS and tell it which disk to boot from, and I'm sure it is my system drive.

Hi Shenan,

Thanks for replying...

I have now.  I plugged the (USB enclosure version) SSD into my laptop (also Windows 7 Professional, Sevice pack 1); it installed a driver, but did NOT require a re-start.  Then Disk Manager showed the disk and gave me the option of formatting it, which I didn't do. I tried restarting the laptop, no problems.

By the way, the driver install on the laptop took about 5 seconds, as opposed to over a minute on the desktop machine.

My desktop and laptop computers are both set to install Windows updates, so the two operating systems are at the same levels.