>I have a Compaq Aramda 7730MT portable computer I must install Win NT on. I must run a program which runs only under NT.
>
>The Compaq has a 12 MB partion on it (EISA partion) which is non-Dos and contains compaq utilities. It is partion 1.
>
>I loaded the CD-ROM drive into the computer and started the Win NT Workstation Install Disk. I called for the operating system to be installed on C: drive, under FAT16.
>
>All went fine until the point were the install procedure goes from character based to graphics based. The install routine asks you to remove the CD-ROM and to allow the computer to boot.
>
>I got a NTOSKRNL.EXE is missing or corrupt error at this point.
>
>I checked MSDN and found a paper from from Microsoft which stated that this error will occur when NT is being installed on a drive other than c: (which is not the case) and the primary drive is formatted in the FAT system (which may not be true).
>
>Their fix was to edit the boot.ini to change the partion number number, that is from :
>multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt="Windows NT version 4.0"
>to what ever it was - say
>multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\winnt="Windows NT version 4.0"
>
>Since the Compaq has a non-DOS partition already assigned to their utilities the C: FAT16 partion is 2, so I edited the boot.ini file as shown.
>
>There is also a default setting in boot.ini which also contained the partition(1) construct which I changed to partition(2).
>
>This got me passed the NTOSKRNL.EXE is missing/corrupt error.
>
>However now I blue screen into a :
>
>STOP: 0x0000006B (0xC000003A,0x00000002,0x00000000,0x00000000)
>PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
>
>error. MSDN and Compaq have been of little help for this one.
>there was an explanation of a
>STOP: 0x0000006B (0xC0000034,0x00000002,0x00000000,0x00000000)
>PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
>
>error in MSDN which implied I had a corrupt file, and another which said I had turned off FastFAT in the settings of NT, neither of which appear too promising.
>
>I have reloaded the operting system a number of times, reformatted the drive a number of times, deleted and re-added the partitions a number of times - all with the same result.
>
>Any suggestions ?

I don't know anything about the Armada or its utilities, so take this with a large grain of salt. I'd start by completely blowing away the parttiton table, including the Compaq non-DOS partition.

First, what is an 'EISA' partition? AFAIK, EISA is a type of bus interface, not a disk partition type.

From an NT theory POV, you are concerned with two partitions during an install - the system partition, where the NT bootstrap loader and the initial boot files reside, and the NT boot partition, where the NT operating system itself lives. These do not have to be the same partition, but in most installations, will be.

The system partition must be an active primary partition. A primary partition is the only type of partition that can actually be the place where bootstrap takes place - the partition is seen as a single logical drive by the BIOS. The Active primary partition is the partition that gets control when the BIOS bootstrap routine examines the partition table and decides where to pass control; the first sector of the partition is loaded as the system bootstrap. Only one primary partition, DOS or non-DOS, can be marked as active at any time. NT's system partition must be on the active primary partition, and must be formatted as FAT12, FAT16 or NTFS, with a maximum size of 4GB (with some very recent bIOSes, that cna be as large as 7.8GB, but the partition would have to be created with a third-party utility like Partition Magic from PowerQuest.)

An extended partition can be made into one or more logical drives. NT can use a logical drive on an extended partition for its boot partition, where the NT operating system itself resides. Again, there's a limit on the size of a FAT partition used by NT of 4GB; an NTFS partition used as the boot partition can be any size you like, as long as it isn't part of a volume set or strip set; NT's installer can only create partitions of up to 4GB itself.

If the Compaq utilities partition is marked as the active primary partition, there's probably some confusion as to where the bootstrap files are being installed. If you don't want to blow it away entirely, you might try marking it as inactive (DOS FDISK will do this, as can any of a number of third-party tools, and probably NT's installer, so that another partition can be seen as the active primary partition, and used for NT to install its bootstrap loader and loader files.

You might want to try using a product like Partition Magic, System Commander or SelectIt to manage the partiton table and boot process; my personal choice would be PowerQuest's Partition Magic, which has great disk partition management and formatting tools, as well as a powerful boot manager.

I'd also check with Compaq's tech support (unfortunately, they're going to charge you for a call, and will be quite obstinate about getting a credit card number before helping you.) There may be patches available from Compaq to either the boot files or the HAL (Hardware Abstraction layer, the thing that makes system hardware appear to provide a uniform interface to system and application services) specifically for their laptops. I've encountered this with some laptops - Toshiba at one point had a unique HAL for some of their models. You also may find that NT just isn't supported on the Armada; you can check Microsoft's Web Site for the HCL (Hardware Compatibility List - a database of what is certified and tested to work with NT, and what strange quirks are known to exist for specific hardware.) I'd try that first - access to it is free, and it might save you a pointless call to Compaq. I hate being charged $35 to be told "Sorry, it won't work!"

Sorry I can't give you a more concrete answer. Hopefully, it'll be something trivial and cheap to fix.

Ed