Windows 2000 BSOD 0x0000007B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE after restore on same hardware

[angus73666]

Hi, I obtain the (in)famous BSOD 0x7B while I am trying to restore a backup on a win2k machine.
I have faced many times the 0x0000007B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE problem, but this one seems unexpected to me because I am trying to restore the backup to the same hardware (except from the disk), and AFAIK the 0x7B error is related to the controller driver and not to the disk itself... but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Can you help me please? I know there's plenty of discussions and solutions in the web, I actually have read many of them but they all talk about restoring a backup on a different machine, so I think my case is quite different, and any help pointing me into the right direction would make me save much time.

Short story long (=more details follow):

The win2k OS mentioned is installed in a IDE HDD (Seagate Barracuda 40GB) into a machine which is part of a medical equipment used by my University for didactical and research purposes.

The device itself has an embedded computer (almost looks the same to what you see when you open the case of a normal PC, with its own motherboard and some cards attached). The problem arose when a part of the device (a network card) seemed to be faulty, and I have been charged to investigate it. The device is >20 years old (bought in the early 2000's), and nobody was aware of an administrator password because the instrument has always been used by a non-admin account. Nobody was either aware whether an admin password had ever been known by anyone in the past. The administrator password was undoubtedly needed [1], because the non-privileged account has some kind of limitation which prevents everything to be done there, apart from running the proprietary software.

So, I thought I could use a linux-based nt/2k password recovery tool (chntpwd) to reset the administrator password (as I did many times in the past), but of course before doing that I took a backup with fsarchiver (tool found on linux-based liveCD systemrescueCD), which I have used many times in the past, too.

After the administrator password reset (actually, I found the account locked out, so I had to reset the password and also unlock it), I obtained the administrator login to work, but the proprietary software (ran using the non-privileged account, as usually) refused to work, saying that an unauthorized administrator login has been detected (!), and tells to contact the device manufacturer.

I did it, and the device manufacturer says that the device is too old, therefore it's not supported any more (they claim lack in spare parts, which is quite absurd as this is clearly a software problem, but I can understand they don't have people (or time) to spend in the matter, especially if we take into account that they proposed us to buy a new machine). Buying a new machine is not an option because it's very expensive and we just can't afford it.

The problem is quite serious and I also have some kind of urgency, because the device needs to be used in the next days for teaching in University courses

If anyone could give me a hint or suggest a path, please note that:
- the very first issue is not a real problem (the network card was not strictly needed to have the device working, but only to make easier to export data from the device), so we can forget about getting it working now: the real target is to have the system running as it was before we took the backup;
- I disconnected the original hard disk from the device just after the message "unauthorized administrator login" popped out, in order to be sure that I can't make any other mess on it while attempting to fix it (I can have some ideas to fix it - for example, I might try to set the administrator account to be locked, or guess which files/settings the software checks to understand there's been an administrator access, an so on - but I prefer to have it untouched, and have the system running on a new hard disk). This would also mean that we don't have to fix the problem in the old hard drive, actually;
- the restored backup would run on the new hard drive connected to the old system, so the hardware connected around the win2k OS would be exactly the same (apart from the disk itself, but I managed to find an HDD with the same brand and model).
- I own and can use, and tried, several other hard disks, and they all behave the same way apart from one of them (call it hard disk 2, hd2), which is curiously a different brand and model, and even capacity (Maxtor 160GB) than the original one (Seagate 40GB). On hd2 the system somewhat works (at least, it reaches the login screen). I think it could be possibile, in principle, to copy the driver files from it and put in the faulty one, but is it really possibile? I remember I used to do it with some kind of generic ide drivers, but how exactly can it be done? But the real question might be: does it make sense to think about drivers, as we have some evidence (?) that the hdd device is the problem?
- On hd2, the current problem is indeed that after entering the username and password, it briefly tells it's loading the user profile, then it says saving user profile immediately and logs the user off. I also noticed a found.000 folder, which makes me think there are some system files recovered and even if we make it work it can't be completely affordable. Also I would be very careful if I have to put my hands into it, because I'm afraid to get things go worse.
- [1] I have in the meantime gained access to another administrator account, I am confident it will not break the main software functionality, and possibly I can safely use it to fix the logon/logoff problem on hd2.
- I tried to restore the backup on another Maxtor 160GB (but a slightly different model), and it gave me 0x7B BSOD, too.
- in some of the hdds where I restored the ntfs file system onto I created a 40GB partition (as large as the original one), in other I did it on a 10GB partition (hd2 is one of them). Does it matter?
- repair system files from windows 2k cd can make any sense?
- playing with BIOS settings can be an option but I am wondering whether it makes sense: if the current BIOS settings are able to make the old installation work, can they prevent another hard disk from working? I wouldn't like to spend time trying things that are for sure not involved and adding further complexity unnecessarly.

Feel free to ask me any other detail about the problem,
sorry for the long post,

Many thanks in advance!
Angus