[wannabe1]

There should be two IDE ports on the motherboard...usually, one will be blue, which is the primary channel. That's the port you'd need to connect the IDE HDD to...to the end connector of the ribbon. Move the cd drive cable to the other channel (secondary IDE).

The sata drive will have to be disconnected for this to work. Picking up another sata drive would be the ideal method.

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ok, i see the blue IDE socket, but the secondary socket next to it is smaller and won't accept the cd/dvd ribbon cable.

If i go get another SATA drive, how would I connect that? It looks like I have four SATA sockets on the motherboard. Do I just connect to #2 socket? Or is the soon to be slave connected there? Do I get a new SATA drive and just connect that to socket 1 and then and loading XP, connect the older sata drive as #2?

[drgwspup]

ok, i see the blue IDE socket, but the secondary socket next to it is smaller and won't accept the cd/dvd ribbon cable.

If i go get another SATA drive, how would I connect that? It looks like I have four SATA sockets on the motherboard. Do I just connect to #2 socket? Or is the soon to be slave connected there? Do I get a new SATA drive and just connect that to socket 1 and then and loading XP, connect the older sata drive as #2?

[wannabe1]

The smaller of the sockets would be for a floppy drive. The IDE sockets should be aligned || like that.

The new sata will go to #1 the old to #2. You will probably have to install the sata (Raid) drivers again, but the recovery set should take care of that for you.

Connect #1 (new drive) and install windows (Full Recovery). Then connect the old drive to #2 and (hopefully) your data will be visible. If not, there are data recovery programs that can get at it.

[drgwspup]

ok, thanks for all your help. Off to the store. Will report back later.

[wannabe1]

Looking forward to hearing the result...

[drgwspup]

bought the new HD, installed it, ran the install cd. All is well to that poiint.

Started loading the XP Home discs. Copying of files went fine until disc 7. Computer said it was the wrong disc. Reloaded it in the tray and computer took it and everything transferred.

Got to the 8th and final disc, the process started recovering files. I had a TON of files that it said it couldn't recover. Took forever to click through all the dialogue boxes that popped up. The completion indicator slower considerably so that to get from 93% to 100% took considerable time.

Finally got to 100% and the Finalizing Recovery process This is all in the Compaq System Recovery screen)took over and then hung up. Left it on oovernight, and still hung up this morning. DIalogie bow that is still up has caption of System Recovery with message ... "Please Wait" A little magnifying glass keeps circling the computer icon.

Help.

Mark

[drgwspup]

Did a hard shutdown and tried to reboot. Got error message that Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Reinstall a copy of the above file.

Where do I find that file in 8 discs? Seems like I should just try to get a clean re-install again. If yes, how do I do that?


There wer numerous System 32 files that the recovery process could not recover the files after loading the recovery CD's

[drgwspup]

tried to run the Compaq Sytem recovery via the F10 entry point. Started recovering the files until it got to 79% through the process, then got continual dialogue boxes that certain files couldn't be recovered. They were for windows\cursor **, Windows\fonts**, various windos help files, windows microsoft.net files, registered packages files, windows\web** files, etc, etc

[drgwspup]

are you still available to help me? Haven't heard from you in days.

Should I go to anoter forum?

I have been trying to install XP on the new hard drive without success. WHat the heck is going on here?

I have been able to get the drive to accept the 8 discs, but it hangs up when it gets into the "finalizing recovery" stage in the Compaq System Recovery process.

I have unistalled my dual monitor video card, thinking that might be it. No help.

As an aside, this all started when i tried to boot with a memory stick in the usb port. I got a message that said NTLDR is missing. Computer got jacked up the next day.

I googled that and found a site that suggest re-installing the following files: NTLDR and NTDETECT. I was able to find those on the recovery disc and burned them to a CD. so now thinking of re-installing the old hard drive and trying to load these two files into the root file. Any idea how to do that since with the old drive in, I get into the loop described above?

Also, I noticed that when booting into the boot sequence, the little self computer talk that comes up on screen says it has found a USB mass storage device. Obviously, I don't have the memory stick in the USB drive while trying all this. If the memory stick is out, why does the screen say that it has found and configured it

still need help.

Mark

[-OCM770-]

Are you trying to use the recovery CD's to install XP on the new hard drive?
I once used Compaq's recovery tool and had to wait two whole days (I'm not kidding, it's for real!) for the finalizing setup screen to finish and then another day for the "Welcome" screen on the windows logon to go away and load my user. after that all went ok, so try to wait for it.


-OCM770-


*EDIT* Sorry we forgot you It won't happen again *EDIT*

Edited by -OCM770-, 28 November 2006 - 04:21 PM.

[drgwspup]

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure if I should move this issue over to the software forum. I'll keep it here.

Yes, the other staffer (Wannabe?) thought that the partition was screwed up and thought the best thing to do was 1) reformat the whole drive (which I don't want to do and lose data) or 2) install a new drive and install XP; then connect my old drive and still have access to my data. So I opted for #2.

Seriously? two days for the finalization process? Yikes.

I left it on over night the first time it hung up. Guess that wasn't long enough.

I'll try it again tonight and let it go for a while.

[-OCM770-]

yes.... I really screwed up that two day time..... a bunch of system files were missing . Patience my friend, patience....


By the way... are you using a retail XP CD or your backup CD's to install the copy of windows??

If you dont mind spending 20$ or so you could buy one of those connectors were you can connect an IDE drive to it and use it as a removable USB drive.

Like this one: http://www.opcioweb......20USb 2.0.jpg

[drgwspup]

Thanks for the tip on the IDE drive adapter. Wasn't aware of that. Interesting. With the new SATA drive and the old SATA drive, I'll have more storage than I'll ever fill up. But I have some old files on an old WIndows 98SE machine that i need to ttransfer. That might help alot.

I bought recovery discs from HP, so they are OEM. Like an idiot I forgot to burn them myself when i got the computer. Lesson learned.

[Fred admin]

i'm afraid drgwspup this is alway's a problem that somtimes happens with xp home edition i've seen this happen a lot of times before. there is only really one option this is to by a new hard drive and remove the old one the you will have to install windows again. after this, copy the files that you want to keep onto your new hard drive and then format the old hard drive and copy the file back onto the old hard drive. thus using the old hard drive as a internal storage dive. wala

[Fred admin]

i hope this solves your problems

Edited by Fred admin, 29 November 2006 - 06:02 AM.