[adman4054]

Two days ago my hd failed. It showed a "unable to read boot sector" and "boot partion unreadable". I replaced the drive, and made the old drive a slave. Reinstalled all the programs and installed "ClamWin" antivirus. I was able to access all the files from the old drive and my new drive contained the new operating system. The computer now just loops (for lack of a better term) from the start screen, shuts down, reboots and then shuts down again and continues this process. I disconnected the old drive and it still does the same thing. The letter for the new drive was "j" and the old drive still had the "c" designation, when I tried the repair option on the Windows cd, it only showed the "c" drive even though that drive was no longer attached.
Here is what I am trying to determine:
Did my new drive fail? And how could I get into the system to find out.
Do I have my boot sequence incorrect?
I'm not 100% sure that I have the Master/Slave drives correct. The instructions were not very clear, if my old drive and the new drive were both masters, could that have an effect?

Additional info-- The new drive seems fine, ran chkdsk from the recovery console. Could the boot record be looking for the wrong drive letter? The Windows xp start screen appears, before it reboots, again and again, so I assume it is seeing the drive, but doesnt continue to load Windows. What would I check to see that the "boot" record is correct?

Additional info-- By repeatedly pressing "f8" I can get to the screen that provides for "safe mode", "last good config", etc. But selecting any of the available options yields doesnt produce any other results. I wondering if its a bios problem? I installed "xp home" in place of the "media center" edition which I assume is xp pro.

Additional info-- I performed this function without any difference in results;

Md bak

Copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\bak\system.bak

Copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\bak\software.bak

Copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\bak\sam.bak

Copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\bak\security.bak

Copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\bak\default.bak


Delete c:\windows\system32\config\system

Delete c:\windows\system32\config\software

Delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam

Delete c:\windows\system32\config\security

Delete c:\windows\system32\config\default


Copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system

Copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software

Copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam

Copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security

Copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default





Thanks in Advance!

Edited by adman4054, 20 March 2007 - 07:05 AM.

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You must not have both drives set as 'master'. The new drive with Windows on it should be set as 'master' (with the jumper) and attached to the end connector on the ribbon cable. The old drive must then be set as 'slave' with it's jumper, and attached to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.

With that done, the first boot device in the BIOS settings should be set to "IDE0"

Lastly, to clear up one point. Windows XP Pro is not the same as Windows Media Centre, they are completely different versions of Windows XP.
Basically, Windows XP comes in three 'flavours':
1. Windows XP Home Edition
2. Windows XP Professional Edition
3. Windows XP Media Centre Edition

Although they all share a common platform, they are nonetheless quite separate versions.

Edited by pip22, 20 March 2007 - 10:22 AM.

[pip22]

You must not have both drives set as 'master'. The new drive with Windows on it should be set as 'master' (with the jumper) and attached to the end connector on the ribbon cable. The old drive must then be set as 'slave' with it's jumper, and attached to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.

With that done, the first boot device in the BIOS settings should be set to "IDE0"

Lastly, to clear up one point. Windows XP Pro is not the same as Windows Media Centre, they are completely different versions of Windows XP.
Basically, Windows XP comes in three 'flavours':
1. Windows XP Home Edition
2. Windows XP Professional Edition
3. Windows XP Media Centre Edition

Although they all share a common platform, they are nonetheless quite separate versions.

Edited by pip22, 20 March 2007 - 10:22 AM.

[adman4054]

Thank you pip22