[compu_dude]

Greetings--

I need help with XP. I run XP SP2. I have had a 120 gb Maxtor HD (IDE 100) since I built the computer three years ago. I recently bought a 250 gb SATA Western Digital drive to supplement it. When I started the software to format the WD drive, it asked if I would like this new drive to be an "add on" or to be my new boot drive. I decided to make it the new boot drive, since it is SATA. It said it would copy everything from the old boot drive onto the new one.

After I started the process and it was copying files, I started thinking about all the junk on my original drive that I did not want to save (80 GBs of Vegas video files, etc). Also, it was taking FOREVER to copy all my old files. On the screen was an option to CANCEL the setup for the WD drive. I clicked on CANCEL, and it asked if I was sure I wanted to cancel and that I would have to start over later. I confirmed I wanted to quit (stupid, stupid, STUPID). My computer worked fine at that point.

When I shut it down, it will not reboot. It gets to the XP logon screen and freezes. The windows XP logo comes up, but it stops before the music plays and the names appear.

I tried to do an XP Repair. When I get to the step to select Repair, there are no Windows XP installations listed! I don't understand how XP can not "see" that there is an XP installation present, when XP "almost" boots all the way.

I tried changing IDE cables, making sure everything was plugged in securely, etc.

I am guessing that by being an IDIOT and stopping the setup of the new drive I corrupted something in the old drive. Because I am an idiot, I have stuff on the old drive I don't want to lose, so any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

If I can load XP onto the new WD drive, is it possible that I would be able to access my old drive, even though it will not boot on its own?

Help PLEASE!

compu_dude

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Hi compu_dude, welcome to G2G.

Have you removed the SATA drive? If not, do so. Then boot your XP CD again and start the Recovery Console by entering R the first time allowed to do so.

Once you get to the command prompt, try these commands, one at a time and reboot after each one:

fixboot

fixmbr

[Ztruker]

Hi compu_dude, welcome to G2G.

Have you removed the SATA drive? If not, do so. Then boot your XP CD again and start the Recovery Console by entering R the first time allowed to do so.

Once you get to the command prompt, try these commands, one at a time and reboot after each one:

fixboot

fixmbr

[compu_dude]

I did remove the second drive.

I will try those. Recovery console will not damage/erase my files, will it?

[Ztruker]

No, those commands will repair the boot sector and master boot record. Nothing more. Should fix your problem.

[compu_dude]

Tried fixboot, no luck. I get an error message that there is "no disk to repair," or something like that. I can post the exact wording if needed.

Also, one some other site they had a bunch of screen shots that walked you through starting the Recovery Module. In the pictures, when they launched Recovery Mod., their screen said C:/>WINDOWS.

My screen just says C:/>

Is that why fixboot won't work?

[compu_dude]

I tried both fixboot and fixmbr and neither works. I get the message:

fixboot cannot find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid.

When I tried to repair windows, when I get to the point where I need to "select" which windows installation I want to repair, the list is blank. All it says is:

(There is no disk in this drive)

Also, Repair is not an option in the list, because it cannot see my disk.

When my computer first boots up, I get the Soyo logo screen, then the black screen that says "Looking for IDE drives" (or something close). On that screen, it shows my Maxtor 120 on channel 0. However, when I go into BIOS and look at my hardware settings, it shows my two DVD drives on channel 1, but both slots for channel 0 are empty. When I click "detect", it still does not show anything on channel 0.

Help!

[Ztruker]

Does the hard drive show up in BIOS Setup?

If not, you may have unseated the IDE cable connecting the hard drive to the mother board, either that or the power connector, while installing the SATA drive.

Remove and reconnect the IDE cable and power connector to the hard drive. Check the mother board end of the IDE cable as well, make sure it is firmly seated.

[compu_dude]

I tried that and even switched to a different IDE cable becasue I thought I might have pinched the old one when I slid the SATA drive in. I unplugged and replugged the IDE cable and the power cable.

It seems like the drive must be connected and getting power or else Windows would not be able to get so close to booting up. Is that correct?

The drive shows up on that very first screen after the Soyo logo screen, but not in BIOS and not when I run Windows repair/recovery module.

[wannabe1]

When you see the C:/> prompt, type dir and press "Enter". In the list that appears, is "Windows" among those in the list?

[compu_dude]

I am not at the computer right now, so I will try that.

When I get the C:, I see in some posts and screen shots that some people get C:/windows. Do you know why I just get the c prompt?

[wannabe1]

It's apparently not seeing your Windows installation...which may indicate a problem with the boot.ini file. Running the dir or directory command will list the folders and files in the root of C:. If Windows is among those listed, we should be able to modify the boot.ini file to get it booting again.

[compu_dude]

OK--I will try that when I get home and repost.

[Ztruker]

If the drive doesn't show in BIOS then windows is not going to see it.

Try going into BIOS Setup and loading defaults. Save and exit then power off and on and go back into BIOS Setup and see if the drive show up now.

In reading over this series of posts, I did not see anywhere that you had run (nor did I suggest you do so) chkdsk. I think that would be a good thing to try next.

Boot the Recovery Console. At the command prompt enter chkdsk c: /r and press Enter

1. See if that works
2. If yes, see if it brings the drive back to life

[compu_dude]

I tried dir, and got the error message:

There is no disk or CD in this drive.

I have not tried chkdsk, I will try that when I get back over there (wish I had another computer next to the dead one!).

Thank you guys for the help--I really appreciate it. I will let you know if that helps.

[wannabe1]

Try the chkdsk as Ztruker suggested. Also try this one at the prompt and note the results it yeilds. Post those results back here for us.

At the C: prompt, type bootcfg /list (Note the space in the command.) Press "Enter".