[inmate]

hard drive not accessable?

I have lost my operating system (XP-Pro-SP3 Media center edition). My computer crashed with

the blue screen error message "the config file is corrupted - reinstall the operating system

from the install disk", and I've been unable to load windows at all. Various recovery

attempts have failed.

To save my programs and files, I installed a new hard drive (WD 640GB). Then on another

computer I downloaded, from Microsoft, a set of floppy boot discs so I could reinstall my OS

on the new drive. When I boot the computer with the floppy set to First boot drive, the

floppy drive cycles and then the computer shuts down and reboots itself,the floppy runs and

then the reboot starts again. I have to kill the power to shut it down.

With that failure, I decided to install Linux Ubuntu on the new drive. Booting into the DVD

drive the Os started to install as normal until I reached the step asking for a hard drive

partition. All the options on that screen were grayed out except the cancel and forward

buttons. Clicking the forward button got me the error message that the hard drive had not

been partitioned and to go back. Going back gets me the same me the same grayed out screen

so the only alternative is to cancel the installation.

Checking the Bios shows that the new drive is set as the primary and only drive. I had

already disconnected the original C drive (a WD 250GB) and it's backup drive (another WD

250GB).

I took out the new drive, connected my original C drive to another computer by way of a
USB/Sata adapter cable and formatted and re-partitioned it. I reinstalled it into my machine
and tried the recovery disks and boot disk again. No luck. I get error 4096 "biosinfo.inf not found"

My system is not usable at all. Here are the specs for my computer that I built myself about

six months ago and was working just fine until it crashed.

Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45C-DS3R 1600
BIOS: Award Ver F2
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz 1333 MHz
Memory: Corsair 2Gb DDR3 1066MHz PC8500
Hard drives: WD 250 GB (2) Sata, WD 640 GB Sata
DVD Drive: Gateway OEM, 8.5 GB Double Layer Capacity
Floppy Drive: Generic, Mfg unknown
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 500 Watts cap.

Is there anyone out there that can help me get this thing up and operating again?

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Do you have your XP pro media center disc?
If so, you should be able to boot from the cd (may have to change boot sequence in bios).
And since it is sata, hit the F6 key to install the sata drivers from the CD. This would allow a format and partion of the drive.

[123Runner]

Do you have your XP pro media center disc?
If so, you should be able to boot from the cd (may have to change boot sequence in bios).
And since it is sata, hit the F6 key to install the sata drivers from the CD. This would allow a format and partion of the drive.

[inmate]

123Runner: Thanks for the prompt reply.

The only disks that I have with the operating system are a set of recovery disks that I had to make after I set up the computer when it was new in 2006. That computer was a Gateway refurbished unit purchased from a vendor and only came with six blank DVD disks and instructions on how to make the set of recovery disks. I'd never had any occasion to use them until now. The OS is legit and the product key is registered in my name. That's what I was using when the system crashed.

When I put the first disk in and reboot, the drive runs for several minutes with the light flickering as if it's reading the disk. Then it stops and I'm presented with the error message "Cannot load DOS! Any key to retry". When I press a key the computer shuts down, reboots and repeats the process. I have to kill the power to shut it off.

I have other diskcopys and Acronis recovery boot disks but need the OS installed to access them. I have a Bart PE boot disk that will load its own windows OS with limited functions. It has the i386 file on an X drive partition that I get to with the command prompt. I've looked at the i386 files directory but don't know enough about it to do anything.

Another note: During the reboot sequence pressing F6 gets no response or action at all.