[tc3racr6]

I recently finished building my computer, due to a lack of cash I am using 2 harddrives out of my parents old computer. When I start the computer with 1 of the hard drives it trys to start up and gets temporarily stuck on "updating escd...." and then the screen appears that says windows did not shutdown correctly it gives me the options to start in safe mode, normal and last good configuration. It repeats this process until I turn it off manually. Now, if I remove the ide connection to the harddrive the computer does not hang on "updating escd.." and then it will boot from CD (which is windows xp sp3). Both hard drives were working correctly in my parents old computer so i dont understand what the problem is. I would like to know if the problem in the computability of my old hard drive with my new motherboard? My computer specs are listed below:

Foxconn 648X7MF-S SiS 648FX Socket 775 mATX Motherboard w/LAN
2 x Western Digital WD Caviar 300AA 30gb harddrives
1 gb ram
p4 3.2ghz


Thanks guys

[Advertisements]

Hi, have you done a re format of the hard drives? You will need a Windows ME boot floppy with fdisk and format on the floppy. You will need to boot to DOS and run fdisk, delete the partitions then re boot. You will then re boot to DOS and run format and let it fully re format the drives then they will be ready to install windows. You may find guides on here to help you do this. I think that on the internet you may be able to down load a boot floppy. MS should have the fdisk and format file or if you know some one who has and older machine with Windows ME. I have made several ME boot disks and use them all the time. It is not hard to fully wipe the drive and then install from a Windows CD. I hope that this helps you. OldTex

[OldTex]

Hi, have you done a re format of the hard drives? You will need a Windows ME boot floppy with fdisk and format on the floppy. You will need to boot to DOS and run fdisk, delete the partitions then re boot. You will then re boot to DOS and run format and let it fully re format the drives then they will be ready to install windows. You may find guides on here to help you do this. I think that on the internet you may be able to down load a boot floppy. MS should have the fdisk and format file or if you know some one who has and older machine with Windows ME. I have made several ME boot disks and use them all the time. It is not hard to fully wipe the drive and then install from a Windows CD. I hope that this helps you. OldTex

[Troy]

Hi tc3racr6 and welcome to the site.

It sounds like your computer is set to boot from the hard drive before the CD drive, hence when the hard drive is connected it tries to boot from it straight away as there is a bootable operating system installed on the old hard drive.

You will need to enter the BIOS and set the CD Drive to boot before the hard drive. Then you will be able to boot from the CD to install Windows XP.

Also you don't need to worry about getting a Windows ME boot disk to format the drive first as this can be done as part of the fresh installation of Windows from the XP CD. While OldTex's method will work, it's an extra step that's not needed in this instance.

Cheers

Troy