[george01]

At present I am signed on using my backup drive.

If I try to load with my main drive it gets as far as asking for password - this I don't have as I chose not to use one. I also tried just hitting the enter key but this failed as well. It does momentarily flash with - 'loading settings' - 'saving settings' then defaults back to asking for password.

If i try to get into Safe Mode using the f8 key and then do a restore on the main drive back to a
good configuration it will only go to the boot screen where you choose where to boot from viz .... drive, cd or floppy, cannot get into Safe Mode.

When i do use my back up drive - then go to 'My Computer' - it cannot see my main drive. But if I go to Computer Management under Admin tools' and look at storage drives it shows both my back up drive as 'healthy' and my main drive as 'active'.

I also tried using my XP disc to Repair and when I got the 'c' prompt tried to type in NET USER (MY NAME) (PASSWORD) to set a password but couldn't

It seems impossible for me to get into Safe Mode.

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How do you run repair? There is no stage where the prompt is displayed.
Check here: http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

[Broni]

How do you run repair? There is no stage where the prompt is displayed.
Check here: http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

[george01]

If you prompt to load from the CD drive when you are in the screen asking you where you want to load from and have the windows disc installed, it will then start to load windows, it will get so far and then ask you if you want to install or press 'r' for repair. It runs and then ends up at the C prompt asking you to type 'exit' to exit the load programme.

[george01]

Have read you shortcut, sorry for replying before I read it. This is the screen I get to if I boot from the CD. However, at this stage I have opted for the repair option but note the shortcut says this will only repair software errors. If I do a full install, won't I loose all files I have on the disks. This is what I am trying to avoid as there is a lot of information that is on my main drive which I have not copied across to my back up yet. If I can opt for carrying on with loading windows from the blue screen without losing files - great. You advice appreciated. - George

[Broni]

No, you don't press R at first screen. That brings you to Recovery Console.
Follow instructions from my link, and your data will be safe.

[george01]

I ran the programme as per instruction. I pressed f8 to agree to licensing agreement and it then whent to a screen saying 'the following list shows existing partitions......... then in a box Unknown disk (There is no disk in the drive). I went back to the setup screen and the disks show there. I also went into fast build to check the Arrays and the two disks (Makiang my main drive) show as an Array.

I tried loading from the disk again, it gets to the windows logon screen and then defaults to requesting a password. If you press enter it quickly flashes, 'loading your settings' then @closing network connections' and defaults back to the password screen.

One thing my partner remembers is that when it was running alright she was looking at a site and Kapspersky came up saying it had detected a Trojan and a Malware, both of which it says it blocked. After that the problems started. This I have only come aware of.

Thanks - George

[Broni]

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

[george01]

Sorry for the delay. - Works today.

Have run the diagnostic tests (extended) and both drives came back with no errors.

I did - after the tests, swop my sata leads over so my main drive was feeding off the back up drive leads and tried re-booting but the screen gave me a 'no drives found!' message.

Thanks, - George

[Broni]

Are both drives listed in BIOS?

[george01]

Yes they are.

George

[Broni]

Honestly, I'm puzzled. I'll ask for more help.

[george01]

Thanks - George

[Broni]

I posted in Staff forum, so hopefully, someone will chime in here.

[george01]

Many thanks - It's driving me nuts, knowing it's there but not being able to get into it. It all seems to hang around it asking for a password.

George

[george01]

I have just been looking in the logs in admin tools, event viewer, system and a repeating error (always in batches of 3) states the following:

The following bootstart or system start driver failed to load. SD Manager.

george