[zorba the geek]

After avast removed virus,pc booted to blackscreen with flashing"-" in top left corner,no mousepointer.I've been send here by Rohrschach112.
Some things to ponder:
when booting,the first screen tells me that i have a 160G sata hdd,the second screen comes on,but i'm not sure it list's everything,followed by black screen.I've backed up my important data with puppy linux from non-booting pc.With linux,otlep and ultimate bootdisc,i'm beable to acsess,scan and even restore my pc.However,when trying to repair or clean install windows with my installation cd,the error message comes up "hdd not installed"
Any toughts?
thanks
charlie aka zorba

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Hi zorba the geek,
Can you provide some details about your computer, is it a laptop, desktop, custom build or brand name such as Dell, HP etc and if it is what is the model or series number, for a clean install;
Have you checked in the BIOS to see if the HDD is listed, you will need to do this anyhow to change the boot order to CD/DVD drive first and the HDD second, if the computer is a desktop on boot up try tapping F8 to get into the BIOS, change the boot sequence and save and exit (F10).
Place the **XP disk in the drive and restart your computer, follow the the on-screen instructions to complete the installation, if the computer is a laptop try tapping F2 on boot up and follow the same procedure as above.

**Your OS is shown as XP Sp2 Home and that is why I have said to place the said disk in the drive.
Also once you are done be sure to install updates including Sp3 as support for Sp2 has ended.
Hope this gets things sorted for you and let us know how it goes.

[phillpower2]

Hi zorba the geek,
Can you provide some details about your computer, is it a laptop, desktop, custom build or brand name such as Dell, HP etc and if it is what is the model or series number, for a clean install;
Have you checked in the BIOS to see if the HDD is listed, you will need to do this anyhow to change the boot order to CD/DVD drive first and the HDD second, if the computer is a desktop on boot up try tapping F8 to get into the BIOS, change the boot sequence and save and exit (F10).
Place the **XP disk in the drive and restart your computer, follow the the on-screen instructions to complete the installation, if the computer is a laptop try tapping F2 on boot up and follow the same procedure as above.

**Your OS is shown as XP Sp2 Home and that is why I have said to place the said disk in the drive.
Also once you are done be sure to install updates including Sp3 as support for Sp2 has ended.
Hope this gets things sorted for you and let us know how it goes.

[zorba the geek]

[quote name='phillpower2' timestamp='1284994096' post='1903371']

Have you checked in the BIOS to see if the HDD is listed, you will need to do this anyhow to change the boot order to CD/DVD drive first and the HDD second,

Hmmmm,may be that's where my first problem lies.I've been tapping F11 to boot from CD.
The first time i tried the repair,the system listed my kinkston USB drive as C:drive(i've forgotten to remove it after a otl fix)


phillpower2,thanks for helping me!
First,it's my son's pc,i think it's altec or something,but the op/system is XP.Can you think of anything i might try,if this fails.It's a 90min.drive to my son's house,and i'll will only go back to morrow (Babysitting) I'll see if i can get moore info.
My link to malware post

Edited by zorba the geek, 20 September 2010 - 09:27 AM.

[phillpower2]

The brand name is not important for now, if you could just let me know if it is a laptop or a desktop it is a start, at least it gives us an idea on how to go about setting the computer up to boot from the CD/DVD drive.
Ive got to go back to work for a couple of hrs now but I will come back to you when I finish (about 3hrs)

[zorba the geek]

Sorry,it's a desktop
I can get into bios,no problem there

Edited by zorba the geek, 20 September 2010 - 09:57 AM.

[zorba the geek]

Got some additional info!
My son managed to get into bios:

IDE primary master= DVD drive
IDE primary slave = second DVD drive

IDE secondary master= NOT detected

Like i mentioned before,linux acsessed the C:drive with no problems.I've used linux,ultimate bootdisc,and otl bootable disc to scan for viruses,see my program files and even did a system restore.On normal bootup,the first line says my hdd is a 160gig with about 90gig freespace
Just to make it easy for you to read,here's what otl scan picked up:
OTL logfile created on: 17/09/2010 10:01:00 PM - Run
OTLPE by OldTimer - Version 3.1.41.0 Folder = X:\Programs\OTLPE
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Version = 5.1.2600) - Type = SYSTEM
Internet Explorer (Version = 6.0.2900.2180)
Locale: 00000408 | Country: ????da | Language: ELL | Date Format: d/M/yyyy

511.00 Mb Total Physical Memory | 311.00 Mb Available Physical Memory | 61.00% Memory free
459.00 Mb Paging File | 337.00 Mb Available in Paging File | 74.00% Paging File free
Paging file location(s): C:\pagefile.sys 768 1536 [binary data]

%SystemDrive% = C: | %SystemRoot% = C:\WINDOWS | %ProgramFiles% = C:\Program Files
Drive C: | 149.05 Gb Total Space | 91.05 Gb Free Space | 61.09% Space Free | Partition Type: NTFS
D: Drive not present or media not loaded
No idea what that is |Drive E: | 3.72 Gb Total Space | 3.71 Gb Free Space 99.70% Space Free | Partition Type: FAT32
F: Drive not present or media not loaded
G: Drive not present or media not loaded
H: Drive not present or media not loaded
I: Drive not present or media not loaded
Also just a thought,maybe linux is reading the C drive as a normal storage device?

Edited by zorba the geek, 20 September 2010 - 12:21 PM.

[123Runner]

A couple things that I notice.

You state a 160gb SATA hard drive, but...

IDE primary master= DVD drive
IDE primary slave = second DVD drive

IDE secondary master= NOT detected

This is a possible issue because it is telling us you have some IDE dvd drives. It also is telling us it is not detecting a IDE secondary master.
If all the drives you have are IDE, then the hard drive should be on the primary master IDE channel.
Of course you might have the hard drive (if it is SATA)on a SATA connector. We may have to dig into this a little.

Can you confirm the drive is a SATA drive? You will have to open the case and look at it.
If its not detected in the bios, then it could be a loose power or data cable.

IDE is on the left and SATA is on the right in each picture

EDIT: The E drive is most likely a recovery partition.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by 123Runner, 20 September 2010 - 12:40 PM.

[zorba the geek]

Hi 123Runner!
First,thank you for your input!
It is a sata drive,it is connected via the cable shown on the right side.As for the bios,that what it states.I've double checked the connections,no problem there.Like i said,i can acsess the drive with linux,and pull data from it.Something must have changed when avast removed the trojan,because avast rebooted by itself to remove infection and rebooted into black screen.After that,all atempts to boot up into windows,to safemode and even to do a clean install failed.I also replaced the c-mos battery to reset the bios,after the problem occured(at one time i had a message stating that the battery is flat).I have another sata drive that i can connect

[zorba the geek]

This is driving me nuts!Maybe I should look at it from a different angle!
Maybe the reason why linux,otl,bart pe can acsess/recognise the sata hdd,is simply that all of them using drivers loaded from their own setup,and not the ones installed on the pc? Maybe my drivers are corrupt/missing?

Maybe the reason why the bios does not list/detect the sata hdd,is because it's disabled in the bios settings somewhere? I remember my old pc(also xp)had only a sata hdd,and somewhere was a setting to enable the hdd with options(raid-ahsi something or other)

Or my final/only option

[phillpower2]

Hi again zorba the geek,
Now we know it is a desktop we can make a start, (A) to get into the BIOS to first see if the HDD is detected and (B) to then either repair or install XP do the following;
1: On boot up tap F8, if the drive is listed go to step 2
2: When in the BIOS change the boot sequence so the computer boots 1st from the CD/DVD drive and 2nd from the HDD
3: Save the **settings usually by pressing F10 and then exit
4: Place the XP disk in the CD/DVD drive and then re-boot
5: Press any key on the keyboard, a letter, space bar, enter etc
6: Follow the on screen instructions

If the drive is not listed (I doubt this) I would suggest shutting down, removing the power cord from the wall and swapping the SATA connection over on the MB, whilst there make sure all other connections are secure,re-assemble the computer and boot up, see how this goes.
**Some further points to mention are, when in the BIOS before saving any settings make sure the time and date are set correctly and that when the repair or clean install are done that you connect to the internet and update XP as I suggested in post #2.
Thanks 123Runner for providing the SATA information

[zorba the geek]

Hi phillpower2
Sorry,i already left before you posted.
That what i've done today:
checked bios settings

Standard C-Mos features:
Prim.IDE Master - DVD
Prim.IDE Slave - DVD

Sec.IDE Master - not detected

Advanced Settings
Boot sequence

1 Floppy
2 Raid :Maxtor 6V160E changes to 6V080 when interchanging hdd
3 DVD

SATA devices configuration

onboard PSI S-ATA Controler enabled
onboard S-ATA option ROM enabled

First i replaced the hdd with another sata drive(used,OS unknown,but working 6v080),using the same cable and mobo connection.Strangely the PC booted to a screen with option to load Safemode.So i tried to load into Safemode,but it only returns to same screen.The other option was to load into windows,i also tried that with same results.The problematic hdd never reached that screen.Then i tried to install windows onto this drive,but the error is again "No drive detected"

I connected the original (problem)hdd again with new cable and diff. mobo sata con..

So back to square 1,loading windows or clean install a no go!

What are your thoughts on a corrupted/missing driver or maybe the drive is failing.But agian,if it is the hdd,why cant i install windows on the other hdd?

charlie

Edited by zorba the geek, 21 September 2010 - 12:48 PM.

[phillpower2]

Sorry its so late Ive been rather busy myself.

Advanced Settings
Boot sequence

1 Floppy - Change to DVD!
2 Raid :Maxtor 6V160E changes to 6V080 when interchanging hdd - This is correct!
3 DVD

The Floppy is what needs changing in the BIOS and the order needs to be changed to;
1: DVD
2: Maxtor HDD
Save (F10) choose Y press Enter and exit, try and do a clean install again, as the HDD is being detected in the BIOS Im a bit puzzled!

EDIT: Just wanted to check you are comfortable changing the boot sequence and also to answer your questions regarding corrupt/missing drivers or a failing drive.
No I do not think it is a driver issue (a new or formatted HDD does not have any drivers on it for example) and a failing HDD is always a possibility but I cannot say for sure at the moment, it appears at the moment that the boot sequence requires setting so the DVD boots first so it can then load/repair the information/OS on the HDD.
Sorry if this is too much information

Edited by phillpower2, 22 September 2010 - 02:22 AM.

[zorba the geek]

Don't worry about being late,i've been here long enough to know that everybody helps out in his/hers sparetime! And sparetime is sometimes hard to find.

I had no problem changing the bootsequence,but to no avail! Still not booting up,or start repair or install.
Back to the drawing board!

cheers
charlie

[phillpower2]

I notice you said you had changed the CMOS battery but have you got another one you can try.

I had no problem changing the boot sequence

Also can you have it checked that after changing the boot sequence and then re-starting that
the boot order you selected was saved.

Still not booting up,or start repair or install.

At this stage it is nothing to do with the HDD it is the DVD drive that should be reading the
XP disk first and that is why I have asked if the boot sequence settings were saved as it
does not appear that the computer is attempting to boot from the DVD drive first.

[123Runner]

After verifying the boot sequence is as you set it, I would try another CD drive.

Something else is to try another known bootable cd to see if it will boot the computer.