Broken Drive?

gunner_uk2000 · 15 Jan 2007 at 20:39

When I built my PC and went to install windows on it. I can format the drive ok, via the windows boot-cd. The drive formats OK, and the set-up copies the files over. After this the set-up reboots.

When attempting to boot from the CD upon reboot, all i get is a blank screen. If I attempt to boot from the HDD it get an error. "Disk Read Error. Press Alt+crtl+del to restart'.

IIRC it's supposed to boot from the CD and continue the installation. However all i get is a blank Screen.

In order to get windows installer to run again i have to use a bootable disk manager to Zero entry to drive (setting it back to partitioned space). Then I can format the drive again, and the same problem will happen.

I can use a bootable Linux CD and access the drive and read some of the set-up files that the windows installer has put on there. Is the drive the cause of these problems, or is there some kind of problem with the grahpics for the blank screen. (I'm using on-board gfx)

Thanks for any help.

rpstewart · 15 Jan 2007 at 21:42

gunner_uk2000 said:
The drive formats OK

Quick or full format? NTFS or FAT32?

The reboot after the text mode install should be from the HDD. Is your boot order set as CD first then HDD?

gunner_uk2000 · 15 Jan 2007 at 22:19

rpstewart said:
Quick or full format? NTFS or FAT32?

The reboot after the text mode install should be from the HDD. Is your boot order set as CD first then HDD?

1st time I did it it was a full format. When I tried it again (after Zeroing the drive) I did a quick format.

Yes, it is set to CD first then HDD. However it goes "Press Any Key to Boot from CD..." So it has booted from the HDD when it does the "Disk read error" message.

rpstewart · 15 Jan 2007 at 22:28

What kind of drive and motherboard are you using?

gunner_uk2000 · 16 Jan 2007 at 10:30

rpstewart said:
What kind of drive and motherboard are you using?

The Drive is a Hitachi 320Gb IDE drive, which is the Master on the secondary IDE channel.

Linky

The mobo is this:
Linky

rpstewart · 16 Jan 2007 at 10:35

First off go and get a copy of the Hitachi Drive Fitness Tool and run a full test on the disk - download it here

gunner_uk2000 · 16 Jan 2007 at 12:10

rpstewart said:
First off go and get a copy of the Hitachi Drive Fitness Tool and run a full test on the disk - download it here

Thanks,

I'll run that test when I get home from work and post the results.

gunner_uk2000 · 17 Jan 2007 at 07:59

The Drive passes all test.

Are you sure it's supposed to boot from the HDD after it's installed the Initial setup in the DOS screens?

Could this problem be being caused by corrupt files on my windows cd?

rpstewart · 17 Jan 2007 at 09:08

gunner_uk2000 said:
The Drive passes all test.

Are you sure it's supposed to boot from the HDD after it's installed the Initial setup in the DOS screens?

Could this problem be being caused by corrupt files on my windows cd?

Yes, it has to boot from the HDD after the DOS screens, if you boot from the CD you start at the beginning of the setup again. There is a message at the end of the DOS section of setup which tells you to remove all CDs and floppies before the reboot.

It's possibly a duff CD but I would have expected that to manifest itself earlier on in the setup.

Have you tried moving the HDD to the primary IDE channel?

bootup05 · 17 Jan 2007 at 09:10

Try the Optical on another controller, had this happen to me with 2 systems a few days ago, sorted out by simply swapping drives over, try it, should work

gunner_uk2000 · 20 Jan 2007 at 13:35

bootup05 said:
Try the Optical on another controller, had this happen to me with 2 systems a few days ago, sorted out by simply swapping drives over, try it, should work

Thanks, that worked a treat.