Help - I might have trashed XP!

FunkyT · 30 Jun 2007 at 23:20

I accidentally kicked the power socket and turned off my desktop. It's now stuck in a loop (restarting during the Windows XP loading screen).

I'm trying to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP but not having much luck.

I get as far as installing the SATA driver disk, the system recognises the HDD but states that there's no partition. I'm being asked to format the disk in order to reinstall Windows.

I'd like to repair the existing installation - help please!

flying grouse · 1 Jul 2007 at 13:12

reinstall of windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/EN-US/

basmic · 1 Jul 2007 at 13:19

Get an old harddrive out, install XP on it, then see if you can see your main drive in XP.

Sure, it'll be slow and clunky running XP on a 4gb (or whatever) drive for a few hours - but if it increases the chances of you getting your data back, who cares?

Oh, and unplug your main drive, while installing XP on the small drive.

dunker · 1 Jul 2007 at 13:29

tried booting it in safe-mode? F8 after boot i think

FunkyT · 1 Jul 2007 at 14:12

Thanks for the feedback lads!

I tried to boot in safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt, last normal working config and normal - none of these work.

I've installed Windows on an old IDE and it works fine. The "dodgy" SATA drive is detected on POST (VIA controller) and is listed in Device Manager. However, it's not displayed in My Computer.

I've tried another SATA on the same lead & channel and it's accessible without problems.

Is my Samsung dead? If so, how easy would it be to extract the data?

flying grouse · 1 Jul 2007 at 14:19

have a look at this article for your MBR

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314503/EN-US/

basmic · 1 Jul 2007 at 15:33

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/index.htm

Download a program from there to test your Samsung harddrive. Make sure the program can test your model of harddrive first, however.

csmager · 1 Jul 2007 at 15:35

FunkyT said:
I've installed Windows on an old IDE and it works fine. The "dodgy" SATA drive is detected on POST (VIA controller) and is listed in Device Manager. However, it's not displayed in My Computer

Run diskmgmt.msc

It will most probably say the drive is uninitialized and all space is unallocated - in which case you'll need some data recovery software if you're going to get anything back.