No Devices Installed????

[Elvh]

Hello all,
My computer has developed a problem when booting up,when i gets to the Windows loading screen the screen flashes blu with some writing on it then it starts to boot up again.On the post screen it says that there are no devices installed but if i go into the bios the drives are showing. There ahve been no updates to any drivers etc lately to make me think that this could be the problem, one day i switched the machine off, the next this? T he ide cables on the inside look ok but other than that i'm at a loss.The mb is msi, other than that i'll have to get back to you as i'm at work at the mo and will have another closer look tonight....


Cheers. Neil

 

[split]

I don't suppose the hard drive has been ticking of late has it?

Most hard disc maker have software on their sites that allows you to check a drives status.
example.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

It does initially sound like a failing/corrupted hard drive..

Can you boot in to windows in safe mode? If not, try booting using "Safe mode with command prompt".

If you can get into the system with any of the above safe mode options, start windows again but this time select F8, then "Enable boot logging" until the point it crashes again. At this point reboot again into the safe mode which worked before.

Once in, head off to the \winnt directory and look for a text file called ntbtlog.txt. Open it with a text editor and look for entries which say "LoadFailed" or something simular. this will give you a clue as to what's going on.

Post back your findings..

If you can't get into your system using neither of the two "safe mode" adavanced start up options, then you will have to see if another hard drive will work. This of course means you will have to reinstall windows. as split says, there are H/D checking tools usually provided by the manufacturer of the H/D. Nip accross to there website if you can to see if there is anything.