Problem with starting machine - disk boot failure

[Artheas]

The HDD that WinXP is installed on is connected, but the machine cannot boot up with it. I've tried resetting the BIOS, and HDD gets detected, plenty of time for it to spin up, even used norton ghost boot up disk that can 'see into' the partition and everything is there and seems fine.

Tried switching ram about, single channel, dual channel, 1T, 2T, 1 Gb, 2Gb, no difference.

I'm going to retrieve the files i need and then use an old ghost image. But i'm worried it'll happen again.

Anyone have an explanation/solution?

If the HDD was failing, surely Norton would be able to check into it.

/me is very confused and frustrated with his new machine

 

[Artheas]

oh my god, i restored the partition using an old ghost image (dont it before), but i'm getting the same problem!

 

[reddeathdrinker]

It sounds as if the the MBR is corrupt. If you can boot up with a DOS/Win98 startup disk, the command is FDISK /MBR.

More here

 

[stvmor]

Artheas, boot to diagnostics and use chkdsk before anything else
I have corrected a few corrupt WXP installations by simply doing this and it's never done any damage

 

[Septh]

I had this problem a few days ago, my problem was that it was looking for the rong hdd for the mbr (dunno y) but once i found the setting in the bois for it, it was all good

 

[Artheas]

It sounds as if the the MBR is corrupt. If you can boot up with a DOS/Win98 startup disk, the command is FDISK /MBR.

More here

That's an MS-DOS boot disk, right?
i use "fdisk /mbr" and i get bad command or filename

a: directory only has
EGA2
EGA3
EGA
KEYB
KEYBOARD
KEYBRD2
KEYBRD3
KEYBRD4
MODE
COMMAND
DISPLAY

Artheas, boot to diagnostics and use chkdsk before anything else
I have corrected a few corrupt WXP installations by simply doing this and it's never done any damage

how do i boot to diagnostics?

 

[Artheas]

It sounds as if the the MBR is corrupt. If you can boot up with a DOS/Win98 startup disk, the command is FDISK /MBR.

More here

I managed to download a win98 boot disk, used that command, which gave no confirmation of it doing anything (other than a floppy LED access), but didnt work.

Gonna format the HD and reinstall windows..

if i used RAID 1 and something similar happened, would the buggered MBR be the same on both?

 

[stvmor]

I managed to download a win98 boot disk, used that command, which gave no confirmation of it doing anything (other than a floppy LED access), but didnt work.

Gonna format the HD and reinstall windows..

if i used RAID 1 and something similar happened, would the buggered MBR be the same on both?

Dunno but did you try a simple chkdsk before reinstalling or try using the 'repair' function on your XP installation disc? The first option gets you to the command promp (so you can do chkdsk or other commands on a disc) and a later one allows you to repair an XP installation if it finds one

 

[Artheas]

Dunno but did you try a simple chkdsk before reinstalling or try using the 'repair' function on your XP installation disc? The first option gets you to the command promp (so you can do chkdsk or other commands on a disc) and a later one allows you to repair an XP installation if it finds one

i regarded the repair function as useless but i'll try that later if what i'm doing now doesnt work.
because i rewrote the MBR, windows setup wont let me setup windows on the 2 HDDs, wont let me format either, just asks me to create a partition and do it there, but i get the same msg then.

If i didnt pay over a grand for all this crap, i'd consider thumping it

 

[stvmor]

i regarded the repair function as useless but i'll try that later if what i'm doing now doesnt work.
because i rewrote the MBR, windows setup wont let me setup windows on the 2 HDDs, wont let me format either, just asks me to create a partition and do it there, but i get the same msg then.

If i didnt pay over a grand for all this crap, i'd consider thumping it

I've done the thumping thing and can't recommend it, not if you are strapped for cash

I would probably put it all down, have a break, get out the mobo manual and start again. Mebe even try using the HDD manufacturers software or Partition Magic to get the drives sorted before entrusting this to Windows?

 

[stvmor]

Most new build problems seem to stem from 'simple' omisions or wrong settings and these usually stem from 'missing' something in the mobo manual or not following a HDD manufacturers process for 1st use or something like that. It could equally be just a poor Windows installation by windows!

 

[Artheas]

It turned out that it was a MBR problem, because when i restored the drive using the ghost image the 1st time, i didnt check the option to write old boot record, or something like that, and i still got the disk boot failure.

After i'd tried everything else, i restored the image after checking the option, and i could get back into the saved windows backup.
I'm still not sure why the MBR problem even occurred in the first place though.

Lucky all i'd done after the last backup was play Oblivion, and that i could retrieve my savefiles! I'll be backing them up every day now -.-'

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone

 

[stvmor]

It turned out that it was a MBR problem, because when i restored the drive using the ghost image the 1st time, i didnt check the option to write old boot record, or something like that, and i still got the disk boot failure.

After i'd tried everything else, i restored the image after checking the option, and i could get back into the saved windows backup.
I'm still not sure why the MBR problem even occurred in the first place though.

Lucky all i'd done after the last backup was play Oblivion, and that i could retrieve my savefiles! I'll be backing them up every day now -.-'

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone

That's a relief then! Now you can get on with playing with your kit and don't worry, Windoze does strange things sometimes!