[thingie2]

Well yesterday I found an old IDE hdd, which I had a feeling I still had data on, so I thought I would connect it up to my computer and get anything off it that I wanted (if there was anything) However XP couldn't find the drive, so I thought "ok, so it's probably dead, never mind" so I shut down the computer, removed the hdd and tried booting up again, however since then, I have been unable to boot up, I either get to the end of the Bios boot, and get an error saying it can't find a file (can't remember the name of the file) or it gets to the windows loading part, the flicks up with the BSOD then restarts. I have tried booting from the windows setup CD and repairing without joy. I am currently ghosting my hdd onto another drive with Norton ghost, and then I am going to attempt a re-install (without formatting) to see if it works.

If anyone else has any ideas on how to get it to work, or what might be wrong, please let me know.

Thanks

[Mike0001]

Did you make sure both drives were not jumpered as master? Could be the cause of the problem.

Hope the reinstall works!

[pete21]

the old harddrive u put into ur pc was probably set to master..making changes in your bios.. go into bios and check your harddrive shows up and is set to first boot device

[thingie2]

sorry, i was not to specific, the old drive is IDE and the new drive is SATA, so shouldn't matter if it is master.

[Dave Hybrid]

Originally Posted by thingie2 I have tried booting from the windows setup CD and repairing without joy.

What specifically happened?

[thingie2]

Originally Posted by Dave Hybrid What specifically happened?

Well, it loads up and gets to the screen with the options to install, repair, or exit the window setup. Then I press "R" to repair, then doesn't get any further, it gets to dos screen saying "type exit to restart" I think that is all that happens, but I did that last night, so I don't remember it exactly.

[Mike0001]

That is what it is supposed to do! Google "xp repair console" to see what to do next.

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you may need bootcfg, fixboot and fixmbr.

[thingie2]

I have just tried the repair console again at first it comes up saying:

Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality. Type EXIT to exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer. 1: C:\WINDOWS Which Windows Installation would you like to log on to (To cancel, press ENTER)?

So I type 1, then press enter the this comes up;

The system registry does not appear to have an active ControlSet key. The system registry may be damaged. If your system is currently not starting correctly, you can try restarting it with the Last Know Good configuration or you can try repairing the installation of Windows using the setup program's repair and recovery options

So I am going to try booting with the last know good configuration. I'll post again to let you know what happens.

[Mike0001]

OK, keep us informed.

[thingie2]

ok, I have tried booting again, however I can't get any further than the end of the bios, so I am unable to choose the boot method.

[Mike0001]

did you run those 3 programs i mentioned in the console?

if so, it looks bad!

[thingie2]

I haven't tried the commands you have said yet, I will try them now, I will post again in a few minutes once I have done

[Mike0001]

ok, taking the dog out now

[thingie2]

I have now tried the first one it found 1, but I don't know what to do from there, as, like i said eirlier, it can't log onto it.
I tried the Second one, said it wrote a new system boot file, however there is no difference when I try booting the computer up off the hdd.
I have now tried the last one aswell, It says it wrote the new thing s[FONT='Times New Roman']uccessively, however when trying to boot up from the hdd, I get no further.[/FONT]

[Mike0001]

Does it ask for the Administrator password on the first command? That used to be blank by default, but you may have set it to something else when you installed xp?

Anyway, you should be able to do a repair installation by booting again from the cd and ignoring the initial "r" option. When the CD gets to ask you where you want to install, it should give you an option to repair an existing installation. That way you do not lose any files. DO NOT FORMAT!!!