Oh no... what have I done?

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 02:00 AM

install Partition Magic on the 6gig, then create the rescue disks, you need 2 floppies,

disconnect the 6gig, connect the 40gig ONLY..
boot your PC with the disk #1, insert disk #2 when asked, check again whether or not the XP partition is still ACTIVE., then restart your PC,

while restarting, replace the floppy with the XP boot disk... hoping that you can boot the XP on the 40gig.

if you dont have the PM, skep the part.
its good to have those rescue disks. also keep the XP boot disk, you may need to use it someday.

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 02:41 AM

Edit-- if you dont have the Partition Magic, Skip the part..

BWX · Feb 26, 2004, 03:29 AM

Hmm, well, I used the home made boot disk to boot to the 40gig. IT worked!

I am using the 40 gig right now. I checked all the files that I used to make the boot disk from the other XP install. Here's the thing, they are all intact and are exactly ad they were before. So that tells me that they weren't the problem, but how could that be? That's the only difference from having a non-bootable disk to having a bootable HD....

I replaced the files on the 40gig with the files from the floppy anyway, then I reinstated the attributes that were originally there. Anyway- I have a feeling that when I reboot, go into my bios , select to boot from HDD-0, it may still not boot, then I will have no Idea what happened, but I guess it won't matter because I will be able to save any data and do a repair of XP.

The funny thing is, everything seems to be fine, accept for the fact that the HD won't boot. Hell, maybe now that it has successfully booted once, maybe it will do it again.

The only thing I can think of that might be causing the problem is that I have been running this 40gig w/ NO jumpers in it at all- it has been the only HD that I've had installed, and I read somewhere that you could run a single WD HD with no jumpers, so that's what I have always done. But I did have this same problem when I installed my Mobo quite a few months ago. I think there is a "CW" or "CS" spot that you can put a jumper in if running a single drive, and then you can move it to master or slave , which ever you need if you are running 2IDE drives. I dunno- I'll go check the WD website and see what they say.

it's a :

Device Properties
Driver Description WDC WD400BB-00DEA0
Driver Date 7/1/2001
Driver Version 5.1.2535.0
Driver Provider Microsoft
INF File disk.inf

Device Manufacturer
Company Name Western Digital Corporation
Product Information http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products

Maybe I messed up and read it wrong 2 years ago when I bought it, maybe I should have been running a jumper in there the whole time. Last I knew it was optional. I'll have to make sure.

Hey, thanks again Panging, damn, you never fail to know what to do!

BWX · Feb 26, 2004, 03:50 AM

hmmm

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 04:36 AM

taken from Feedback...

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
Well I did boot up from the boot-floppy I made from this thread:

Oh no... what have I done?

My connection seems very slow as well. I wonder if it has anything to do with that?

O well, I'm going to clear cookies and reboot normally and see if it makes a difference..

i never connect to the internet after booting from floppy so i'm sure about this,
but i dont think its the caused...

you may have seen the booting processes is changed well it was not actually and all the drivers was loaded.
bios detects NTLDR from the floppy, the NTLDR uses the boot.ini file on the floppy to determine which OS options to display during the startup process.

typically, HDD can only have 4 primary partitions, your XP is installed on one of the partition, we add 3 more OSes (partitions) to the boot.ini, thiss in the case of anything goes wrong in the partition table or else, we can choose which OS to boot and still boot into the OS.

and here's a good info about boot.ini, you may want to save it..

The Purpose of the Boot.ini File in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...=kb;ja;Q314081

Now, for your last post, i'll have to take a look on that later on...

and You're welcome BWX232.

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 09:16 AM

BWX232,
try setting your BIOS to starting in this order.. Floppy Drive -> HDD -> CD-ROM
if you have not done/tried that and see if this helps.

BWX · Feb 26, 2004, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by panging
BWX232,
try setting your BIOS to starting in this order.. Floppy Drive -> HDD -> CD-ROM
if you have not done/tried that and see if this helps.

Aight, but I think I'm all set. I have no idea why- unless overwriting the files did it, or if they repaired themselves, but everything is back to normal now. I will that when I try to hook up my little 6gig as a slave though. I think I still want t do that.

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 12:31 PM

since you never had this prob before i'd say, it could be a small prob in the master boot block of your HDD and that has been reset and fixed. let see if this will hold.. anyway, try setting the bios to start from either floppy drive or HDD but dont set the CD/DVD drives as the 1st device to boot from.

BWX · Feb 26, 2004, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by panging
since you never had this prob before i'd say, it could be a small prob in the master boot block of your HDD and that has been reset and fixed. let see if this will hold.. anyway, try setting the bios to start from either floppy drive or HDD but dont set the CD/DVD drives as the 1st device to boot from.

Ok, I always have just set it to boot from HDD-0 and that's it, but maybe that messes something up after a while or something?

I don't know - I have never been able to use 2 HD's with this mobo, I think I'm going to try that next and see if it works..

PangingJr · Feb 26, 2004, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Ok, I always have just set it to boot from HDD-0 and that's it, but maybe that messes something up after a while or something?

if you never change it, there should not be anything that can/will change the device to boot from options in the bios.
as you only boot from HDD, that tells me the booting prob in your case is definitely caused by the master boot block/MBR.. and it has been reset after you've succeeded booting from the floppy. you must like XP more..

Quote:

I don't know - I have never been able to use 2 HD's with this mobo, I think I'm going to try that next and see if it works..

you mean like setting the 6gig as slave and use it to backup your files,
if so, i dont see why you cant have that. i would connect the 6gig, then on 1st boot use the partition magic boot disks to delete and recreate/format a new partition on the HDD... then restart into windows and reformat the partition again before using it.
if not, tell me more..

swimtech · Feb 26, 2004, 02:24 PM

Just a quick note guys, this might help:

From BWX232:
Maybe I messed up and read it wrong 2 years ago when I bought it, maybe I should have been running a jumper in there the whole time. Last I knew it was optional. I'll have to make sure.

In order to run a slave behind a Western Digital drive used as Master, you do have to have the jumper installed the Western Digital on the drive set in the Master position, and the slave drive with the slave jumper set as slave. Either that or both drives as CS (cable select) and positioned properly on the IDE cable. I ran into that problem too a couple times over the past couple years.

Hope I didn't miss it within this thread if you've tried that already...

BWX · Feb 26, 2004, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by swimtech

Hope I didn't miss it within this thread if you've tried that already...

Nope, you didn't because I was talking about running only one drive when leaving the jumper out.. Which is what I have done for the past couple years and I've only run one physical drive. When this problem happened it was the same way, and in fact right now I am running the same way. I have no idea why it wouldn't boot before, but it wouldn't until I made that floppy, now it's fine...

I'm still a little confused, but at least it works..

PangingJr · Feb 27, 2004, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
I'm still a little confused, but at least it works..

as you can see i never mention anything about your HDD's jumpers becoz i thought that's not the caused and i like to leave that to you and i assumed you would know better, infact you've done nothing wrong as i can see and i knew that the HDD is doing okay without using jumper when its the only HDD connected. anyway, that's a good reminder there from Swimtech..

let me give you some more info may be this will clarify something...
there's a known issues for XP that you may not boot into windows and you could receive the 'invalid system disk' error msg if your bios is set to start from the CD/DVD drive.
and how about if there's a boot-sector virus? i wouldnt think of that.. and you'll still see the boot prob for sure..

that's why i told you that that's not in your case since you're always set to start from only HDD. i talked about the master boot block/MBR becoz there's very poss that the info stored in the master boot block/MBR became damaged or corrupted in some way and it has already been reset/fixed...
pls read the below article throughout, i cant write that long with a better English than that. look closely at the very end of the bios bootstrap routine..., on your last boot with floppy the bios finds and uses the info from the floppy and you can boot into windows, but when booting HDD direct you received the error mags and this becoz the data on the HDD's boot sector can not be verified.. again, any flaw datas in there has now been reset..

The Master Boot Record and the System Boot Sequence.
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_d...oot_record.htm

PangingJr · Feb 27, 2004, 07:00 AM

Quote:

I replaced the files on the 40gig with the files from the floppy anyway, then I reinstated the attributes that were originally there. Anyway- I have a feeling that when I reboot, go into my bios , select to boot from HDD-0, it may still not boot, then I will have no Idea what happened, but I guess it won't matter because I will be able to save any data and do a repair of XP.

i dont read entirely at most of time, my bad, i just read your previous posts again and noticed this.

you dont need to replace the 3 files with the ones you had in the floppy unless they're missing but that's not in your case. all you have to do is.. once you boot into windows with the floppy, just check the boot.ini file... it is the only file you may need to replace (with the one you get from the 6gig) or create a new one or modify its info (if needed).
you replaced it, that's okay and dont worry about that.

here're the steps again..
- create the floppy boot disk. this will take 5 mins or less.
- optionally, copy the boot.ini file from the 6gig drive and save it on another floppy disk.
- boot your PC with the boot floppy.
- 1st thing you do when you're in windows is to check the boot.ini..
- after you done with the boot.ini file reboot your PC..

BWX · Feb 27, 2004, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by panging

The Master Boot Record and the System Boot Sequence.
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_d...oot_record.htm

I will read this, thanks..

edit-

My Antec True control 550w is in the mail!
No more PSU problems for me.

Newegg

swimtech · Feb 27, 2004, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
Nope, you didn't because I was talking about running only one drive when leaving the jumper out.. Which is what I have done for the past couple years and I've only run one physical drive. When this problem happened it was the same way, and in fact right now I am running the same way. I have no idea why it wouldn't boot before, but it wouldn't until I made that floppy, now it's fine...

I'm still a little confused, but at least it works..

Yes, the cause of the problem is elusive, I see. But shoot, and it happens to me on occassion, sometimes you just fix it and find the cause later...

Panging - your knowledge of the interactions, files, and functions that go on within Windows and within the other processes is just amazing! Interesting posting here, as always...

BWX · Feb 27, 2004, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by swimtech
Yes, the cause of the problem is elusive, I see. But shoot, and it happens to me on occassion, sometimes you just fix it and find the cause later...

Panging - your knowledge of the interactions, files, and functions that go on within Windows and within the other processes is just amazing! Interesting posting here, as always...

Yup, that's the way it goes sometimes-
and yes panging, you saved me again!

PangingJr · Feb 28, 2004, 09:57 PM

Thanks Swimtech and NP BWX232.

BTW, BWX232 you can also try the boot floppy when you cannot boot into windows and you get these types of errors...

'NTLDR', 'NTDETECT.COM', 'HAL.DLL' or 'BOOT.INI' files and maybe the NTOSKRNL too.

...File 'Corrupted' or 'Missing' or 'Not Found'

at most of the time the files is still there and is not corrupted or anything,
just check the boot.ini as i mentioned and then reboot..