win xp wont boot...

Eurorunner

Right. I'm running win xp pro sp1. I have a very buggy program on there called progdvb that displays satellite tv feed. This proggy im a very grateful for but it does lock up more system resources than one would imagine is necessary.

Anyways, the pc locked up this morning probably as a result of running said programme. I had to reboot...when i re-booted, the ide-0 drive couldnt be read properly. I ran a chkdsk and it said all was ok, then i ran a chkdsk /p and it said that there was an error that couldnt be fixed.

I have a second hard drive with little data - or at least little valueable data - on it that i could put a fresh copy on. However, to reconfigure everything is far from straightforward. Taking my sat tv setup alone into account, this config. is a precarious arrangement of codecs/filters, etc. that i dont understand. Furthermore, i would have to reset all my sat. locations - and following a sat system relocation, i'm sick to death of going to the dish!


If i stick a new copy on the second disk, how can i switch back to the original disk??

How can i sort this out??

Eurorunner

I have switched the cables so that the 160GB samsung HD is now the primary master as this drive had little data on it. Then I inserted the bootable xp cd-rom, booted it up to the cd-rom, but i just get a flashing cursor at the top corner of a black screen.


How can i get this sorted as i need to get this thing back on its feet?

Eldarin

Ok if your sure that its the ide controllers that cn't be read you should probably try and fix the Master Boot record.

To do this follow these steps:

1) Insert a BOOTABLE copy of Wondows XP.
2) Start the PC forcing the CD to BOOT before the pc tries to boot the hard drive.
3) Load the XP installation program.
4) You will eventually reach a screen with 3 or 4 (i cant remember). Pick the option that offers you to do a repair installation. You usually have to press the letter 'R' for this.
5) When the Repair Administration screen loads up put in your Administration Password if it asks for it.
6) Type at the command prompt fixmbr
7) You will get a horrible looking warning message but don't worry yourself. All will be fine.
8) Reboot and hopefully all should be well.


Cheers
eldarin

Eurorunner

Thanks for posting Eldarin.

I did boot to the recovery console on the original drive and tried both fixboot and fixmbr - both to no avail.
Having googled the subject, it appears that this error 'a disk read error occurred' - is likely to happen with maxtor drives.
I had mentioned in my last post that i couldnt get to the recovery console - with a view to installing a copy of xp on the samsung 160GB hard disk. This was due to the cd being a bit smudged - so i am currently formating that disk and hope to do a fresh install on it.

Thereafter, i'm hoping i will be able to access the data on the other disk??

Eurorunner

I have now completed the new install and reattached the cable to the maxtor drive - making it primary slave drive. The comp takes an age to boot up when this drive is hooked up. Once booted up, the drive appears under my computer, but it doesnt see any data on the drive - nor does it recognise that its formated under NTFS. I suppose i could go get a copy of Easy Recovery Professional to see if it can reclaim any data, but its not looking good.

I will have my pc setup exactly as i want it within the next day or two. Whilst these occassional crashes and reinstalls have been a good learning exercise, I dont want to be bothered with this anymore! I have meant to start using some of the ghosting software but have never gotten round to it.

Q. Can i take a snapshot of an entire drive once its setup as i want it with this type of software? Is reinstall easy with it and what software would you recommend?