right yet again my dad's Pc seems to be spitting the dummy. Last night my dad said that "a boot error or something" was appearing in "DOS mode" lol


Had a look. Disk boot failure (or similar) Insert system disk. Stick my XP disk in, try to repair but it cannot detect the harddisk at all. This morning I try using the disk test tools in Hirens, but as it cannot detect the disk it wont work.

I plug the hard drive into mine and it picks it up and all the file are accessable :S

Plug it back in and still the same. I used the "boot from hard disk" function on hirens, and it does try and boot, but just brings the XP loading screen up, and after a bit freezes.

Try repairing through XP disk again and I get a BLue Screen stop error saying machine_check_error?

Anyone know what the hells up with it as this PC is really peeving me off! I only formatted it 6 weeks ago cos it somehow got some supermalware

 

Hello matey

So what data (pics, docs, etc) are on this hardrive?

You might be best taing the hardisk into the other machine and transfering the files that you want off. then pu the hardrive back in the old machine and do a complete format before installing XP again. that should work but make sure you backup the data you want first

Of course i am assuming that you dont have a blank 3.25 floppy disk in the disk drive, that one used to get me back in the back!

 

How are you plugin it into yours, as a slave or are you booting into Windows on the drive ?

 

as a slave matey


and if I can help it dont wanna format again as its not my PC and cant be arsed with the effort lmao. Transferring from a USB external to an old IDE drive isnt the fastest thing in the world

 

As wildwill says, check there's no floppy in the drive. Also check the BIOS is set to auto detect the harddrive and is set to boot from it. It might be that the files it uses to boot (Boot.ini, NTLDR, Ntdetect.com) are corrupt or missing.

Might be an idea to create a boot disk or CD from a working PC and try that. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994 for more info on how to do this.

 

mmm my dad never uses the floppy and wouldnt even know how to get into bios. Ill give the boot disk a try though cheers

 

also forgot to add NOTHING detects the physical hard drive. BIOS, Hirens Boot CD or windows XP setup disk, but works fine when plugged in as a slave in my PC

 

If the hard disk is not detectable in the bios it sounds like its on its way out, have to tried any of the drive manufacturer test or repair tools ?

If the drive can be read as a slave, but is not bootable (should still be seen in the bios though) you will need to repair the MBR

Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console. Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password.
Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes). Use exit to restore the computer.

You may have a corrupted MBR (Master boot record) this is why the drive can be read but not booted. This method repairs the MBR

 

To get into BIOS you need to press F2 or F4 whilst the pc is starting up(intially before the windows screen comes) so just keep pressing after you have turned it on and then you should get a blue screen with white writing, thats your BIOS(basic input output system)

 

sounds like you have the solution now

 

After you try the above, and if you still have no joy: Put the Hard Drive on a different IDE or Sata channel depending on its connection. There "could possibly" be a fault with the IDE / sata channel as the drive works when in your PC. When its in your PC you could download some disk checking tools that run under windows.

 

lol I know what BIOS is im on a computer course at college. I'm still learning though

 

ok mate I'll give it a try thanks

 

Stephen, the bit where you talk about your dad not knowing how to get into BIOS, i read that as YOU not knowing, sorry that will teach me to read it properly

 

lol mo problem

 

cheers mate this worked