Computer Does not Boot to Harddisk

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hala kahiki

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I have a computer that I was updating last night that suddenly refuses to boot from its harddisk.

The computer has Windows XP SP1, and I had been updating its ATi graphics drivers. After successfully doing that, I decided to also reinstall the recovery console to the boot drive, since I hadn't done that since before SP1. I rebooted to test it, and the computer hangs after the bootable CD check. There are no error messages.

The computer boots fine from floppies and CDs (using Knoppix on the machine right now). I've checked the boot disk and there does not appear to be any hardware issues. If I boot to the recovery console from the Win XP CD, I can successfully mount and read all volumes. Knoppix, however, will not mount any volumes on the boot harddisk (hda1).

Any ideas as to what's going on here, and, better yet, how to fix it?
 
Welcome Hala!

As an opening guess, have you actually USED any of the recovery console tools? I'm specifically thinking of fixboot and fixmbr.

Also, when you say "hangs", do you mean that your PC just stops after it checks for a bootable CD? Or does it ask you to insert bootable media? Or does it display any part of the XP boot sequence?
 
For good measure, I did run a fixmbr. It doesn't make a difference.

No error messages... it just sits there. If I change the boot order to remove boot to CD, it will hand after verifying dpmi data.
 
Quick lunchtime update:

Per others suggestions, I tried resetting the BIOS. Nada.

I also tried swapping the primary and secondary IDE channels -- and it worked. Perviously, the two harddrives were on the primary, and the burner on the secondary.

Anyone have a clue why this switcheroo worked? Is this a sign of something bad happening with my hardware?
 
Have you tried "Last Good Boot?"

It sounds to me you managed to glitch the registry hive. If so, this is not good -- basically meaning you'll need to get all of yer data off, wipe, and reinstall.

halak.jpg

A satellite photo of Hala Kahiki, located at latitude 28, longitude 34

 
I would put the drives back into their original configuration again and then boot to dos and try "fdisk /mbr". I've found that the good ol' dos method much more effective then the rc's fixmbr.

If that doesn't work, then I would be inclined to agree with Gary that you have some sort of registry mishap going on.
 
My inclination is that this is some kind of hardware issue, not a software one.

For grins and giggles, I changed the boot order to point to invalid items (LS120, LAN, USB-Floppy, etc.) and no harddrives, and it did the same thing. If there are no valid boot devices, I should get an error.
 
Will it boot into safe mode (F8) ?
Sounds like a video problem.
If you get to safe mode try uninstalling the new video drivers.

Bozo :mrgrn:
 
sechs said:
I'm curious as to how the jumper settings would be affected by changing the the IDE channels....
Click to expand...

On separate channels they no long work as Master and Slave. Perhaps both are set to Master? There are other possible combinations, and with Samsung drives, there are a myriad of ways to place that jumper shunt.
 
From a previous post, its obvious the drives were both previous on the primary channel (and working). A burner of some type was on the secondary. The channels are now switched, but not the master-slave relationships.
 
Correct.

There were no hardware changes made between when it was working and when it stopped working (only software).

The drives are all jumpered correctly. I have not changed any of the jumpers -- just the cables, swapping the two channels.
 
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