Question

Windows cannot boot, windows setup cannot access disks.

Asked by: TommyTwoPints

Hi experts,

Today i put 2 second hand 80 gb harddrives in my pc, formatted them and installed windows xp professional sp2 on one. The other drive already had aload of my data on it but not a windows install.
The windows install was a success and i was able to access files on the other harddrive with no problem.
Then I noticed that one of the partitions was unformatted so i used the quick format and quarter way through i got a error with a blue screen that was far too fast for me to see.
When the system reset itself it couldnt recognise the harddisks. I rebooted again and this time the harddisks were recognised but on the black windows xp splash screen my pc again crashed out with the flickering blue error screen and again resetting itself and not finding the hardisks.
I rebooted again (Harddisks recognised), this time selecting the boot option menu and booted from the XP cd. The setup started rather promptly but stopped when scanning the disks and then returned saying both hardisks couls not be accessed.
I have tried these processes more than once with the same results. I am clueless to this and to why formatting unpartitioned space caused 2 perfectly fine harddisks into 2 nightmares.

Cheers,

Tom

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Asked On
2006-02-13 at 09:12:23ID21734729
Tags

cannot

,

access

,

setup

,

disk

Topic

General Computer Systems

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
27

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Answers

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-13 at 09:51:07ID: 15943292

hi Tom,
first try checking the cable connections from the hard drives to the motherboard.  
make sure you're using known-good cables.
check the jumpers on both drives...
if you are using Master/Slave, change to Cable Select
if you are using Cable Select change them to Master/Slave
then check the bios setup to be sure they are properly identified
try to to boot and see if you can start windows
if you can't, try to get into safe mode

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-13 at 09:54:38ID: 15943327

if you continue the see a flash of Blue Screen (BSOD)
you want to disable Automatic restart to find the error code

So, you want to uncheck the "Automaticall Restart" option and next time, system wont reboot again. Instead it shows the STOP blue screen. There you can identity which drivers is causing the error.

Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
Click the Advanced tab.
Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions that you want Windows to perform if a sever error occurs.
Uncheck "Automatically restart"

Then report your error code.

 

by: anthrax759Posted on 2006-02-13 at 10:11:48ID: 15943483

maramom: I doubt that he'd be able to access his control panel if he can't get past the BSOD.

Tom: I recommend using a boot disk, preferably a WinXP OEM -- from here, attempt to go to the recovery console instead of booting up. In the help menu, there should be a command to rewrite the boot sector. I had a similar problem when I bought my 200gb from a friend... If that doesn't work, I'll try and give more suggestions... but try this first, as I'm almost certain that's the same problem I dealt with...

Hope this helps you,
-aNthrax

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-13 at 10:15:44ID: 15943514

anthrax,
notice troubleshooting tips before that recommendation, as well as safe mode, as safe mode prevents some drivers from causing BSOD

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-13 at 10:19:20ID: 15943544

sorry, Tom, I reread my comments, and see that I wasn't clear
I did mean if you can get into safe mode change the settings

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 10:58:29ID: 15953632

hey guys

Anthrax; i have no floppy drive or floppy disks, is there another way...

maramom; I do not see an option for safe mode and ive forgotten they key command for it.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:04:45ID: 15953686

at the "starting windows"  splash screen press F8

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:14:10ID: 15953782

well you'll be pleased to know (excuse my sarcsm) that i just tried turning it on after leaving it all this time and the drives are being detected but when i boot from the master nothing happens after the bio finishes. When i boot from the XP CD the same thing happens as before, i get an error saying;
76934 MB disk at id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
(setup cannot access this disk.)

I get this for both disks. When i reboot they are detected by the bios.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:21:20ID: 15953837

if your data is important i'd recommend data recovery now, first
getbackdata www.runtime.org has an excellent track record. free to see if you can recover, pay for license to actually recover.

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:25:36ID: 15953872

How is that going to work on a pc i cant even boot.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:26:20ID: 15953877

you could also try slaving the drives to another system to see if you still have your data.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:29:17ID: 15953901

getbackdata offers a cd version, and it did boot from cd, the hd apparantly has no MBR. getbackdata can also work with my slaved drive suggestion if the data can't normally be seen.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:30:25ID: 15953914

if your not concerned with the data, it looks like recovery console can't help, you may have to repartition/reformat.

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:40:14ID: 15953996

How do i do that, when i try to format in windows xp setup it wont allow me as it can access  the disks.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:46:08ID: 15954037

checkout the site: www.runtime.org

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 11:47:36ID: 15954053

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 12:09:38ID: 15954268

>>How do i do that, when i try to format in windows xp setup it wont allow me as it can access  the disks.
sorry,  TommyTwoPints, you were talking about formatting, not data retrieval

My hunch is that these drives are either failing or you may have formatted the mbr. are you hearing any grinding or unusual noises? if you can't access either drive it points more to failing than the mbr...you said they were second hand..a reliable or questionable second-hand?


 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 12:22:30ID: 15954394

reliable, when i say second hand, i mean this is the second pc they have been in

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 13:13:13ID: 15954909

check you bios settings, make sure you disable virus protection, if it was enabled, it may prevent you from changing the mbr...
important question....are you concerned about your data?

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 13:49:51ID: 15955310

if you are concerned about your data, you should use a data recovery program before you try anything else
you can also try using a bootable cd (not install disk) to see if you can access the drives as well as slaving them to a good system.

info for making a bootable cd:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

you can also use Knoppix cd (standalone linux based os on cd).http://www.knoppix.net/    
there's a chance you may be able to see the drives and format as well

here's an article from microsoft kb
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314503/en-us

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-14 at 14:08:58ID: 15955507

here is a program TESTDISK that may help..you'll have to add it to your boot disk or slave the drives to a good machine to use it
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1139&page=8

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-14 at 21:58:00ID: 15958002

im not concerned about the master, just the slave, so what can i do to reformat the master

 

by: anthrax759Posted on 2006-02-15 at 08:49:58ID: 15962124

As I had suggested before, although I wasn't clear about it I guess, I suggest trying your Windows XP CD and go to the Recovery Console and rewrite the boot sector for the primary drive (with the OS installed) -- or try a Repair. After you try this, report back with the results (no change, worked, etc.) and if needbe, I'll try and figure something else out.

Hope this helps you,
-aNthrax

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-15 at 09:18:33ID: 15962438

the xp recovery console requires a floppy disk, i now have a floppy drive but no disks, is there a way around this (apart from what has been suggested by maramom). I dont get an option to repair.
This thread has gone on for longer than i expected thankyou both for sticking to it with me.
Im out of ideas and ready to give the PC man a call but the last time i did that i had a bad experience and didnt see my for a couple of months so im quite reluctant to do that.
We just need to find a way of cleaning the disk and getting a fresh installation on there.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-16 at 08:13:03ID: 15972109

if you try to run testdisk, it will try to show you your hard drive and partitions(even damaged). it will fix the partitions if there are errors. xp will not see the disks. testdisk might. don't do this yet on your slave, because fixing the partition has a risk of losing data.  if you need the data, use a reliable data recovery program first.

 

by: maramomPosted on 2006-02-16 at 08:16:12ID: 15972142

also, if you like some more experts to join in, you can post a new pointer question worth 20 points, tell them to post on this thread, not the pointer, and include the url: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Desktops/Q_21734729.html

 

by: TommyTwoPintsPosted on 2006-02-16 at 08:55:17ID: 15972575

Im away from home until wednesday of next week, i'll try the bootable cd rom then.

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