my new harddisk wouldn't boot

kezialounel

hi!

i recently reformatted a harddisk, but it wouldn't boot?

the PC tells me that there's a boot error and i should insert a boot disk.

what i did is attach the harddisk to another PC as a slave, and installed XP on it. after the XP was installed on that drive, i thought that it would now work on it's own PC, so i transferred it back to it's original PC. however, i still get the same error, or sometimes, it says

wowz

It would have been easier and less problematic to just format it in the comp it was originally in, wouldn't it? (assuming the comp had a cd rom)

Check the jumpers.. who knows, might be something as dumbas that Smile

As for your error, these are the possible causes:
-Computer is booting from a non-bootable source. (ie slave)
-Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
-Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
-Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
-Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
-Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
-Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
-Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.

So check cables, bios, jumpers, etc. A fresh install should fix the problem.... but try it from this computer instead of from another comp this time Smile

kezialounel

the original computer it came from doesn't have a CD-ROM, so that's why i had to transfer it to another computer

i already checked the jumper, it's in the right place, so it's a master. i also configured it in the BIOS

i can't find the NTLDR nor the NTDETECT.COM file? where are they supposed to be found?

where is the boot.ini supposed to be?

it can't be the IDE, coz i removed the master from the other computer and tried to run this harddisk on it, and i get the same results, so it must be the harddisk. if the boot sector is corrupt, how do i fix it?

ml

the better solution would be:

- leave the hdd in its original computer
- boot from the windows cd
- delete all partitions on the hdd in the installation dialogue for winxp
- create a new partition, format it with ntfs and install winxp on it (everything possible from the installation dialogue)

magnusmoty

the REALY beter solution will be:
install windows on your own pc Laughing

taxman

The reason it will not boot is that the bootsector is located on your other HD, - and your computer need that to tell it where to boot from.

There is a way to repair this, but I think the easiest way for you is to (as recommended above) to install it on your computer. Just move the cd rom over during the installation - it's no harder than moving a HD Wink

kezialounel

thanks guys!

i think that was the problem.

i placed the HD in the PC with the CD drive, then booted from the CD and reinstalled windows again. it worked now.

however, looking back, i now think that it would have been easier if i just setup it as a slave first and edited the boot.ini, so that it would boot from it's own drive and not look for the HD in PC with the CD-ROM

orno

good work... next time be smarter Wink

-close-d

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