"Paul Kraemer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:EA832DA0-7259-496B-89C8-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I was having virus problems with my pc running Windows XP Home edition, so
I
> wanted to wipe the hard drive and re-load everything from scratch. I was
> afraid to just delete the old installation, so what I did was the
> following....
>
> 1. Originally, my hard drive consisted of one primary (NTFS) partition
that
> contained my problem XP Home install. I used v-com System/Partition
> Commander to make this partition smaller so as to leave free space at the
end
> of the hard drive.
> 2. Next, I used Partition Commander to create a new primary partition in
> the free space that I had just created.
> 3. Next, I installed a brand new instance of XP home in this new primary
> partition. I got Windows working, re-installed my applications and data,
and
> it was working great.
> 4. Next, I decided to get rid of the old partition with the screwed up XP
> Home install. Again, I did this in Partition Commander. First, I deleted
> the primary partition containing the old XP install. This was the first
> partition on the drive.
> 5. Next, I moved the partition with my new (good) XP install to the front
> of the drive and resized it so that it would take up the whole drive.
> 6. At this point, I tried to boot to the new XP install and it no longer
> works. I get past usual first black screen that says "Windows XP" above a
> progress bar. I make it past the next screen that says "Welcome" (dark
blue
> on the top and bottom, light blue in the middle). After that, I get hung
up
> on a screen that is also dark blue on the top and bottom, light blue in
the
> middle that says "Microsoft Windows XP" and shows the Windows logo. It
just
> hangs here forever, I never get to the point where I can log on.
>
> If anyone can tell me anything I can try, I'd really appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul
> --
> Paul Kraemer
I suspect you installed Windows in drive D:. When you removed
the old partition, drive D: became drive C:, and Windows did not
like this one bit.
There are a few ways to solve this problem. You could create
a small FAT partition at the start of the drive as a drive place
holder while keeping the Windows partition "active". If you're
an expert with Command Line tools then you could use a
Nordahl boot floppy (
www.bootdisk.com) to edit the
registry and change the system drive letter back to D:. It would
be a rough ride, with a high risk of failure.