re boot problem after replacing hard drive

[Guest]

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Guest]

Hi D69,

here is the contents of the boot.ini file:


[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
home" /fastdetect
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen.

It was one of the options available to me when floppy booted up. I had a
choice between windows xp and fastdetect. When I chose the fastdetect option
the PCF just looped round to reboot from the floppy and take me back to the
same screen a gives me the choice of windows xp or fast detect.

I hope that makes it clearer.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Mikec

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

:

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Pegasus is in Australia. He is now back on air.

It seems the floppy boot idea did not work - it resulted in the same
problem as you had in the first place. Time to stand back and take
stock of the situation.

If I understand you correctly, you have two disks:
- The old disk, which contains a working copy of WinXP Home.
- The new disk, which contains a copy of WinXP Home that
you generated by a recovery process. If fails with the
"unmountable boot drive" message, whether booted directly
or by WinXP floppy boot disk.

Please confirm that this is correct.

At this stage I am inclined to ditch the contents of the new disk
and run some experiments. Are you comfortable with this?

Do you have access to any of the following:
a) A PC with a CD burner
b) A WinXP Professional CD (no licence number needed)
c) A desktop PC running WinXP or Win2000
d) A copy of Acronis TrueImage
e) The disk cloning program that most disk suppliers make
freely available on their web site
f) Can you temporarily install both disks in your PC?

 

[Guest]

Hi Pegasus,

Nice to see you back.

Your sumation of my situation is spot on, that is indeed the case.

I am happy to experiment if it will help resolve the situation.
I can confirm I have a PC with a burner
I can get a copy of windows xp pro
Would it be okay to put my old disc in as I only have one PC?
I will have to get a copy acronis true image, I will google it.
I use ashampoo for disc cloning
If I take my cd drive out I could temporarily put the new drive in its
place, I think.

If the rest is okay, I can go and get a copy acronis.
Thanks for getting back to me.

Mike

 

[Guest]

I have no idea why the menu has 2 options!!!!!!!!!

something is it not right!!!
the boot.ini only has one. and you should go strait into windows w/o seeing
this boot menu!!!

where does this appear? exactly what does it say?

Hi D69,

here is the contents of the boot.ini file:


[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
home" /fastdetect
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen.

It was one of the options available to me when floppy booted up. I had a
choice between windows xp and fastdetect. When I chose the fastdetect option
the PCF just looped round to reboot from the floppy and take me back to the
same screen a gives me the choice of windows xp or fast detect.

I hope that makes it clearer.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Mikec

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec


:

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

:

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My first step would be to test if your new drive is bootable.
This is going to be destructive!
1. Get a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.
2. Install the new disk as a sole disk.
3. Boot the machine with the Win98 boot disk.
4. Run fdisk.exe and delete all partitions on the new disk.
5. Use fdisk.exe to create a primary FAT32 partition of 20 GBytes.
6. Use fdisk.exe to mark it as "active".
7. Run this command: format c: /q /u /s
8. Boot the machine from the hard disk. It should boot into DOS.

By the way, what size is your new disk?

 

[Guest]

Hi D69,

I can only agree that something is not right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The floppy does its stuff and I am taken to a black screen. I am going to
have to refit my new disc to get the exact text. I will have to do tomorrow
as I am getting a little tired now.

Thank you for getting back to me.

Mikec

I have no idea why the menu has 2 options!!!!!!!!!

something is it not right!!!
the boot.ini only has one. and you should go strait into windows w/o seeing
this boot menu!!!

where does this appear? exactly what does it say?

Hi D69,

here is the contents of the boot.ini file:


[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
home" /fastdetect

not sure what this says!?!?

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen.

It was one of the options available to me when floppy booted up. I had a
choice between windows xp and fastdetect. When I chose the fastdetect option
the PCF just looped round to reboot from the floppy and take me back to the
same screen a gives me the choice of windows xp or fast detect.

I hope that makes it clearer.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Mikec

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen


:

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec


:

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

:

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Guest]

Hi P,

I will give it ago, my new drive is 250gb.

Mike

 

[Guest]

With the posted boot.ini, there should NOT be a menu to chose from!!
I don't understand this comment.
I had a choice between windows xp and fastdetect.

On the ribbon cable that goes to your hard drive.
do you have only 2 connectors or 3 connectors.
1 on one end and 2 toward the other end.

4:14 cst central usa

Hi D69,

I can only agree that something is not right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The floppy does its stuff and I am taken to a black screen. I am going to
have to refit my new disc to get the exact text. I will have to do tomorrow
as I am getting a little tired now.

Thank you for getting back to me.

Mikec

I have no idea why the menu has 2 options!!!!!!!!!

something is it not right!!!
the boot.ini only has one. and you should go strait into windows w/o seeing
this boot menu!!!

where does this appear? exactly what does it say?

Hi D69,

here is the contents of the boot.ini file:


[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
home" /fastdetect

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen.

It was one of the options available to me when floppy booted up. I had a
choice between windows xp and fastdetect. When I chose the fastdetect option
the PCF just looped round to reboot from the floppy and take me back to the
same screen a gives me the choice of windows xp or fast detect.

I hope that makes it clearer.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Mikec



:

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen


:

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec


:

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

:

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this

 

[Guest]

I know what /q /s is.
but what is /u ?

My first step would be to test if your new drive is bootable.
This is going to be destructive!
1. Get a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.
2. Install the new disk as a sole disk.
3. Boot the machine with the Win98 boot disk.
4. Run fdisk.exe and delete all partitions on the new disk.
5. Use fdisk.exe to create a primary FAT32 partition of 20 GBytes.
6. Use fdisk.exe to mark it as "active".
7. Run this command: format c: /q /u /s
8. Boot the machine from the hard disk. It should boot into DOS.

By the way, what size is your new disk?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Unconditional. Type "format /?" to see all available switches.

 

[Guest]

I did!!
in Win 98 and XP.. no /u

Unconditional. Type "format /?" to see all available switches.

 

[Guest]

maybe dos 5 or 6.2

Unconditional. Type "format /?" to see all available switches.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You are correct. The switch is accepted by format but it is
no longer listed. I'm probably showing my age here, having
used this switch for yonks without checking if it was still
required or useful.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

your boot.ini file has an extra line break after "XP" at line 5
make sure that 'home" /fastdetect' is right after "XP" not in the next line

Hi D69,

here is the contents of the boot.ini file:


[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
home" /fastdetect
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen.

It was one of the options available to me when floppy booted up. I had a
choice between windows xp and fastdetect. When I chose the fastdetect option
the PCF just looped round to reboot from the floppy and take me back to the
same screen a gives me the choice of windows xp or fast detect.

I hope that makes it clearer.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

Mikec

post the contents of the A:\boot.ini file.

not sure what this says!?!?
The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

Hi D69, Peg and All,

Firstly the good news, the boot floppy worked, yes I make good boot floppies
just the dog’s bollocks of floppys

However that was as good as it got. On booting up I was taken to screen
which gave me the option of starting xp or fastdetect.

I tried both the windows xp option took me to a screen which said we
apologise for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully. I
had some other options such as starting various safe modes or just opening
normally.

I tried all of these option but I was taken to the original blue screen with
the message unmountable boot disc.

The fast detect just looped around to the floppy and rebooted to the windows
did not start properly screen

All suggestions at this point gratefully received!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mikec


:

Hi D69,

I shall give it ago after I have eaten. I will let you know what happens.

Mikec

:

I just meant , he hasn't responded back.

Do you need to swap drives again??
of course you have to put the hard drive back in the original PC.
what kind of question is that?

yes. put floppy in drive before booting. You should here floppy drive click
or floppy drive light come on. probably growl a little bit too. that way you
know it has booted from floppy.

if it doesn't boot from floppy, let me know.

if it worked copy 3 files to root directory (C:\ ). if prompted to
overwrite, say yes/ok.
obviously they worked or computer wouldn't have booted.

good luck.



:

Hi D69,

Thank you for that it is a little clearer. I have done as you suggested and
created a boot.ini configuration file.

Do I now need to swap drives again and and when the new disc fails to boot,
reboot with the floppy in the drive? I will await further instructions.

I do not know where pegasus is. I am in the uk, I think he maybe in the us
but I am guessing.

Thanks again,

Mikec

:

where is Pegasus?

you formatted a floppy using XP system.
copied ntdetect.com and ntldr to formatted floppy

create or copy a boot.ini file to floppy
yes. use wordpad or notepad to create. type in text or copy from post.
substitute Win XP Home in place of xp pro. it just the title/name. no biggy.

Before saving, use "Save as" , for select "Save in" , chose "A" floppy drive.

then in "file name", type boot.ini then select save.

you don't want to overwrite boot.ini on computer that you are using.



4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition

:

hi P,

I have inserted my old disc and taken the files from the windows folder
i386, is that okay. I could not find them in the Packerd bell cd's.

Mike

:

Hi Pegasus,

Good shout it seems a logical step to take thanks. However a couple of minor
questions.

1. I do not have a windows xp disc as it is embedded. Are the files in the
system discs that I use to restore my PC?

2. I take it that both ntldr ntdetect.com are located in that disc.

3. What tool do I use to create the boot.ini, wordpad or similar and save
it as a .inin file. Will it not just be a text file.

4. Do I substitute home for professional as I have the home edition?

Sorry to be thick but I have never done this before. I thank for your
patience.

Mike

:

I suggest you find out if the problem you see is caused
by the boot process or by Windows itself. To do this
you need to boot the machine with a WinXP floppy
boot disk. Here is how you make one:

- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC via
Explorer or a Command Prompt. Don't do it on a Win9x PC -
it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

What do you get?



Hi Mickey,

Thank you for your input,

yes the restore discs are pre sp2 but I think they sp1 on them as they are
2003 but I am not certain.

Yes the disc is 250gb

thanks again Mike



:

the jumper is set to cable select or master?

:

I am looking for any help with the following problem. I recently
bought a
new hard drive. I fitted it, and used a cd from the manufacturers to
format
it. My PC recognised it and I reloaded all my embedded software on to
the
new drive.

The OC seemed to work normally until I tried to restart and I received
the
following message on restarting my PC.

unmountable boot drive:

this was on a blue screen with white writing. The was firther text
stating
that if I had changed any software or hardware to try again or remove
it.

My system is a
packard bell i media 5096
intel pentium 4 2. 66 Ghz

The new drive appears to be working properly but will not re boot.

Can any one help please or point me in the direction of someone who
can?

Thank you for taking the time to read this