Computer won't boot from new HD

[evelthui]

Here is my dilemma. I was preparing to perform a fresh windows xp pro
install on my system with a Seagate 160Gb Ulta ATA/100 drive
(st3160023a) i just picked up at Best Buy last night ($40 after MIR!!),
however i cannot get the system to recognize the HD as the boot drive.
At first I installed the virgin drive and then booted from the Windows
XP install disc and went through the usual motions of formatting and
installing without incident. However, when i remove the install disc
and reboot, the system gives me a "boot disc error" after
successfully posting. I've tried changing to jumper settings,
reformatting with the silly Segate "Discwizard" software and
changing the bios settings for boot order, but nothing seems to help.
The odd thing is, I tried booting with my old HD using this new HD as a
slave, and it recognizes it just fine- I just can't boot from it! Any
ideas/suggestions? Thanks in advance.

MSI K7N2 Delta nF2
AMD Athlon XP 2100+
2x512 MB PC3200 PNY "Optima Memory" (D512MPC32OPT)
Enermax 350W PS (EG365P-VD)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 8, 30GB SATA 133 (6E030l0510613)
Seagate 160GB UltraATA 100 (st3160023a)

 

[Rod Speed]

Here is my dilemma. I was preparing to perform a fresh windows
xp pro install on my system with a Seagate 160Gb Ulta ATA/100
drive (st3160023a) i just picked up at Best Buy last night ($40
after MIR!!), however i cannot get the system to recognize the HD
as the boot drive. At first I installed the virgin drive and then booted
from the Windows XP install disc and went through the usual motions
of formatting and installing without incident. However, when i remove
the install disc and reboot, the system gives me a "boot disc error"
after successfully posting.

That bit makes it sound like you dont have the boot
sequence specified properly in the bios or there is
a problem reading the drive in the early boot phase.

I've tried changing to jumper settings, reformatting
with the silly Segate "Discwizard" software and
changing the bios settings for boot order,

That makes it look like you may have thrashed around a bit and
didnt try the boot order specification properly, or did something
basic like not saving the changed boot order or something.

Just go thru that bit again carefully, have the drive jumpered
to master or cable select with the drive on the end of the ribbon
cable, no other drive on that cable. Make sure that the drive
type entry in the bios is AUTO. Wipe the drive with clearhdd from
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/clearhdd.htm
to ensure that DiscWizard hasnt installed a bios overlay in error.
Boot the XP CD and do the install again, and then carefully
check the boot order if it doesnt boot with the XP CD removed.

but nothing seems to help. The odd thing is, I tried
booting with my old HD using this new HD as a slave,
and it recognizes it just fine- I just can't boot from it!

Any ideas/suggestions?

If it still doesnt boot from the drive after another careful install
and checking the boot drive specification, its possible you've got
some weird problem with the bios being able to see the boot
drive properly very early in the boot, so it decides that it isnt a
bootable drive because it cant read the MBR etc properly for
some reason. That may be because you have managed to
get a bios overlay installed or something.

 

[Harry]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

Here is my dilemma. I was preparing to perform a fresh windows xp pro
install on my system with a Seagate 160Gb Ulta ATA/100 drive
(st3160023a) i just picked up at Best Buy last night ($40 after MIR!!),
however i cannot get the system to recognize the HD as the boot drive.
At first I installed the virgin drive and then booted from the Windows
XP install disc and went through the usual motions of formatting and
installing without incident. However, when i remove the install disc
and reboot, the system gives me a "boot disc error" after
successfully posting. I've tried changing to jumper settings,
reformatting with the silly Segate "Discwizard" software and
changing the bios settings for boot order, but nothing seems to help.
The odd thing is, I tried booting with my old HD using this new HD as a
slave, and it recognizes it just fine- I just can't boot from it! Any
ideas/suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Before you install the OS to the new drive, make sure that
1) the old HD has been unplugged,
2) the new HD has been set to be the master

 

[evelthui]

Thanks all for the great suggestions, the problem was an actual defect
with the drive. After spending some time with Seagate tech support,
they concluded that I had some bad sectors in the area where the boot
information would be stored. Simply returning it to bestbuy and
installing a new one alleviated all problems. Thanks again!

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

Thanks all for the great suggestions, the problem was an actual defect
with the drive. After spending some time with Seagate tech support,
they concluded that I had some bad sectors in the area where the boot
information would be stored. Simply returning it to bestbuy and
installing a new one alleviated all problems. Thanks again!

Thanks for posting what the problem turned out to be.