Disk Boot Failure, but Hard Drive is fine.

A

abright52

Another thing I noticed is that it booted much faster with the Seagate
Drive. Typically it takes 30+seconds for the WD HD to detect, then
another 30+ seconds for it to try to boot. It took about 5 seconds for
both with the Seagate Drive.
 
T

thecreator

Hi abright52,

You would not have gotten that Blue Screen, if the Seagate did not boot
up. So, now after you finish formatting the WD Drive on another system and
install the operating system on the Hard Drive and boot up the Hard Drive
using the computer, you need to replace the CPU Processor. You already
replaced the Motherboard. The CPU controls what gets written to the Hard
Drive, thru programs. And the Boot Record recorded using that CPU Processor,
could be corrupt, that the computer could not boot and you get the "Disk
Boot Failure".

Note, you will get the Blue Screen again, using the WD Hard Drive with a
different motherboard, if it boots, when putting it back into the computer
that was hit by lightning, just like the Seagate.

You will need to reformat and reinstall the operating system using the
motherboard and CPU Processor that the WD Hard Drive is going to run in.

Question: Did you test the Memory / Ram Sticks using a different
Motherboard that takes the same Memory Cards?
 
W

w_tom

These posts are not just for abright52. Posts are for all who also
have same problem. A little over half of those steps were already
performed by abright52. But others were not executed - such as Disk
Manager and contents of Boot.ini . There is no hardware problem. So
the list of steps after a successful disk diagnostic is now shorter.

Bios program loads a boot program from hard drive's first sector.
This program then loads NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and BOOT.INI on root
directly of that active partition. So either program on boot sector is
defective, or those root directory files are missing, defective, etc,
or data in BOOT.INI is wrong, or a CMOS parameter problem (not
previously mentioned) exists. Of course others in the same situation
would start with Recovery Console to fix these problems. Curious that
Recovery Console did not do same on your WD disk. Disk Manager does
fix some things including confirm that partition is active. And then
additional suggestions are below.

If FDISK wrote to the WD disk, then boot sector will be contaminated;
must be overwritten.

Another problem previously not mentioned is using wrong disk
parameters in CMOS. CMOS parameters are only used during boot. Forgot
the different names. However some may partially read the drive
correctly and therefore not see every file. Meanwhile, booting from
CD-Rom would correct that BIOS setting and read all files properly.
Therefore a wrongly loaded CMOS parameter would only cause problems
when booting from hard disk.

Notice how many earlier tests (such as reading disk using DOS) are
made unnecessary and no longer mentioned if using manufacturer's
diagnostic. Diagnostic does not say CMOS parameters are correct, nor
say that boot sector program and those root directory files are proper.
Diagnostic does not even verify that BOOT.INI is correct. We only
know that disk hardware is OK.

What you have already done is listed not for you. What you have
already done was listed so that all others will learn from this
experience - those steps (unlike swapping a CPU) are useful. Also
listed are other tasks you do not say were done (ie Disk Manager and
Boot.ini contents). Listed was a voltage measurements on yellow and
red wire - whether you did it or not - because it identifies another
reason for this type of failure.

Above is a checklist of what should have been done now that disk
drive passes WD diagnostics. In some cases, tasks from that
'checklist' may need be repeated.
 
A

abright52

Swapped the processor out with a P4 out of the Dell that I just started
working on. Went through the whole process again.......same result.

If it IS hardware related, something is bad that I already replaced.
 
A

abright52

-Disk Manager: Are you talking about the Disk Management tools within
Windows?

-Boot.ini Contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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
Edition" /fastdetect

-PS Voltages:
12V: 11.85V
5V: 5.13V
3.3V: 3.39V

Anything else?
 
T

thecreator

Hi abright52,

Take the Floppy Drive and CD-Rom Drive out of the equation. Change the
boot order after you install the operating system onto the Hard Drive, by
booting to the Hard Drive first, floppy 2nd and CD 3rd.

Or something bad that you haven't replaced, yet. Like the CD-Rom Drive
and its cable. And look carefully at where the Memory Cards are seated. Make
sure no pinched wires. I mentioned pinched wire, because I did it, thru
experience.

You said that you believed the system was hit by lightning. And you had
replaced the motherboard. Is it possible, if that motherboard you installed,
wasn't new, but defective and no one believed the former End User, the
Company may have repackaged the Motherboard and you got it. Just thoughts.

Also if the computer was hit by lightning, would not it leave snorching
in the Case?


--
thecreator


Swapped the processor out with a P4 out of the Dell that I just started
working on. Went through the whole process again.......same result.

If it IS hardware related, something is bad that I already replaced.
 
W

w_tom

Disk Manager (from Windows NT and 2000) is now called Disk
Management. It is part of Computer Management. A quick way to load
Computer Management: enter in Start>Run the command compmgmt.msc .

This provides a check list of what actually exists. Confirm what you
thought with what the computer says exists. That partition (the only
partition and should be NTFS) should be the active partition, healthy,
etc

Other information that, in your case should not report anything
useful (but worth checking) is System Log of Event Viewer.

Your boot.ini file is would also tell boot loader program to load
those other files from first partition - reads correctly. But
apparently (from what I understand), you are not even getting the boot
loader to read boot.ini file; meaning again that the boot loader is
not finding and loading any files from the root directory. If boot.ini
file was read, then the text (WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home) would
be seen on screen.

If necessary files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, Boot.ini exist and the boot
loader is confirmed OK (overwritten) by the Recover Console and that
partition is marked active, then only reason left for boot loader not
able to find those root directory files is a CMOS setting that is not
quite right for that drive. For example, words such as LBA or Normal
if mis-selected in CMOS would cause only part of the drive to be
readable during boot. A changed selection can mean that some files in
the root directory cannot be found by boot loader. When booted from
CD-Rom, the configuration setting may be ignored which is why booting
from CD-Rom can see same hard drive files just fine.

Although those voltages would cause me to perform further testing
(because 12 volts is so low while 5 volts is high), still, those
voltages are sufficient and would not cause a boot failure. Sometime
later, when system is accessing multiple peripherals simultaneously
(multitasking programs accessing hard drive, CD-Rom, floppy, network
and doing graphics), I would check those voltages again just to be
sure. Meanwhile, no reason to do any hardware changes. CPU will
either work - execute the WD diagnostic - or completely fail. Swapping
hardware may only complicate problems.

(BTW the Seagate with error code 78? means the XP on the Seagate is
for hardware different from what your motherboard contains. A HAL
layer in NT make NT unique for each computer chipset.)

We know files exist on root directory. We know boot.ini has correct
information. We know the boot loader does not read those root
directory files. That is the point where failure is happening. We
know disk hardware is OK. Question is why boot loader will not see
those files. (I believe the wording for the 'not booting' message is
directly from the Boot Loader meaning the boot loader did execute.)
Either CMOS setting for drive is not correct, or boot loader is not
properly written with parameters unique to that drive (maybe written
before CMOS setting somehow changed?), or disk is not active so that
boot loader does not know what partition to look for a root directory.

Hardware is working just fine. Something in your setup or parameters
written uniquely for the boot loader are causing boot loader to not
find root directory files. Try booting with different CMOS selections
for that drive. Confirm for active partition. Rewrite boot loader
program to disk boot sector using Recovery Console.

-Disk Manager: Are you talking about the Disk Management tools within
Windows?

-Boot.ini Contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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
Edition" /fastdetect

-PS Voltages:
12V: 11.85V
5V: 5.13V
3.3V: 3.39V

Anything else?
 
A

abright52

I tried that long ago, I disconnected both the floppy and the CDRom
Drive. Same Result, those are not to blame.

No pinched wires.....everything is new, as far as that goes, also.

The new motherboard came from NewEgg in the factory sealed packaging.
Could it still be defective?.....I'm sure it could be just a factory
reject.

I have worked on many computers that have gotten hit by lightning, I
don't remember a single one that scorched the case in anyway.
Typically it will roast whichever part it comes in through, be it the
modem or the power supply, then it may continue on far enough to fry
the motherboard.
I believe it came through the PS in this case, which took out the PS
and MB. I don't think the original HD was bad from the lighting
strike, but it did have some problems that came up in my original HD
Scan.
Hi abright52,

Take the Floppy Drive and CD-Rom Drive out of the equation. Change the
boot order after you install the operating system onto the Hard Drive, by
booting to the Hard Drive first, floppy 2nd and CD 3rd.

Or something bad that you haven't replaced, yet. Like the CD-Rom Drive
and its cable. And look carefully at where the Memory Cards are seated. Make
sure no pinched wires. I mentioned pinched wire, because I did it, thru
experience.

You said that you believed the system was hit by lightning. And you had
replaced the motherboard. Is it possible, if that motherboard you installed,
wasn't new, but defective and no one believed the former End User, the
Company may have repackaged the Motherboard and you got it. Just thoughts.

Also if the computer was hit by lightning, would not it leave snorching
in the Case?
 
A

abright52

I will start with the BIOS settings.

It has been set to Auto through all of this.
I tried all of the following settings:
CHA
LBA
Large

Other Auto detected settings:
Capacity: 40016 MB
Cylinder: 1277
Head: 240
Precomp: 0
Landing Zone: 19157
Sector: 255

After each change, I booted into the Recovery Console and ran fixmbr
and fixboot, then restarted and removed the Windows CD.

Still got the same error with all three settings.

The error comes after it shows either:
Building DMI Pool.....
Verifiying DMI Pool Data............Update Success

The computer would not boot with the CD until I set it back to Auto.

Disk Management:

Volume: (C:)
Layout: Partition
Type: Basic
File System: NTFS
Status: Healthy (System)
Capacity: 37.26 GB
Free Space: 35.95 GB
% Free: 96%
Fault Tolerance: No
Overhead: 0%

Status: Online
Partition Style: Master Boot Record (MBR)

Nothing notable in the System Log.

System Files on the C: Drive:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
boot.ini
CONFIG.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
pagefile.sys

Anything else?


w_tom said:
Disk Manager (from Windows NT and 2000) is now called Disk
Management. It is part of Computer Management. A quick way to load
Computer Management: enter in Start>Run the command compmgmt.msc .

This provides a check list of what actually exists. Confirm what you
thought with what the computer says exists. That partition (the only
partition and should be NTFS) should be the active partition, healthy,
etc

Other information that, in your case should not report anything
useful (but worth checking) is System Log of Event Viewer.

Your boot.ini file is would also tell boot loader program to load
those other files from first partition - reads correctly. But
apparently (from what I understand), you are not even getting the boot
loader to read boot.ini file; meaning again that the boot loader is
not finding and loading any files from the root directory. If boot.ini
file was read, then the text (WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home) would
be seen on screen.

If necessary files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, Boot.ini exist and the boot
loader is confirmed OK (overwritten) by the Recover Console and that
partition is marked active, then only reason left for boot loader not
able to find those root directory files is a CMOS setting that is not
quite right for that drive. For example, words such as LBA or Normal
if mis-selected in CMOS would cause only part of the drive to be
readable during boot. A changed selection can mean that some files in
the root directory cannot be found by boot loader. When booted from
CD-Rom, the configuration setting may be ignored which is why booting
from CD-Rom can see same hard drive files just fine.

Although those voltages would cause me to perform further testing
(because 12 volts is so low while 5 volts is high), still, those
voltages are sufficient and would not cause a boot failure. Sometime
later, when system is accessing multiple peripherals simultaneously
(multitasking programs accessing hard drive, CD-Rom, floppy, network
and doing graphics), I would check those voltages again just to be
sure. Meanwhile, no reason to do any hardware changes. CPU will
either work - execute the WD diagnostic - or completely fail. Swapping
hardware may only complicate problems.

(BTW the Seagate with error code 78? means the XP on the Seagate is
for hardware different from what your motherboard contains. A HAL
layer in NT make NT unique for each computer chipset.)

We know files exist on root directory. We know boot.ini has correct
information. We know the boot loader does not read those root
directory files. That is the point where failure is happening. We
know disk hardware is OK. Question is why boot loader will not see
those files. (I believe the wording for the 'not booting' message is
directly from the Boot Loader meaning the boot loader did execute.)
Either CMOS setting for drive is not correct, or boot loader is not
properly written with parameters unique to that drive (maybe written
before CMOS setting somehow changed?), or disk is not active so that
boot loader does not know what partition to look for a root directory.

Hardware is working just fine. Something in your setup or parameters
written uniquely for the boot loader are causing boot loader to not
find root directory files. Try booting with different CMOS selections
for that drive. Confirm for active partition. Rewrite boot loader
program to disk boot sector using Recovery Console.

-Disk Manager: Are you talking about the Disk Management tools within
Windows?

-Boot.ini Contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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
Edition" /fastdetect

-PS Voltages:
12V: 11.85V
5V: 5.13V
3.3V: 3.39V

Anything else?
 
T

thecreator

Hi abright52,

Disk Boot Failure! Don't disconnect, just change the boot order in
Computer BIOS.

Anyway, is the motherboard installed, a new modern motherboard, for
support for Large Hard Drives?

You have used the new motherboard to format and install Windows XP?

Recheck your Jumper settings on the Hard Drive and reformat and
reinstall Windows XP. Have you seen the below information?

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...VhcmNoX3RleHQ9RGlzayBCb290IEZhaWx1cmU*&p_li=#

a.. Incorrect Jumper Settings will also prevent the BIOS from detecting your
drive. The most common incorrect jumper setting used is for a drive that is
alone on the data cable. Keep in mind that the concept of Master/Slave
applies to a given EIDE channel. If there are two drives on the data cable,
one must be Master and one designated as Slave. If the drive is the only
device on the cable, it should be jumpered as a Single drive, NOT a Master.
To do this, place a jumper shunt on pins 4 & 6, or remove the jumper shunt
completely to set the drive as a Single drive.

BIOS Limitations

a.. If you have an older computer system, the BIOS may hang or freeze
while auto detecting the drive. You may need to use the Alternate Jumper
Settings. See Answer ID 83 for details.


b.. If the system BIOS is only recognizing 528MB, 2.1GB, 8.4GB, 32GB, 64GB
of the drive, or something significantly less then the actual capacity of
the drive, your motherboard may not support large capacity drives. If this
is the case, you may need to use Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for Windows as part
of your installation.

Windows NT/2000/XP
Do not use the Alternate Jumper Settings. Consider either a BIOS upgrade,
an EIDE controller card, or setting up the drive with Data Lifeguard Tools
11 for Windows to provide support for the drive.

Windows 95/98/ME
you can follow the instructions below to configure your drive.



1.. Enter the system BIOS.
Typically, a message is displayed on the screen after the memory count
of the boot process telling you how to enter Setup (Systems BIOS). We have
listed several common access methods in Answer ID 536.


2.. Select User or User defined drive type and enter 1023 cylinders, 16
heads, and 63 sectors for the drive parameters.

3.. If your BIOS has additional settings other than Cylinders, Heads,
and Sectors, enter 0 for them.

4.. Next, you will have one of two Mode options, LBA Mode or IDE
Translation Mode. You will need to set this to Normal, Standard CHS, or LBA
Disabled. You may not see all three options.
Once the above is completed, the BIOS will report a drive capacity of
either 504MB or 528MB. This is normal. The above settings simply trick your
BIOS into thinking the drive is smaller then it really is, allowing the
computer to boot with the drive connected. The full capacity of the drive
will be available once the Data Lifeguard Tools disk is used to install,
partition, and format the drive.
 
W

w_tom

I am troubled that CD will only boot when Hard Disk is in Auto. Auto
should select CHA, LBA, or Large, and boot successfully. I assume the
numbers for cylinder, head, and sectors are same in Auto as in LBA,
Large, etc? When that same auto setting is selected manually, then CD
again should boot. That is troubling AND is related to the part of the
boot process that is not working properly.

Was this disk ever used or setup with a disk setup utility from
(forgot which one WD uses) Microhouse Ez-Drive or OnTracks Ez-BIOS (or
equivalent). If so, that special Bios Extender software must be
removed with the appropriate driver OR disk must be low level formatted
if manufacturer provides that option (on diagnostic disk). I have
never fully understood how these Bios extenders work, but have seen
them make drives do strange things on booting. Those Bios Extenders
must be removed by the correct version. Maxtors version was called
Max-Blast. Again, I forgot what WD called theirs, but it is the only
other thing I can think of that would cause MBR program to not find and
read files from root directory.

Maybe look at dates on NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR, Boot.ini, etc to verify
these files were overwritten when you last thought they were. I can
tell you what it is not doing.

Boot from CD-Rom and exectue a Disk Degramenter in a hope that the
boot files can be relocated where they are more easily found by Boot
Sector program.

Normally when in your position, I then write assembly code and load
DOS to read the boot sector, etc. Task is too complex to explain here.

Meanwhile, other programs (besides fixmbr and fix boot) availabe (but
typically not relevent to this problem) include diskpart and bootcfg.
But again, I am troubled that drive can be read in Auto but not in same
mode selected manually.

I will start with the BIOS settings.

It has been set to Auto through all of this.
I tried all of the following settings:
CHA
LBA
Large

Other Auto detected settings:
Capacity: 40016 MB
Cylinder: 1277
Head: 240
Precomp: 0
Landing Zone: 19157
Sector: 255

After each change, I booted into the Recovery Console and ran fixmbr
and fixboot, then restarted and removed the Windows CD.

Still got the same error with all three settings.

The error comes after it shows either:
Building DMI Pool.....
Verifiying DMI Pool Data............Update Success

The computer would not boot with the CD until I set it back to Auto.

Disk Management:

Volume: (C:)
Layout: Partition
Type: Basic
File System: NTFS
Status: Healthy (System)
Capacity: 37.26 GB
Free Space: 35.95 GB
% Free: 96%
Fault Tolerance: No
Overhead: 0%

Status: Online
Partition Style: Master Boot Record (MBR)

Nothing notable in the System Log.

System Files on the C: Drive:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
boot.ini
CONFIG.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
pagefile.sys

Anything else?


w_tom said:
Disk Manager (from Windows NT and 2000) is now called Disk
Management. It is part of Computer Management. A quick way to load
Computer Management: enter in Start>Run the command compmgmt.msc .

This provides a check list of what actually exists. Confirm what you
thought with what the computer says exists. That partition (the only
partition and should be NTFS) should be the active partition, healthy,
etc

Other information that, in your case should not report anything
useful (but worth checking) is System Log of Event Viewer.

Your boot.ini file is would also tell boot loader program to load
those other files from first partition - reads correctly. But
apparently (from what I understand), you are not even getting the boot
loader to read boot.ini file; meaning again that the boot loader is
not finding and loading any files from the root directory. If boot.ini
file was read, then the text (WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home) would
be seen on screen.

If necessary files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, Boot.ini exist and the boot
loader is confirmed OK (overwritten) by the Recover Console and that
partition is marked active, then only reason left for boot loader not
able to find those root directory files is a CMOS setting that is not
quite right for that drive. For example, words such as LBA or Normal
if mis-selected in CMOS would cause only part of the drive to be
readable during boot. A changed selection can mean that some files in
the root directory cannot be found by boot loader. When booted from
CD-Rom, the configuration setting may be ignored which is why booting
from CD-Rom can see same hard drive files just fine.

Although those voltages would cause me to perform further testing
(because 12 volts is so low while 5 volts is high), still, those
voltages are sufficient and would not cause a boot failure. Sometime
later, when system is accessing multiple peripherals simultaneously
(multitasking programs accessing hard drive, CD-Rom, floppy, network
and doing graphics), I would check those voltages again just to be
sure. Meanwhile, no reason to do any hardware changes. CPU will
either work - execute the WD diagnostic - or completely fail. Swapping
hardware may only complicate problems.

(BTW the Seagate with error code 78? means the XP on the Seagate is
for hardware different from what your motherboard contains. A HAL
layer in NT make NT unique for each computer chipset.)

We know files exist on root directory. We know boot.ini has correct
information. We know the boot loader does not read those root
directory files. That is the point where failure is happening. We
know disk hardware is OK. Question is why boot loader will not see
those files. (I believe the wording for the 'not booting' message is
directly from the Boot Loader meaning the boot loader did execute.)
Either CMOS setting for drive is not correct, or boot loader is not
properly written with parameters unique to that drive (maybe written
before CMOS setting somehow changed?), or disk is not active so that
boot loader does not know what partition to look for a root directory.

Hardware is working just fine. Something in your setup or parameters
written uniquely for the boot loader are causing boot loader to not
find root directory files. Try booting with different CMOS selections
for that drive. Confirm for active partition. Rewrite boot loader
program to disk boot sector using Recovery Console.

-Disk Manager: Are you talking about the Disk Management tools within
Windows?

-Boot.ini Contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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
Edition" /fastdetect

-PS Voltages:
12V: 11.85V
5V: 5.13V
3.3V: 3.39V

Anything else?
 
A

abright52

thecreator said:
Hi abright52,

Disk Boot Failure! Don't disconnect, just change the boot order in
Computer BIOS.

I have tried that.......MANY TIMES.
Anyway, is the motherboard installed, a new modern motherboard, for
support for Large Hard Drives?

Yes. I doubt that you can even buy one that doesn't support large
drives, especially from New Egg.
You have used the new motherboard to format and install Windows XP?

Of Course.
Recheck your Jumper settings on the Hard Drive and reformat and
reinstall Windows XP. Have you seen the below information?

As I said, Drive is set to Master.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...VhcmNoX3RleHQ9RGlzayBCb290IEZhaWx1cmU*&p_li=#

a.. Incorrect Jumper Settings will also prevent the BIOS from detecting your
drive. The most common incorrect jumper setting used is for a drive that is
alone on the data cable. Keep in mind that the concept of Master/Slave
applies to a given EIDE channel. If there are two drives on the data cable,
one must be Master and one designated as Slave. If the drive is the only
device on the cable, it should be jumpered as a Single drive, NOT a Master.
To do this, place a jumper shunt on pins 4 & 6, or remove the jumper shunt
completely to set the drive as a Single drive.

BIOS Limitations

a.. If you have an older computer system, the BIOS may hang or freeze
while auto detecting the drive. You may need to use the Alternate Jumper
Settings. See Answer ID 83 for details.


b.. If the system BIOS is only recognizing 528MB, 2.1GB, 8.4GB, 32GB, 64GB
of the drive, or something significantly less then the actual capacity of
the drive, your motherboard may not support large capacity drives. If this
is the case, you may need to use Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for Windows as part
of your installation.

Windows NT/2000/XP
Do not use the Alternate Jumper Settings. Consider either a BIOS upgrade,
an EIDE controller card, or setting up the drive with Data Lifeguard Tools
11 for Windows to provide support for the drive.

Windows 95/98/ME
you can follow the instructions below to configure your drive.



1.. Enter the system BIOS.
Typically, a message is displayed on the screen after the memory count
of the boot process telling you how to enter Setup (Systems BIOS). We have
listed several common access methods in Answer ID 536.


2.. Select User or User defined drive type and enter 1023 cylinders, 16
heads, and 63 sectors for the drive parameters.

3.. If your BIOS has additional settings other than Cylinders, Heads,
and Sectors, enter 0 for them.

4.. Next, you will have one of two Mode options, LBA Mode or IDE
Translation Mode. You will need to set this to Normal, Standard CHS, or LBA
Disabled. You may not see all three options.
Once the above is completed, the BIOS will report a drive capacity of
either 504MB or 528MB. This is normal. The above settings simply trick your
BIOS into thinking the drive is smaller then it really is, allowing the
computer to boot with the drive connected. The full capacity of the drive
will be available once the Data Lifeguard Tools disk is used to install,
partition, and format the drive.

BIOS detects the drive without issues. The above is non-applicable.
 
A

abright52

I didn't try to boot into Windows with all three settings, only the
Large setting. That just means that Auto is not using Large. Sorry
for not specifying that originally.

I tried one of the WD Tools to setup up that drive, but that was long
before I used the WD Diagnostics tool to wipe the drive.

I will try a defrag and see what happens.


w_tom said:
I am troubled that CD will only boot when Hard Disk is in Auto. Auto
should select CHA, LBA, or Large, and boot successfully. I assume the
numbers for cylinder, head, and sectors are same in Auto as in LBA,
Large, etc? When that same auto setting is selected manually, then CD
again should boot. That is troubling AND is related to the part of the
boot process that is not working properly.

Was this disk ever used or setup with a disk setup utility from
(forgot which one WD uses) Microhouse Ez-Drive or OnTracks Ez-BIOS (or
equivalent). If so, that special Bios Extender software must be
removed with the appropriate driver OR disk must be low level formatted
if manufacturer provides that option (on diagnostic disk). I have
never fully understood how these Bios extenders work, but have seen
them make drives do strange things on booting. Those Bios Extenders
must be removed by the correct version. Maxtors version was called
Max-Blast. Again, I forgot what WD called theirs, but it is the only
other thing I can think of that would cause MBR program to not find and
read files from root directory.

Maybe look at dates on NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR, Boot.ini, etc to verify
these files were overwritten when you last thought they were. I can
tell you what it is not doing.

Boot from CD-Rom and exectue a Disk Degramenter in a hope that the
boot files can be relocated where they are more easily found by Boot
Sector program.

Normally when in your position, I then write assembly code and load
DOS to read the boot sector, etc. Task is too complex to explain here.

Meanwhile, other programs (besides fixmbr and fix boot) availabe (but
typically not relevent to this problem) include diskpart and bootcfg.
But again, I am troubled that drive can be read in Auto but not in same
mode selected manually.

I will start with the BIOS settings.

It has been set to Auto through all of this.
I tried all of the following settings:
CHA
LBA
Large

Other Auto detected settings:
Capacity: 40016 MB
Cylinder: 1277
Head: 240
Precomp: 0
Landing Zone: 19157
Sector: 255

After each change, I booted into the Recovery Console and ran fixmbr
and fixboot, then restarted and removed the Windows CD.

Still got the same error with all three settings.

The error comes after it shows either:
Building DMI Pool.....
Verifiying DMI Pool Data............Update Success

The computer would not boot with the CD until I set it back to Auto.

Disk Management:

Volume: (C:)
Layout: Partition
Type: Basic
File System: NTFS
Status: Healthy (System)
Capacity: 37.26 GB
Free Space: 35.95 GB
% Free: 96%
Fault Tolerance: No
Overhead: 0%

Status: Online
Partition Style: Master Boot Record (MBR)

Nothing notable in the System Log.

System Files on the C: Drive:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
boot.ini
CONFIG.SYS
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
pagefile.sys

Anything else?


w_tom said:
Disk Manager (from Windows NT and 2000) is now called Disk
Management. It is part of Computer Management. A quick way to load
Computer Management: enter in Start>Run the command compmgmt.msc .

This provides a check list of what actually exists. Confirm what you
thought with what the computer says exists. That partition (the only
partition and should be NTFS) should be the active partition, healthy,
etc

Other information that, in your case should not report anything
useful (but worth checking) is System Log of Event Viewer.

Your boot.ini file is would also tell boot loader program to load
those other files from first partition - reads correctly. But
apparently (from what I understand), you are not even getting the boot
loader to read boot.ini file; meaning again that the boot loader is
not finding and loading any files from the root directory. If boot.ini
file was read, then the text (WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home) would
be seen on screen.

If necessary files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, Boot.ini exist and the boot
loader is confirmed OK (overwritten) by the Recover Console and that
partition is marked active, then only reason left for boot loader not
able to find those root directory files is a CMOS setting that is not
quite right for that drive. For example, words such as LBA or Normal
if mis-selected in CMOS would cause only part of the drive to be
readable during boot. A changed selection can mean that some files in
the root directory cannot be found by boot loader. When booted from
CD-Rom, the configuration setting may be ignored which is why booting
from CD-Rom can see same hard drive files just fine.

Although those voltages would cause me to perform further testing
(because 12 volts is so low while 5 volts is high), still, those
voltages are sufficient and would not cause a boot failure. Sometime
later, when system is accessing multiple peripherals simultaneously
(multitasking programs accessing hard drive, CD-Rom, floppy, network
and doing graphics), I would check those voltages again just to be
sure. Meanwhile, no reason to do any hardware changes. CPU will
either work - execute the WD diagnostic - or completely fail. Swapping
hardware may only complicate problems.

(BTW the Seagate with error code 78? means the XP on the Seagate is
for hardware different from what your motherboard contains. A HAL
layer in NT make NT unique for each computer chipset.)

We know files exist on root directory. We know boot.ini has correct
information. We know the boot loader does not read those root
directory files. That is the point where failure is happening. We
know disk hardware is OK. Question is why boot loader will not see
those files. (I believe the wording for the 'not booting' message is
directly from the Boot Loader meaning the boot loader did execute.)
Either CMOS setting for drive is not correct, or boot loader is not
properly written with parameters unique to that drive (maybe written
before CMOS setting somehow changed?), or disk is not active so that
boot loader does not know what partition to look for a root directory.

Hardware is working just fine. Something in your setup or parameters
written uniquely for the boot loader are causing boot loader to not
find root directory files. Try booting with different CMOS selections
for that drive. Confirm for active partition. Rewrite boot loader
program to disk boot sector using Recovery Console.

(e-mail address removed) wrote:
-Disk Manager: Are you talking about the Disk Management tools within
Windows?

-Boot.ini Contents:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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
Edition" /fastdetect

-PS Voltages:
12V: 11.85V
5V: 5.13V
3.3V: 3.39V

Anything else?
 
T

thecreator

Hi abright52,

You apparently tried many things. Have you tried a new Case? By
replacing the case, you would be handling each component, individually,
giving you the option of throwing it again the wall. :)

But if it was hit by lightning as you suspect, then they might be a
residual charge, however little, that you can't feel it, but the Electronic
components are. And basically you are working on your computer or a
customer's computer. Replacing the case also replaces the Power on-off
switch too, as well as the Reset switch.
 
W

w_tom

Unfortunately there are many layers of wiping. For example, you can
erase all drive partitions and that WD disk setup tool still remains
elsewhere in the drive. Formatting does the least amount of wiping. I
suggest you use that WD setup tool to (maybe) identify that BIOS
extenders and maybe remove it. Removing the BIOS extender may make
current data unreadable. But at least the drive should work better.

Appreciate the complications here. BIOS used CMOS to boot from one
configuration. But when Windows is loaded, it may just use another.
Therefore when fixing the hard drive in Windows, it may simply put
Windows parameters in the boot program that are not same as in CMOS. I
cannot be more explicit or better it because complication is unique to
how Windows handles that motherboard and BIOS. However trying with
manual disk setting for LBA, etc - and carefully verify the cylinder,
sector, and head setting are always correct - might reveal further
useful information - including executing Chkdsk without /F (disk
changes disabled) for each manual BIOS setting

Having used that WD setup program, check for and remove if necessary
any WD setup program "Bios Extender".

Again, this we know. The Boot program (if it created the "Not
Bootable" error message) is executing but it not finding NTLDR,
NTDETECT.COM, or BOOT.INI on hard disk root directory. This does not
involve CPU, CD-Rom, Memory, or other hardware. WD diagnostic says
motherboard CPU talks to disk drive CPU and that disk drive is working
properly. BIOS executes and loads Boot program from disk boot sector
(again this assumes the error message is from Boot Program). Boot
program (sometimes called the Boot Strap Loader) does not find NTLDR,
etc on hard drive root directory. Maybe because CMOS parameters are
not correct. Maybe because root directory is not in a partition marked
active. Maybe the WD setup program loaded a BIOS extender that still
remains on the disk drive.

Only other way I have removed that Bios Extender is executing a
completely different type of program unique to each disk drive
manufacturer and that some manufacturers do not provide - a low level
disk formatter.

Above are where boot is getting hung and a list of reasons why boot
program may not load necessary files. Above test procedures (and a
long shot such as disk defragmenter) might reveal some new detail - new
symptom.

When done, you should have a better grasp on why AUTO in CMOS worked
and other setting do or do not when CD-Rom boots Windows. It should
provide a better idea of what the disk is setup as. LBA setup is most
common.

One final point. I wish I knew exactly the error message in your Boot
Sector program. That involves reading the boot sector - first disk
sector. Windows NT OSes deny user to read that sector - except using a
special program. First data block can be read with DOS. Point is to
confirm the "will not boot" message is coming from the boot sector
program - confirm the BIOS is reading and executing that boot sector
program. Probably is. But I have proceeded on an assumption rather
than know that boot sector program is executing. That first (boot)
sector will read for every CMOS setting - a first sector in first
cylinder is same for all CMOS parameters, for every partition marked
active, and for any BIOS extenders. If disk is good, then the boot
sector should read and execute - as I have assumed.
 
A

abright52

Problem Solved.

I replaced the WD Hard Drive with a Seagate, installed Windows and all
is well.

-Adam
 
T

thecreator

Hi Adam,

In other words, the replacement for a initial bad Hard Drive was
defective or bad from the get-go. But you assume that the Hard Drive was
good, because you just replaced a Bad Hard Drive with a new Hard Drive, I am
assuming.

Like, I am having a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Windows Blue Stop
Screen basically each day and always pointing to the D-Link Driver A3AB.SYS
as the probably cause. D-Link already replaced the Card, but problem still
continues.
 

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