Replaced HDD

[Tom S.]

I just replaced my 15 GB HDD with a new 80 GB. I used
Norton's Ghost to copy the partition from the old to the
new one but I get "Error loading OS" message. I tried
using the XP Home CD to repair the installation and
reactiveate but it will not go through that sequence.
What can I do?

 

[Joe Brannen]

I've had the same problem. I had a 60GB hard drive and I
used a recent version of Norton Ghost to copy the entire
disk to a new 120GB drive. Once I switch out the drives
and set the jumpers properly, the computer sees the new
120GB C: drive, but it won't boot properly. Win XP will
begin to boot up, then it locks up. I've never been able
to find an answer to how to get this to work properly.
Back when I was using Win 98 I did this several times
(upgrading to larger drives with Norton Ghost) and I never
had a problem. Must be an "XP thing".

 

[Rich Barry]

Joe, did you ever try using the Recovery Console and repairing the Boot
Sector or Boot.ini file. You would be primarily
interested in Bootcfg, Fixboot and FixMbr.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058&Product=winxp

 

[I'm Dan]

Joe, you might give this a try: install only the new drive as master (no
slave yet), get a Win98 boot floppy (download one from www.bootdisk.com if
you need to), boot from the floppy, issue the command "fdisk /mbr", remove
the floppy, and see if XP now boots up properly. If this fixes it, you can
then add the slave drive back in.

What this trick does is force XP to forget its previously remembered drive
letter assignments and rebuild its drive table anew. (Note: the similar
"fixmbr" command from the XP recovery console is not quite equivalent, as it
does not force a rebuild of the drive table.)

If the problem is messed up drive assignments (yes, it's an "XP thing" -- as
well as NT and 2000, and can happen with cloning/copying), the typical
symptom is the new drive will start to boot and hang, usually on the
"Welcome" screen or the login screen. BTW, I saw the original post, but
didn't offer him this suggestion because I haven't seen this problem
generate a "Error loading OS" message, so think he must have a different
problem.