upgraded to larger HDD, now boot problem!

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Upgraded to larger HDD and now XP (sp3) gets stuck in infinite loop at
logon. Here's some details:

old HDD: XP on NTFS drive 'W' (everything works good)
new HDD: XP sees its drive as 'T' (thus problems)

drive 'T' is the last 'logical' drive, there is no drive 'W' (need to make
windows drive 'W')

How can I make XP think drive 'T' is drive 'W'? I think that would solve
everything!

Thanks

- How did you transfer your existing Windows installation from the old disk
to the new disk? Please be as specific as you can?
- After the transfer, did you launch Windows with both disks connected?
- What exactly do you mean with "infinite loop at logon?" Please be
specific!
- Do you have another machine that is networked to the problem machine?
- Do you know the password that goes with the Administrator account on the
problem machine?
- Does the problem machine run WinXP Home or Professional?

 

[BillW50]

In none typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 08:35:21 -0600:

Upgraded to larger HDD and now XP (sp3) gets stuck in infinite loop at
logon. Here's some details:

old HDD: XP on NTFS drive 'W' (everything works good)
new HDD: XP sees its drive as 'T' (thus problems)

drive 'T' is the last 'logical' drive, there is no drive 'W' (need to
make windows drive 'W')

How can I make XP think drive 'T' is drive 'W'? I think that would
solve everything!

Thanks

This is very common when the old Windows sees the new drive and
recognizes the serial identification. Thus the clone gets confused and
parts thinks it is the old drive letter and parts thinks it is the new
drive letter. The easy fix is to use DOS or Windows 9x Startup Disk and
to use "FDISK /MBR" command. As FDISK's bug/feature when rewriting the
MBR, also nulls out the drive's serial identifier. There are other
utilities that fix this problem too, but I haven't used them.

 

[JS]

Need more information such as:
1) How (what software) did you move XP from
the old drive to the new drive.
2) If you did use a software utility, what option did
you pick (Example: Clone/copy or Image backup)
3) Are your drives SATA or PATA.

 

[none]

Upgraded to larger HDD and now XP (sp3) gets stuck in infinite loop at
logon. Here's some details:

old HDD: XP on NTFS drive 'W' (everything works good)
new HDD: XP sees its drive as 'T' (thus problems)

drive 'T' is the last 'logical' drive, there is no drive 'W' (need to make
windows drive 'W')

How can I make XP think drive 'T' is drive 'W'? I think that would solve
everything!

Thanks

 

[JS]

replied within:
---


answered similar questions to #1 and #2 in earlier reply.
regarding #3, they are all PATA (old systems, one 10+ years but still
going
strong, only outgrew the 160GB HDD!

If both drives are still connected it may be as simple as
either removing the old drive or checking the jumpers
as the new drive must be set to be the master.

 

[BillW50]

In none typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 09:27:51 -0600:

BillW50, just to help XP get over the hurtle of becoming upset due to
different volume S/N's, I changed the new HDD volumes to have exact
S/N's as old HDD ...

I don't think FDISK /mbr would correct this issue. In fact I 'think'
a tool is needed to change MBR drive letter assignment for the new XP
installation. The MBR has that drive letter as 'T' and I need it to
be 'W'.

Need software or something to change this (I think)

Well FDISK /MBR should change the drive letter back to drive "W" IMHO.
But if you are convinced that it isnt, here is what to do to if this
step fails.

The hard way is to change all references in this new XP's registry from
drive "T" to drive "W". There are tools that allow you to modify the
non-running Windows registry from another source. I never did it myself,
but they do exist.

Many Paragon products (there are free lite versions too) allow you to
change the drive letter. This feature is called "Boot Corrector".

Rescue Kit Express 9.0
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/

Unrelated developer and I haven't used it myself. But I hear tell that
the trial version tells you what is wrong. So you can either pay for it
or use the knowledge to fix it yourself.

JustBoot Boot Corrector
http://www.justboot.us/boot_corrector.htm

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

replied within:
---


new HDD was setup manually (not cloned from old HDD). I use the old DOS
routines; FDISK to partition, FORMAT to format.
This is a multiboot system which includes DOS, W98, W2K, XP. Booted from
new HDD, fixed NT bootloader (only had W98 boot menu), booted to Windows
2000, used it to create a second primary partition for XP (same setup as
old HDD), formatted NTFS, assigned drive letter 'W' (as old setup) and
used
XXCLONE to transfer XP files from old HDD to new HDD (everything copied
fine).


I use the old sytle logon (just a simple box requiring user name, pw.
Enter
name and pw and logon attempted, then logoff. No explaination of why the
logoff. Because I use auto logon from tweakui, the name and pw are entered
automatically, thus infinite loop at logon (logon-logoff-logon-logoff etc)


yes, these are home PC's. The PC with upgraded HDD can run as a standalone
but is setup on network



professional, however I have two PC's which (desperately) need HDD
upgrades.
This is my first attempt, it has PRO. The second PC (also setup with XP on
a
drive 'W') has HOME


Thanks for the help!

Ok, here is what you can do:
1. Start the problem machine. Press the Shift key continuously during the
startup process in order to avoid the automatic logon process.
2. Run regedit.exe on a networked machine.
3. Open the registry on the problem machine.
4. Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\.
5. Rename HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\T: to W:.
If W. is already taken, delete it.
6. Reboot the problem machine, preferably by using shutdown.exe on the
networked PC.
You should now be able to boot mnormally.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

In none typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 09:27:51 -0600:

Well FDISK /MBR should change the drive letter back to drive "W" IMHO. But
if you are convinced that it isnt, here is what to do to if this step
fails.

The hard way is to change all references in this new XP's registry from
drive "T" to drive "W". There are tools that allow you to modify the
non-running Windows registry from another source. I never did it myself,
but they do exist.

regedit.exe!

 

[BillW50]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 17:16:46 +0200:

regedit.exe!

Which opens the registry of the Windows that is running. And hasn't
opened the one which isn't for me.

 

[none]

replied within:
---

- How did you transfer your existing Windows installation from the old disk
to the new disk? Please be as specific as you can?

new HDD was setup manually (not cloned from old HDD). I use the old DOS
routines; FDISK to partition, FORMAT to format.
This is a multiboot system which includes DOS, W98, W2K, XP. Booted from
new HDD, fixed NT bootloader (only had W98 boot menu), booted to Windows
2000, used it to create a second primary partition for XP (same setup as
old HDD), formatted NTFS, assigned drive letter 'W' (as old setup) and used
XXCLONE to transfer XP files from old HDD to new HDD (everything copied
fine).

- After the transfer, did you launch Windows with both disks connected?
no

- What exactly do you mean with "infinite loop at logon?" Please be
specific!

I use the old sytle logon (just a simple box requiring user name, pw. Enter
name and pw and logon attempted, then logoff. No explaination of why the
logoff. Because I use auto logon from tweakui, the name and pw are entered
automatically, thus infinite loop at logon (logon-logoff-logon-logoff etc)

- Do you have another machine that is networked to the problem machine?

yes, these are home PC's. The PC with upgraded HDD can run as a standalone
but is setup on network

- Do you know the password that goes with the Administrator account on the
problem machine?
yes


- Does the problem machine run WinXP Home or Professional?

professional, however I have two PC's which (desperately) need HDD upgrades.
This is my first attempt, it has PRO. The second PC (also setup with XP on a
drive 'W') has HOME


Thanks for the help!

 

[none]

BillW50, just to help XP get over the hurtle of becoming upset due to
different volume S/N's, I changed the new HDD volumes to have exact S/N's as
old HDD ...

I don't think FDISK /mbr would correct this issue. In fact I 'think' a tool
is needed to change MBR drive letter assignment for the new XP installation.
The MBR has that drive letter as 'T' and I need it to be 'W'.

Need software or something to change this (I think)
---

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 17:16:46 +0200:

Which opens the registry of the Windows that is running. And hasn't opened
the one which isn't for me.

Under regedit.exe in WinXP: Click File / Connect network registry. You can
even open an offline hive by specifying the machine, folder and file name
but this is a little more involved.

 

[none]

replied within:
---

Need more information such as:
1) How (what software) did you move XP from
the old drive to the new drive.
2) If you did use a software utility, what option did
you pick (Example: Clone/copy or Image backup)
3) Are your drives SATA or PATA.

answered similar questions to #1 and #2 in earlier reply.
regarding #3, they are all PATA (old systems, one 10+ years but still going
strong, only outgrew the 160GB HDD!

 

[BillW50]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 17:27:56 +0200:

Under regedit.exe in WinXP: Click File / Connect network registry.
You can even open an offline hive by specifying the machine, folder
and file name but this is a little more involved.

Okay I see it now. Thanks!

 

[none]

Hallelujah, success!

Pretty neat trick being able to access the registry remotely. After turning
everything on for remote access (I had disallowed access, service off etc.),
voila, there was the remote registry. HOWEVER, it was not as simple as
outlined (which may have been my fault) but I followed your thought and knew
principally what you were showing me to do. After a lot of work we finally
saw the desktop BMP !!

Very pleased!
Thanks

 

[none]

Well FDISK /MBR should change the drive letter back to drive "W" IMHO.

It didn't change it to 'W' but I understand why you wanted me to do it. It
the whole sequence of physical drives went to 'W' it may have worked, but
there were only enough drives to fill to'T'. To JUMP over the letters from T
to W registry tricks had to be done.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Hallelujah, success!

Pretty neat trick being able to access the registry remotely. After
turning everything on for remote access (I had disallowed access, service
off etc.), voila, there was the remote registry. HOWEVER, it was not as
simple as outlined (which may have been my fault) but I followed your
thought and knew principally what you were showing me to do. After a lot
of work we finally saw the desktop BMP !!

Very pleased!
Thanks

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[BillW50]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:11:48 +0200:

Thanks for the feedback.

That was the hard way. The easy way is using one of those programs which
does it automatically. <grin>

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:11:48 +0200:

That was the hard way. The easy way is using one of those programs which
does it automatically. <grin>

Not sure what you mean. If you know what you're doing then you can do it in
five minutes, using regedit.exe from a networked machine. There is no need
to purchase or install anything. I've done it quite a few times when cloning
efforts went haywire.

 

[BillW50]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:35:27 +0200:

Not sure what you mean. If you know what you're doing then you can do
it in five minutes, using regedit.exe from a networked machine. There
is no need to purchase or install anything. I've done it quite a few
times when cloning efforts went haywire.

Nothing to buy. Free for personal use.