On Jul 7, 4:20 pm, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <
[email protected]>
wrote:
Guys - I need some help on this one...
I just purchased a new custom-built gaming rig that
was
shipped
with
Vista. After experiencing all the headaches and
non-working
apps, I
decided to wipe Vista and install XP. To do it
properly
I
had
to
eradicate all traces of Vista using Killdisk. I
installed
XP
SR2
and
all drivers on the virgin system, however it will not
boot
without
my
XP System disk in the dvd drive. If I attempt to boot
without
the
disk, it initiates the bios screen which is followed
an
all
black
screen with a single flashing cursor... and sits there
until
I
reboot
with the CD in.
With the CD in, it asks to boot from cd, which I do
not
and
then XP
boots normally. This isn't a deal-killer but
obviously
isn't
correct.
Any help on this ?
Thanks in advance...
Ch33zst34k(Gerry in Philadelphia)
A flashing cursor in the top left-hand corner is usually
the
result of your boot partition not being "active". Run
diskmgmt.msc
to check/fix this.
Pegasus - I ran diskmgmt.msc and my c drive is shown as
"system"
while
my secondary drive is shown as "active" - is this the
problem ?
Interesting. In your first post you never said anything
about
a second disk. This is essential information!
As a first step I would disconnect the second disk, then
make
the first disk the primary master. This should allow you to
mark
the boot partition on the first disk as "active".
Sorry about the omission - I'm a newb when it comes to disk
management
- how do I mark it master? When you say remove the second
disk,
do
you
mean physically disconnect or via disk manager ? I've
avoided
hardware
configuration for years until now... appreciate your help.
Making an IDE disk the primary master involves opening the
machine and making sure of two things:
a) That the disk is connected to the primary (rather than the
secondary) IDE controller, and
b) That the disk jumpered as a Master, not as a slave.
Since you appear to have run with the same configuration
for a long time, let's postpone this for a moment and start
by establishing your current status. Reboot the machine
and get into the BIOS setup, then check your IDE disk
configuration. One of the menus reports your disk structure.
Assuming you use one of your disks for Windows and the
other for your data, report the exact configuration shown
by the BIOS, i.e. which disk is primary, which is secondary,
which is master, which is slave.
Pegasus - appreciate your patience - I think we are getting to
the
bottom of this.
One correction - this is a brand new computer but did operate
fine
with Vista. Only after wiping the drives did the problems
arise.
Here is what the Bios shows:
Primary IDE Master
The last post was prematurely posted....
Pegasus - appreciate your patience - I think we are getting to
the
bottom of this.
One correction - this is a brand new computer but did operate
fine
with Vista. Only after wiping the drives did the problems arise.
Primary IDE Master [None]
Primary IDE Slave [None]
Secondary IDE Master [DVD RW]
Secondary IDE Slave [None]
Sata 1 [WDC001] (C-drive) system
Sata 2 [None]
Sata 3 [WDC001] (second hard drive]
data
Sata 4 [None]
HDD Smart Monitoring [enabled]
I have not touched any internal components since getting it from
the
factory. Its a "boutique" rig purchased from ibuypower.com.
I would apprecaite any help in getting this configured
correctly - I
keep telling myself I am learning something.
G
Your reply tells me that you don't have any IDE disks, hence
there is no need to worry about masters / slaves. However,
you should ensure while in the BIOS that your Sata1 disk is
your boot disk. You should then do this:
- Boot the machine with your WinXP CD.
- Don't let it start Windows - force it to start the Windows
setup process.
- Select Repair when prompted, then Recovery Console.
- Type these commands:
fixboot
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild
We accomplished something... I did as prescribed and set it to boot
to
the c:drive (the only install found) however the system still stalls
at reboot with the "Flashing cursor." I can boot with the cd in as
before, however now the OS offers two distinct configurations into
which to boot. The top is a blank description but the cursor flashes
in front of a blank line - and yes, I can select it and boot
normally
with that. The second line says "Windows XP Configuration" which
works
as well - again, as long as the cd is in.
Any thoughts now ? Thanks !
G
I return to my first reply: You must mark the boot partition "active".
If you cannot do it any other way, disconnect your second SATA
disk first, then do it.
After following Shenan's suggestion of editing boot.ini, post the
contents of this file in your reply.
Guys - thanks for your patience - I followed Shenan's suggestion and
did successfully delete the second (identical) boot option.
Pegasus - I can easily navigate to my disk management menu, however I
cannot figure out how to make the C:drive partition active - checked
out the MSFT knowledge base without success. An image of my manager
is at this link:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e180/kumaboss/Image2.jpg
As you can see, the "C" drive is marked System, the second hard drive
is marked "Unallocated". Any thoughts as to HOW I can make the
"C:drive" active?
You right-click where it says "(C
", then you click "Mark partition
as Active".
I expected you to post the contents of boot.ini.
