Windows won't start

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Guest

I'm not able to start windows in any of the ways I tried. Last good
configuration and safe mode both won't do it. When I choose to press restart
button it get's to memory checking point which is ok and then encounters a
problem when detecting IDE drives. I haven't made any changes to hardware and
I don't think that last Windows updates could have caused that? Unfortunately
I'm unable to see what it says about IDE drives since it flashes too quickly.
What could it be about? Anything I could try with that command prompt
option? And how could I switch it off, after all I don't need a continuously
restarting computer!
 
That screen is part of the BIOS startup for the system. You are having some
physical problem with the drive detection. Perhaps a loose cable, or a
damaged drive. Open your BIOS setup to look at that.

bios setup access keys. Go to:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Also, examime the cables attached to the drive. Put the drive in anpother
system to see if it works there. (it might actually be your motherboard at
fault)

You need more info about this hardware.
 
I'm unsure as to get more information (like whether it's damaged) on my
drive. I can see things such as which drive is attached to which cable and
then silinders, sectors and such information about certain drive. My BIOS is
Award.

Trying other system is impossible at the moment because that's the only pc
in house so I need to try everything else before. There's no daylight anymore
so screw-driving has to wait for tomorrow.
 
If the bios sees the drive, you need not look at the cables. If windows fails
to see the drive, you probably should try to boot to the XP setup CD, and
enter the Recovery Console prompt ('press R to repair', after booting to the
cd)
The command you want to run is CHKDSK /F
 
I checked cables before heading here for new replies. They all seemed fine to
me but I just in case pushed each one gently and then turned the computer on.
For my surprise it loaded windows just as if nothing had happened.
I then set it to check for errors and rebooted. But I missed the moment when
it finished and didn't see the results, is there any log file where it writes
results? Or would I have seen some notice if it had found an error?
 
Great, WGT. Normal expansion and contraction due to the change in seasons can
do that sort of thing.
Event Viewer ( run eventvwr.msc) would show events caused by chkdsk if any
'fixing' had taken place.
 
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