Windows XP requiring two disks to boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter ERC
  • Start date Start date
E

ERC

I've got XP Pro installed on my Duron 2400XP system w ECS motherboard.
About a month ago, my disk got full so I used Ghost to clone the image
over to
a new larger disk. This worked fine, but I made the mistake of not
disconnecting the old disk. XP mapped the new boot disk to drive
"f:", left the old one at "c:", and wouldn't let me change drive
letters of a drive I was booted from.

This was OK (I thought), the system was working, and eventually I
would
open the case and disconnect the old drive and XP would automatically
remap the drive letter.

Well, I finally opened the case and disconnected the old full drive -
and the system won't boot completely. It hangs just prior to
displaying the login accounts.

Since I started using the new larger cloned drive, I have installed a
few apps and hotfixes (or winxp updates). To try to resolve this
problem I have used "msconfig" to do a "clean boot" turning off all
unnecessary drivers and services - same thing, won't boot.
I have booted in safe mode - same thing. I have uninstalled a few
apps and a few SP2 hotfixes (one at a time, and most require reboots),
still, same thing.

Anyone have any ideas how to track down what's requiring the second
drive? Or how to check where a hotfix in installed? Maybe one of
the hotfixes installed itself on drive "c:", instead of the "startup
disk"(f:), and is now requiring that path be resolvable in order to
boot.??

I can still boot from the original disk without the new second disk,
but can't boot from the new disk without the old one. At one point,
about a month ago, they were clones of one another.

TIA

Earl
 
Hi,

Do a repair installation with only the new drive in place. Follow these
steps to do a repair install which should preserve your data, settings, and
programs:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM
drive.
2. Restart your computer. If you have to, change the BIOS settings to start
from
the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer again.
3. At the "Welcome to Setup" page, press ENTER.
4. Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
5. Use the arrow keys to select the installation of Windows XP that you want
to
repair, and then press R to start the automatic repair process.
6. When Setup is completed, activate Windows XP.

Note that you will need your Product Key for this procedure, so have it
handy before you begin.

Your boot files are on the old drive, and the drive lettering within the
system pointers is probably hopelessly messed up. A repair install should
straighten both problems out, although the drive will retain the "F"
designation. To change that would require a format/clean installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Rick,

Question? That will not fix any installed program that put entries in
C:\Program Files, will it? The original location is gone with the removal of
the old hard drive.
 
Hi,

No, you're right, it won't. Any program that balks (whether it's due to the
actual program files' location or the system/registry pointers) because it's
looking for the C:\ designation will need to be reinstalled as well.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
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