gone postal

Completely new computer build. I have 2 hard drives - both SATA. One is leftover from my old computer and has files I don't want to lose on it and the other is a brand new 500GB WD. When I first booted the XP CD, it detected both, but had the old drive (although it's in SATA2 slot) as C:\ and the new one as F:\. I wanted XP on the new drive. So, I shut down, disconnected the old one. Now, only the new 500GB was detected and as C:\.

My plan was to partition into a 50GB and two 225GB drives. I got the 50 done, but instead of hitting 'C' to create a new partition, I accidentally hit 'Enter' which proceeded to install XP in the free space. It didn't start installing, it just went to the next screen where you hit 'Enter' again to start. I hit 'ESC', but it wouldn't go back. Since this is not what I wanted and couldn't figure out how to go back, I shut the computer off.

Now whenever I start, it says "press any key to load from CD" and then tries to load from the Cd and says "unable to load operating system". I tried both DVD drives and even reconnected the old hard drive and put that ahead of the new FUBR'ed one and that didn't even help. The only way I could get XP to actually proceed and install was to unplug the new 500GB drive.

So, now XP is installed on the drive that I didn't want it on, but what can I do about the other one? Is there a program I can use (freeware preferably) or something built into XP that can partition / format that drive? I haven't even tried hooking it up yet to see if it even shows up in 'My Computer' - XP just finished loading and i'm actually on my laptop.

I really appreciate any help. I don't want a 500GB paperweight....

cdanik

Delete the partition on the new HD (the one you want xp on). Then start over again (partition your 50, 225, and 225.)

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gone postal

That's what I was planning to do, but like I said, it wouldn't load back up to the partitioning / formatting screen. Any particular reason why?

Finally, disk management in XP is all I should need right?

imsati

Reset CMOS via your MoBo manual and try again. You'd be surprised how many issues that fixes

If you still have a problem, go into BIOS and set the CD/DVD Drive as the first boot device (as opposed to using the one-time boot screen). It's a good idea to keep the other HDD detached until XP is installed - it's easy enough to hook up later. How old is your XP disk, btw? Is it a Full Version or an Upgrade CD?

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gone postal

I appreciate the help. I ended up just booting into XP, hooked up the other drive and then used Disk Management to create other partitions in the "failed" drive. I then formatted them all, so that that drive was clean and partitioned the way I wanted. When i restarted, I unhooked the drive w/ XP installed, and put the DVD drive first in boot sequence. The install was a breeze.

As a side note, I'm loving SP3 on XP - I'm sure my new system is a huge help, but Windows seems so much faster now.