Hard Disk nightmare?

R

Rusty

New Member
A friend of mine came to me about a computer issued that he had, basically he was messing around with his printer and he thinks might have messed with the COM and LPT port assignment of the printer, now when he tries to boot the computer he receives a message after the initial post that a recent harware or software change has effected windows to not start properlly, It gives you several options i.e. boot in safe mode, Last Known Configuration, etc etc, but all modes lead you to the same result, the computer restarts and you are prompted with the same message as before, I tried to use nortons systemworks emergency boot program to try to get inside the hard drive but it is a DOS based program and the drive that has Windows is NTFS and not supported by DOS. i tried using the repair program that is on the Windows XP Pro install disc but it freezes when trying to examine the start up enviroment. I tried a few other things but to no avail, if anyone has suggestions that would be great
 
Consider getting out his hard disk and connect it to another machine as a slave drive and scan disk it, you might find errors on the drive.

If this is the case and the system files reside on a corrupted part of the media, all the mentioned problems can occur. When you scan disk the drive using another external program you will know what's wrong with it?

I would prefer that you run the scan disk of the windows 98 or ME, they are better than that of XP although the XP is ok, or you can use a completely different program for scan disk, like the norton doctor or something like that.
 
I tried setting it up as a slave, to a hard disk that had Windows 98 but it didnt recognize it in 98 but the computer recognized it at initial boot, is this due to the fact that the slave drive does not have the same OS?
 
I think the problem might be one of the following:

1. The HD jumper settings were not correct during the very first time you were trying to connect it
2. The HD itself is formatted in an NTFS format, so win98 won't be able to see any partitions
3. It might have a physical problem which prevents it from being recognized by windows


What is the HD type and also the mobo of the 2 PCs? Some mobos don't like some HDs to be connected to them and they make a nice conflict which will make you suffer.
 
Yes.. your operating system is on you master hd and your backup drive slave, the one windows wont see. Make sure it is turned on in bios if it is a newer mobo... And turn it on. Jumpers settings are essential..
 
Rusty said:
You are correct, it is NTFS, do I need to set it up as a slave to a hard drive that has Windows XP?
Click to expand...

Exactly, connect it as a slave to a PC running windown XP and then check it for errors to see why it's not working in the original PC, may be this is the problem.

Also as mentioned before, checkout your friend mother board, his windows, the jumper settings, etc.
 
basically he was messing around with his printer and he thinks might have messed with the COM and LPT port assignment of the printer, now when he tries to boot the computer he receives a message after the initial post that a recent harware or software change has effected windows to not start properlly
Click to expand...
Messing the COM & LPTs will only screw up printer and mouse/modem settings, not the ability to boot. Consider setting the BIOS back to defaults? :)
 
SEE IF IT WILL BOOT UP IN SAFE MODE 1st BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. THEN IF IT DOES AT LEAST THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DRIVE OR WINDOWS IT IS A HARDWARE PROBLEM.
 
SEE IF IT WILL BOOT UP IN SAFE MODE 1st BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. THEN IF IT DOES AT LEAST THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DRIVE OR WINDOWS IT IS A HARDWARE PROBLEM.
Click to expand...

I believe he already said that every one of those where tried including safe mode.

As praetor as suggested i would always set bios back to default settings b4 trying anything else. You might consider reseting cmos.
 
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