Unable to Boot into XP

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance


I have a Dell XPS system that is about 2 years old. It has 2 gb of ram,
also has a western digital 250 gb hard drive. I normally (stupidly)
keep my computer on all the time and never had any problems with any of
my other 3 computers being left on (when they were new).

Yesterday I arrived to my home and realized that my mouse wouldn't
move. I thought the system locked so I turned off and on the computer.
The computer went through the first boot up process that shows the Dell
logo with a bar that fills as it loads up. The bar went to about half
way and wouldn't move. I waited about 20 minutes to make sure the
system wasn't just slow and it still wouldn't move. I turned it on and
off and this time it would stop at the 3/4 way mark (I believe its the
bios loading or something because its not the screen with the windows
logo.

I was frustrated. At about the 5th time I passed the point and it went
into an option to safe boot, safe boot with network, last known safe
point, and start normally (I'm at work and can't be too specific). I
picked start normally and it gave me the message that a system file was
corrupt and that I could fix it by placing the windows cd and restarting
and picking "r" for repair. I restarted, again, lock up at 1/4 mark on
bar. I restarted and again back to the options for reboot. I picked
last known safe spot and again the "file cannot be found or is corrupt
(system file)."

I placed the windows xp disk and after it started i pushed R and it
tells me that my hard drive cannot be found. I thought, WOW. I
restarted with the xp disk again and picked to reinstall windows and it
said the hard drive could not be found.

I tore up the garage and found the diagnostic disk for the xps system
and thought my hard drive was fried. I did ALL the diagnostics and it
shows no problems at all. Everything passed. So the Dell diagnostic
disk sees my hard drive but the xp disk does not. I did some googling
and found the sites that state that the sata disk might need a driver
to start so figured I would try that. I went to Dell.com, placed my
service number and it had a section for "Sata drivers" but only with
MAXTOR on it. I have a western digital. My xps also does NOT have a
floppy drive (never had it installed) and from what I read the xp disk
can't read off of a cd drive only floppies.

I had a ton of stuff on my hard drive and this is the ONLY sata system
that I have. I don't know how to save what I got on the disk or how to
fix this problem. I don't know what to do and am frustrated because the
only place I can view the internet is at work and not in the comfort of
my own home.

My bios shows sata 0 is ON. When i change it to sata 1 and move the
cable from the hard drive to sata 1 on the hard drive it shows the sata
1 is on and gives a message that the sata 0 could not be found so I know
the bios sees the hard drive or it would have given me an error
initially. Am I out of luck? I can try to get more info that you want
me to give when I get home and post tomorrow. I have no internet or
computer anymore. :(


--
karaldesdesdan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
karaldesdesdan's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=49545
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=969672

http://forums.techarena.in

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Installing new HD a 5150C
    ... I recently set up a Dimension 4700 from scratch with a fresh unformatted SATA ... which is really a vanilla Windows XP Pro install CD with a few Dell ... the BIOS reports the hard disk as: ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • RE: Problem w drivers when reinstall XP Pro SP2 w SATA for Dell Vostro
    ... Integrate SP3 into the install disk and recreate the boot. ... SP3 supports SATA. ... Alternatively is download the drivers to a floppy or USB key [Dell provides ... Despite the fact that the Dell disk contained the SATA drivers, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: XP will not install on new hard drive
    ... Go to Dell site, specific to your tag and download / make the sata controller floppy. ... Although if you have the Dell utility disk the 'make sata floppy' may be on the disk ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: help downgrading a Dell Inspiron w/ Vista to XP Pro
    ... I have looked around and found the setting in the BIOS set to AHCI under SATA operation.. ... Dell would not give me any tech support saying they could only help me with the original O/S that came with the unit... ... BTW, I used my Acronis Boot Disk v11 to make a backup image of the Vista before I started trying to install XP, and it detected all the drives just fine. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: [Fedora 14] is dd at 10Gb/hr worth doing on a 1Tb hard drive?
    ... This is just a defective disk RMA factory return. ... (Remember a usb 2 is 50Mb/s, that is mega bits, not bytes, per sec. ... Sata drive in a USB enclosure, and the hard drive is being returned ... using Partition Magic Home Edition that comes with Hiren's Boot CD. ...
    (alt.os.linux)