I'm desperate - please help

[Wedge]

vcd_pat,

If you could ever boot from the XP CD and see the larger drive (your main one) then you could install XP in a new folder on the same partition as the existing installation, instead of trying to repare it.
This way you would have the ability to boot off the larger drive and recover data files if you need to. I'm not 100% sure if what I'm saying is correct. Need your feedback and more help from the forum.

 

[Midnightangel]

Do you think it's best if PM's are sent rather than waffling on the forum like this? Thx

better here bro as someone might have the same problem in the future and learn from the thread .

i guess your going to have to pull one cable at a time as you sugested m8.

i hope you sort this as i can sympathis as to how frustrating it must be.

btw if your finding it hard pm me your town and if your close to me i will come look at it for you.

 

[vcd_pat]

@Midnightangel - I'm going to give pulling the plug on one of the drives a go and see what happens - will let you know how I get on.

 

[vcd_pat]

@ipdave - sorry, meant to make that clearer - I can't see the XP volume from a DOS boot floppy. If I go into Win2K's desktop, my HD with XP on it is visible but hardly any of the software will work - is that normal? I understand now... the reason I can't see my XP Volume from a DoS boot IS because it's an NTFS formatted HD. So, is there any way of viewing an NTFS HD from DoS? If not, then how am I supposed to reinstall XP from DoS?

 

[vcd_pat]

@wedge - Ok, let me try and explain this a bit more clearly... I booted in Win2K, clicked on my XP Volume from Windows Explorer, right clicked on the drive (this is the one that won't boot up) and then TOOLS tab. I ticked both the boxes about scanning, I got the message that it could only schedule a scan and repair if I was to reboot. NOW, the problem is - is that if I try to boot from my XP Volume in order to do the scan and repair, it doesn't get any further than the Start PC in Safe Mode! So it's not a matter of me not letting it schedule a scan and repair, it's the fact that it's unable to do it, period

 

[vcd_pat]

@wedge - I don't know if I was ever able to boot from the XP CD as I upgraded Win2K to XP via the desktop. If I could gain access to boot from the CD, yes I could install the OS into a different folder but surely then when the OS booted up it wouldn't know where to look to boot the system? I guess a way around it would be to rename the WINNT folder and then reinstall but I can't do that in DoS as it's in NTFS format... this is driving me crazy!!

 

[ipdave]

If you cannot boot from the CD (check your BIOS settings to be sure that you boot 1st from CD, then HD), then you can make the boot floppies from the XP CD in Win2k, or you can download them from Microsoft's download site.

Then boot from the XP floppies with the CD in the drive, choose Repair, Automatic (or Fast) Repair.

Reboot and pick the XP from the boot menu. If it does not boot, try again with F8 and choose Safe Mode. If that works, you have a driver issue.

Be absolutely sure that you do NOT try to install XP to the same drive letter/partition that 2000 is on. That will overwrite 2000 and really mess things up...

 

[Wedge]

Be absolutely sure that you do NOT try to install XP to the same drive letter/partition that 2000 is on. That will overwrite 2000 and really mess things up...

I think this is the foremost issue in his mind. I wish I could be of more help.

 

[vcd_pat]

@ipdave - cheers mate - that seems like a very sensible thing to do. I have tried several times to boot from the cd first via the bios but it doesn't work - it comes up: booting from ATAPI CD ROM but then it bypasses it and continues to load my Win2K volume. I have visited the Microsoft site and downloaded the XP PRO Floppy Boot Install - it takes up 6 blank discs, is that the correct thing? Anyhow, I've made the boot discs but won't try it till tomorrow. My question is: as I don't appear to be able to boot from my CD, what settings should I have in the bios? My XP Drive as 1st, Win2K drive as 2nd? As for installing over the top of Win2K, I suppose I could always unplug the HDD with Win2K on it for the time being, that way - the reinstall of XP has no option but to overwrite the corrupt XP, right? I value your opinion - cheers.

 

[ipdave]

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My question is: as I don't appear to be able to boot from my CD, what settings should I have in the bios? My XP Drive as 1st, Win2K drive as 2nd? As for installing over the top of Win2K, I suppose I could always unplug the HDD with Win2K on it for the time being, that way - the reinstall of XP has no option but to overwrite the corrupt XP, right?
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The BIOS should have an option to boot IDE0, IDE1, Floppy, CDROM, and other choices sometimes. Make the CDROM #1, then IDE0. Don't try to boot from the 2nd disk. You can do this, but why? 2000 and XP boot menu allows you to choose which to boot, and they can be on any drive or partition, unlike Windows 9x.

If you unplug the 1st 2000 drive, then you must make the 2nd XP drive bootable and Active (Fdisk). You cannot have 2 active partitions without special boot manager software. I would not do this.

Instead, leave the 2000 (C drive) in as Master, and the D drive (XP) as slave. When you install or Repair XP, choose the 2nd disk, not the first. You can see both when you run setup. Then you cannot overwrite the C drive installation of 2000.

Both will then be in your startup/boot menu and you can choose which to boot into, as they will be separate installations on separate drives.

 

[vcd_pat]

ipdave - thanks once again... in MY bios I have options for: HDD-0, HDD-1, HDD-2, HDD-3, LAN, FLOPPY, CDROM, SCSI and something else I think. At the moment, My WinXP HD is HDD-0 and the Win2000 HD is HDD-1. I have got it currently set to HDD-1 as first boot device and the XP one as the 2nd boot device. So are you saying change my BIOS to CDROM as 1st device and the XP Drive (HDD-0) as 2nd device?? As for Master and Slave, I don't know which is which, a friend built this for me. All I know is that one is called: IC35L040AVVA07-0 and the other is: FUJITSU MPB3064ATU. I will try and work it out and post again soon.

 

[ipdave]

ipdave - thanks once again... in MY bios I have options for: HDD-0, HDD-1, HDD-2, HDD-3, LAN, FLOPPY, CDROM, SCSI and something else I think. At the moment, My WinXP HD is HDD-0 and the Win2000 HD is HDD-1. I have got it currently set to HDD-1 as first boot device and the XP one as the 2nd boot device. So are you saying change my BIOS to CDROM as 1st device and the XP Drive (HDD-0) as 2nd device?? As for Master and Slave, I don't know which is which, a friend built this for me. All I know is that one is called: IC35L040AVVA07-0 and the other is: FUJITSU MPB3064ATU. I will try and work it out and post again soon.

My bad. I thought I read that you had the 2000 drive as C (first, IDE0). If you upgraded 2000 to XP by running the setup from the 2000 GUI, then you need to know if you did an upgrade or fresh install.

1. BIOS: to boot from the CDROM, make it 1st. I keep my systems set this way so I can always boot from a CD when I want to - whether setting up a system or to run system utilities from a CD. Make your main HD IDE0 (or HD0). Keep it that way. Don't keep changing the boot drives in the BIOS, because this can cause other issues. Keep it simple.

2. HD: If XP is HDD-0, keep it that way. To tell which is the master and which is the slave, look in the main BIOS page; the first drive is 0, the second is 1. Or watch when you turn the system on and see which drive is master and slave (most BIOS's will tell you that exactly).

3. DUAL-BOOT or NOT: If you don't plan on dual-booting, save your important files (not programs, unless they are install programs) off the primary, HD0, C: drive. Run the XP setup by booting the CD or by the boot floppy method if the CD is not bootable (ex: not legal copy, not bootable sometimes). Choose to install on the first drive, choose Format NTFS (much more fault-tolerant than FAT32, and one of the reasons to use NT over Windows 9x anyway).

4. FRESH INSTALL: When you have so many problems as you are having, by saving your important files to another drive or CDR and then formatting AS you install, you begin fresh and don't keep existing problems. Upgrades can leave all kinds of trash on your system sometimes.

MY SUGGESTION:
Keep the XP drive as the primary boot drive, install fresh copy with formatting in NTFS, just use the secondary (2000) drive for data, install/setup original programs.

 

[Wedge]

ipdave - thanks once again... in MY bios I have options for: HDD-0, HDD-1, HDD-2, HDD-3, LAN, FLOPPY, CDROM, SCSI and something else I think. At the moment, My WinXP HD is HDD-0 and the Win2000 HD is HDD-1. I have got it currently set to HDD-1 as first boot device and the XP one as the 2nd boot device. So are you saying change my BIOS to CDROM as 1st device and the XP Drive (HDD-0) as 2nd device?? As for Master and Slave, I don't know which is which, a friend built this for me. All I know is that one is called: IC35L040AVVA07-0 and the other is: FUJITSU MPB3064ATU. I will try and work it out and post again soon.

ipdave has give you excellent advice about setting up your BIOS and formatting to NTFS as you install...

But, if your immediate goal is to get the larger drive that has XP Pro on it to boot then do as you have typed above: in the BIOS set the CDROM to 1st device, and the XP drive as the 2nd. This way you can boot from the CD after you restart the computer. Then you will be able to re-install XP in the same folder and get it up and running again.

*important* -- if you set the CDROM as the first device, restart, then, given a moment, you don't see the message "press any key to boot from the cd", then chances are that your CD isn't a bootable XP CD. Therefore, you will not be able to install XP this way.

Then you are stuck with letting the computer seek the 2nd device for boot-up purposes. If you set the XP drive as the 2nd device in the BIOS, then your computer will know what to do and it will look to that drive for what it needs.
If it does boot to XP then I guess this is what you wanted all along, so I hope it works.
However, if you have a missing or incompatible driver in the XP installation then you will probably get the Blue Screen. If you knew which driver was causing the problem then there is a way to work through this, but I'm kind of assuming that you wouldn't know.

You have already said that you can't seem to install XP while booted in Win2K. I don't know why this is, unless it is as you have already mentioned, problems with a FAT32 trying to install XP on an NTFS drive/partition.

Post back here or PM to let us know how it's going.

 

[vcd_pat]

just to mention, i worked out what HDD was what. My Primary Master is the ICL35L040 (with XP on it) and the Primary Slave is the FUJITSU with Win2K on it. So do I need to change the order of these? Will write more later. Cheers guys.

 

[Wedge]

No, you don't need to switch the Master and Slave. What you are looking for is the Boot Sequence. You want to make the CDROM the 1st boot device and the large drive the 2nd boot device.

 

[vcd_pat]

Thanks to everyone who has helped me SO much - I don't know what I would've done without you. I have a friend who is stopping by my place on his way home, he's going to try and help me repair XP but I'm going to use all the notes I've printed off from this thread. If I get it working successfully, I will post a message asap. Thanks again

 

[vcd_pat]

Well, thanks to everyone who helped me but I do believe I have exhausted all my efforts. I used the XP Boot disc (6 disc set - which I created from an installation via Microsoft's website) and tried to repair my current installation of XP (on HDD-0) but it couldn't copy files from my WinXP CD-ROM (even though I had no problems installing the OS first time round. I tried a clean install/overwrite the current WINNT folder and that failed too... It's without a doubt that my XP HDD is totally fu**ed! I can't even run the error-check without it saying that Windows Could Not Complete the Disc Check! Fortunately, I can still boot from my smaller hard drive with Win2K on it and access my XP HDD from there... so I believe NOW is the time that I have to choose which files I want to back up before I format the bloody thing! Geez, I'm so miserable right now. So, now - my next and probably final question for this thread is: After I've backed up critical programs/setups etc, can I just right click on the XP HD from within Win2K's Windows Explorer and choose format, then reinstall XP by booting up with the 6-disc XP Bootup Disc and choosing clean install? Look forward to your comments!

 

[vcd_pat]

Hey guys - update! - i believe that my XP CD may've been faulty as my HDD certainly wasn't after all, I have done every test I can find including an IBM Drive Fitness Test and a low level format and it detected NO errors. However, I had since been having further problems installing software on my working Win2K HDD, especially Install Shield based packages. I had been getting blue screens with random data on them, you know like STOP errors and the 0x00000008 and the like. Last night, I had this notion of testing my RAM - took one stick out, booted pc and got a black screen, replaced it and took the other one out and voila, a working pc! Since yesterday it hasn't crashed, had no conflicts, everything i've downloaded has installed successfully - so it looks as though it was a problem with my RAM all along. I have a feeling that the RAM could've been causing problems with my XP install too.... will keep you posted.

 

[Wedge]

Cool news, vcd_pat!

I hope that is the only problem as it is easily remedied. I'm interested to know if you discover why XP wouldn't install so do keep me posted.

 

[vcd_pat]

@Wedge - check your PM.