[cmorris]

My friend has given me a PC to look at . The problem is Windows just cycles round so as the PC has Windows XP I was going to recover it using a XP CD Rom.

The problem is that when I put an XP CD Rom into the
CD R/RW it struggles to read and says

Searching for Boot Record for CD/DVD 0

I then tried my other DVD Drive in the place of the CD R/RW a red error displays on the screen

IDE Drive Installation

for best reliability & performance Please change the stand alone slave drive to master

Can anyone help me on this issue.

[cmorris]

As my DV Drive has no jumpers on the back and I want it to read CD's when machne boots do I need to put a jumper on the back (It has no picture btw to indicate which is Master etc)

[max99]

Using best guess interpretation: either connect your DVD drive as a slave on the Primary IDE cable or as Master on the Secondary IDE cable. It's rare for a drive not to have a label or engraving for the jumper placement, so look carefully, use guesswork or Google for the model.

Either way, also ensure the original drive is disconnected and the correct device and boot order is selected in the BIOS.

[cmorris]

On my motherboard I have 1 Blue IDE Slot on right and 1 Black slot on Left. The HDD is on the blue slot and the current DVD Drive is on the right .

I have changed them arround and it comes up with the IDE error in Red and it does the same when I take the cable out of the CD R/RW and put it in the DVD R/W Drive

The cable connected to the Blue IDE (Right) on the motherboard is connected to the HDD Drive and is the Pri Master and the cable is blue at the motherboard end

The cable connecting the CD R/W is on the black IDE on the motherboard (Left) and is Sec Master and the cable is black at the motherboard end .

Sec Slave is not detected when both CD or DVD Drives are connected one after other.

On my CD R/RW there is a jumper on the last two prongs on the right . If I remove them and put them on my DVD R/W exactly the same place as I took them off the CD R/W will it work when I plug the drive in and remove the cable from the CD R/W an put it on the DVD/RW

[s2k]

I believe no jumpers at all is cable select? It should say on the markings of the drive but if thats the case then the other device on the ribbon needs to be set to cable select also and the ribbon needs to be a fully-wired one.

Personally i've never trusted CS to work and always set 1 thing to master and the other as slave.

[max99]

Unplug the old CD drive completely. Connect your drive to the second connector on the blue Primary cable (unless it's one of the cheap & nasty cables which only have one connector).

But first of all, when you get the red error message in your first post, are you sure you can't just press a key or something to ignore it?

[cmorris]

No it doesn't allow me to do anything

[cmorris]

You're a Star Thanks!

It has come to Press a key to boot from CD/DVD but when I do it does nothing

[max99]

Originally Posted by cmorris

You're a Star Thanks!

It has come to Press a key to boot from CD/DVD but when I do it does nothing

If you mean it ignores any keypress, it's often a USB keyboard issue. If that's what you're using, try plugging in a PS2 keyboard instead.

But if it does actually start booting from the Windows disk and then nothing happens, try leaving it for a good 10 minutes or try another Windows disk. If you can't boot from any Windows disk, you're going to have a problem fixing this.

[cmorris]

No it works now I have made sure a CD Boots after pressing a Key and it does ad tomorrw I will recover files using Mini Windows XP.

Can you recover a damaged Windows XP Home Edition as when I used a XP Professional disk it went through the initialising drivers process of CD Bootup but couldn't find a Windows edition on the drive only partitioned and unpartitioned space.

But the PC does try and boot into Windows though and then cycles round after a quick flash of a Blue Screen error with white writing

[max99]

Recover the files first and then you can have a go at repairing Windows. When you want to recover files from a non-booting Windows installation, it's sometimes easier to remove the hard drive and connect it to another machine via a USB caddy/adapter or use a Linux live CD.

Once you're sure all the data is safely backed up, you can trying running the chkdsk /r command via the Recovery Console on the Windows disk. It will take a good hour, but has a good success rate with various file corruption problems. If you suspect the Windows partition is corrupted, you can use a tool like Easeus Partition Recovery. Or just carry out a repair install of Windows. The problem with Windows boot errors is that you can spend hours trying to get it to boot and, even if you're successful, you might be confronted with a system full of malware or still need to find the original cause of the problem. Sometimes it's easier just to go for the clean install.

Edit: The blue screen error will occasional point you in the right direction. To read it, keep tapping F8 to call up the Windows boot menu and select 'Disable Automatic Restart...'.

[cmorris]

Can I use that via Mini Windows XP as that is what I am using to copythe file and tansfer them to a USB Stick (as I found all the files of the User specified)

Keep tapping F8 on the reboot or the blue screen?

and how can I reapir windows using recovery when I am presented with the Windows XP screen and no way of finding out if I have a copy of XP on the Hard Drive (It only shows Partitioned and Unpartitioned space)

[Akane Tendo]

Originally Posted by cmorris

and how can I reapir windows using recovery when I am presented with the Windows XP screen and no way of finding out if I have a copy of XP on the Hard Drive (It only shows Partitioned and Unpartitioned space)

What are you on about? Surely you can get an xp disc and try and do a repair on the drive? Why is that difficult?

[Akane Tendo]

Originally Posted by max99

Recover the files first and then you can have a go at repairing Windows. When you want to recover files from a non-booting Windows installation, it's sometimes easier to remove the hard drive and connect it to another machine via a USB caddy/adapter or use a Linux live CD.

Yeah that's what I'd do, use a linux rescue CD to recover files. If you can't fix windows then I guess you would format the drive and install a fresh copy of Windows on. Unless of course the hard drive is on it's last legs.

[cmorris]

Originally Posted by Akane Tendo

What are you on about? Surely you can get an xp disc and try and do a repair on the drive? Why is that difficult?

I have a Windows XP Pro CD and Mini Windows XP (I will be using Mini XP for file and folder recovery)

Can I use the XP Pro CD to repair an installation of XP Home. (as its jsut boot up pblems)

I will also chdisk on Mini Windows XP.

There isn't anything wron with this machine. I did a scan and it worked

[cmorris]

I am now running malware bytes as Avast has found a few trojans

[cmorris]

Found all and removed.

[cmorris]

Please Help!

Windows dd an automatic update and downloaded Windows Service Pack 3 tio the PC and once installed asked me to reboot.

I did this and now Windows won't load - the splash screen won't load

Am running Chkdsk in Mini Windows XP

Help!!!

[cmorris]

iGNOREE

[cmorris]

Don't ignore Post 18 I really need your help

[mred2000]

And people PAY you to help with their computer issues?!?

[cmorris]

This is not funny it was woking perfectly well earlier and after an automatic update the machine doesn't load windows

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by cmorris

This is not funny it was woking perfectly well earlier and after an automatic update the machine doesn't load windows

Re-install from the backup you SHOULD have made before undertaking a major upgrade to windows!

[cmorris]

Did't make 1 howcould I when I didn't even know this was going on. It updated in background and installed on it s own accord

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by cmorris

Did't make 1

You should know better than that