XP Will Not Load

[KenP]

Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk failure

on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

failing.



Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

configuration then screen goes black and that's it.



Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

original PC and no can read error comes up.



Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.



Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly appreciated.



KenP

 

[philo]

KenP wrote:

> Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk failure

> on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

> failing.

>

> Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

> cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

> will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

> configuration then screen goes black and that's it.

>

> Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

> PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

> original PC and no can read error comes up.

>

> Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

> cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.

>

> Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

>

> KenP







run a ram test

 

[sgopus]

This sounds more of a hardware question than xp general, try that group

instead.



"KenP" wrote:



> Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk failure

> on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

> failing.

>

> Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

> cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

> will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

> configuration then screen goes black and that's it.

>

> Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

> PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

> original PC and no can read error comes up.

>

> Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

> cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.

>

> Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

>

> KenP

 

[LVTravel]

"KenP" wrote in message

news:050F306C-D098-48EB-910F-374B27081BF7@microsoft.com...

> Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk

> failure

> on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

> failing.

>

> Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

> cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

> will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

> configuration then screen goes black and that's it.

>

> Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

> PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

> original PC and no can read error comes up.

>

> Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

> cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.

>

> Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly

> appreciated.

>

> KenP



The old Zip drive must be set as the slave device on the EIDE (PATA) cable

and the WD drive must be set as Master with Slave present. The old Iomega

Zip drives had a tendency to cause issues if they were set to cable select

so ensure that the drives jumpers are set correctly. I know the new WD

drive has instructions on the top of the drive for the jumper positions. I

can't remember if the Zip drive does but IIRC the slave position is the

middle of the three positions on the jumper block between the power

connector and the data cable connector.



Let us know if this helps.

 

[Jose]

On Apr 6, 5:14 pm, philo wrote:

> KenP wrote:

> > Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk failure

> > on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

> > failing.

>

> > Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

> > cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

> > will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

> > configuration then screen goes black and that's it.

>

> > Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

> > PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

> > original PC and no can read error comes up.

>

> > Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

> > cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.

>

> > Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

>

> > KenP

>

> run a ram test



Have you reduced things down to just the minimum components to achieve

the most basic configuration possible?



One HDD, one motherboard, one cable (and power of course) and nothing

else (remove the ZIP drive or any other drive entirely from the

equation). Concentrate your efforts on getting that simple

configuration working first, then start adding your other stuff back

one thing at a time. Do not waste time just trying things.



What does the the "no can read error" really say or does it say "no

can read"?



If you decide you want to run a RAM test, maybe you would like to also

know how to do it:



Run a test of your RAM with memtest86+ (I know it is boring and will

cost you a CD).



Memtest86+ is a more up to date version of the old memtest program and

they are not the same.



The memtest86+ will not run under Windows, so you will need to

download the ISO file and create a bootable CD, boot on that and then

run the memtest86+ program.



If even a single error is reported that is a failure and should make

you suspicious of your RAM.



If you have multiple sticks of RAM you may need to run the test on

them one at a time and change them out to isolate the failure to a

particular single stick. Always keep at least the first bank of RAM

occupied so the test will find something to do and there is enough to

boot your system.



Sometimes, reseating the RAM in the slots will relieve the error but a

failure is still cause for suspicion.



The file and instructions are here:



http://www.memtest.org/



If someone says to run memtest86, you can say that you know memtest86+

supercedes memtest86 and here's why:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86

 

[KenP]

Did that w/no errs.



"philo" wrote:



> KenP wrote:

> > Dell Dimension PC w/Win XP Pro - Started getting msg bout hard disk failure

> > on startup. Ran diagnostics and rec'd error code indicating drive was

> > failing.

> >

> > Purchased and installed new WD Cav Blue drive. Drive has Zip Drive on same

> > cable. Tried all kinds of combos. Removed zip, reset jumpers and still XP

> > will not load. Initial blue screen comes up indicating set up is checking

> > configuration then screen goes black and that's it.

> >

> > Thought it mite be cause new drive not partitioned so put drive in another

> > PC w/same XP O/S cd and it installed and loaded w/o problem. Then put in

> > original PC and no can read error comes up.

> >

> > Have talked w/WDC T/S and they say it not drive and I agree. I've changed

> > cables tween HD and MB with no diff results.

> >

> > Two or three hairs short of hairless. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

> >

> > KenP

>

>

>

> run a ram test

> .

>