IDE boot probs

  • Thread starter Thread starter GlowingBlueMist
  • Start date Start date
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GlowingBlueMist

My mighty backup PC, Asus MB 2.66 Pent 4 running XP Pro
has died. All of a sudden, as in overnight, it will not
boot from a HD.

Will boot from floppy and from CD just fine.

Try boot from HD and I get NTLDR not found, I get
Boot Image not found, or it just recycles to try to
reboot (unsuccessfully). Never actually boots.

I have flashed bios, replaced the IDE cable, tried
different HDs.

btw - all HDs boot successfully in a different pc.

What might this be? A bad HD controller on the MoBo??

thanks

chuck
Click to expand...
Just a few basic suggestions that come to mind at this stage.

Yes it could be a bad IDE controller or the system BIOS just needing
reset to factory default and reconfigured, possibly due to a weak
motherboard battery.

If you have not tried it yet, try to put a HD on the same cable as the
CD or in place of the CD and see what happens.

Many times the problem is a power supply that can no longer handle the
power load necessary to properly spin up and run a HD while still being
able to run a CD.

A partially defective memory module can cause this kind of problem if
the bad section is in the memory range of the drive controller. Run a
memory test from one of the Linux Live CD's or a floppy based memory
test and verify yours is still good.

Visually check the motherboard capacitors for any that are bulging or
leaking.

As you can tell, you still have more troubleshooting to do.
 
My mighty backup PC, Asus MB 2.66 Pent 4 running XP Pro
has died. All of a sudden, as in overnight, it will not
boot from a HD.

Will boot from floppy and from CD just fine.

Try boot from HD and I get NTLDR not found, I get
Boot Image not found, or it just recycles to try to
reboot (unsuccessfully). Never actually boots.

I have flashed bios, replaced the IDE cable, tried
different HDs.

btw - all HDs boot successfully in a different pc.

What might this be? A bad HD controller on the MoBo??

thanks

chuck
 
cciaffone said:
My mighty backup PC, Asus MB 2.66 Pent 4 running XP Pro
has died. All of a sudden, as in overnight, it will not
boot from a HD.

Will boot from floppy and from CD just fine.

Try boot from HD and I get NTLDR not found, I get
Boot Image not found, or it just recycles to try to
reboot (unsuccessfully). Never actually boots.

I have flashed bios, replaced the IDE cable, tried
different HDs.

btw - all HDs boot successfully in a different pc.

What might this be? A bad HD controller on the MoBo??

thanks

chuck
Click to expand...

Your case is pretty hard to say which is the main source of the problem. I
would suggest to locate an old discontinued util called Winternal Erd
Commander and boot from it, and there is a chance that it may fix the
problem.

It has saved me lot of booting problem with my older WinXP for years, I
read MicroSoft bought the company or product sometime ago, and I don't know
what MicroSoft gonna do with it (kill it?). I was using the 2005 version.
 
My mighty backup PC, Asus MB 2.66 Pent 4 running XP Pro
has died. All of a sudden, as in overnight, it will not
boot from a HD.

Will boot from floppy and from CD just fine.

Try boot from HD and I get NTLDR not found, I get
Boot Image not found, or it just recycles to try to
reboot (unsuccessfully). Never actually boots.

I have flashed bios, replaced the IDE cable, tried
different HDs.

btw - all HDs boot successfully in a different pc.

What might this be? A bad HD controller on the MoBo??
Click to expand...

"NTLDR not found" pops up all the time when the hardware is perfectly
good, even when NTLDR is on the boot drive. Try a self-booting hard
drive diagnostic, like Seagate SeaTools, Hitachi Drive Fitness Test,
HDAT2, MHDD, or one of the programs on The Ultimate Boot CD.
 
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