Second hard drive causing blue screen error

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob H
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob H

I have two hard drives. I was using one for storage and the other to run
WindowsXP. I received a "blue screen" error on the Windows drive and was
unable to reboot without the error re-appearing.



I then disconnected that drive and installed windows on the other drive with
the intention of recovering files off the first. This is where my issue
begins. When I hook up 4-pin cord as well as the 20/24-pin cord the pc
reboots and I get the blue screen error.



I thought that I would be able to hook up the old drive and access files as
if the drive was storage.



Is there a way I can access this drive as if it were storage? What may be
causing the error? Are two instances of Windows XP trying to run on
reboot?



Any suggestions are appreciated.



Thanks, Bob
 
It is impossible for two instances of XP to attempt to boot a PC.
You probably need to go into BIOS setup and change the boot order of the
hard drives to boot from the one with the fresh install on it. Some BIOS's
will change the primary boot hard drive if a new drive is connected.
 
Assuming you jumpered the drives correctly.
Its also possible that the hd has failed, and that is preventing the boot up
and giving the BSOD
If you have an external drive, eg usb,case try that.
 
Excuse my ignorance, but can you direct me to a site that may tell me how I
would do this? Can can this be done without having both plugged in, I mean
can I set a boot order without having the second connected?

thanks, Bob
 
Bob H said:
Excuse my ignorance, but can you direct me to a site that may tell me how
I would do this? Can can this be done without having both plugged in, I
mean can I set a boot order without having the second connected?

thanks, Bob
Click to expand...


Bob:
First of all, when posing questions of this nature it's always a good idea
to give some details about the components involved and your precise
action(s) in trying to overcome the problem. For example...

1. What is the make & model of your "old" HDD, your original boot HDD and
your previous storage HDD?
2. How were they originally connected & configured (jumpered)? I presume
they are PATA (not SATA) HDDs, right? And presumably the boot HDD was
connected to the Primary IDE channel as a Master device, yes? What about the
"storage" HDD was it connected as a Slave to the boot drive? Or connected to
the secondary IDE channel? How is it jumpered?
3. What's the make & model of your motherboard?
4. When this problem first arose, is there any clue as to why it occurred?
Had you just made some software or hardware changes? Did it just occur "out
of the blue"?
5. After the problem arose, did you try booting to Safe Mode Options? Do you
know what this is? If not, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222
No luck?
6. You're pretty sure your PC is free of viruses and other malware?
7. You mentioned that you disconnected the original boot HDD and then did a
fresh install onto the "storage" (secondary) HDD. Did you reconnect that
latter HDD or does it occupy the same position it has always had? Did you
change the jumper setting?
9. When you installed the XP OS onto that second HDD, did the install go
without incident? No problems during the installation process? It was only
after you completed the install and the system rebooted that you got the
BSOD?
8. In your original posting you stated "When I hook up 4-pin cord as well as
the 20/24-pin cord the pc reboots and ...". Is there some reason you're
mentioning your power supply connection and (I assume) your 4-pin ATX12V
power plug connection? Has there been some problem here or are you just
indicating you're powering up the computer?

Why don't you respond to the above and then we can go on if you want?
Anna
 
Anna said:
Bob:
First of all, when posing questions of this nature it's always a good idea
to give some details about the components involved and your precise
action(s) in trying to overcome the problem. For example...

1. What is the make & model of your "old" HDD, your original boot HDD and
your previous storage HDD?
2. How were they originally connected & configured (jumpered)? I presume
they are PATA (not SATA) HDDs, right? And presumably the boot HDD was
connected to the Primary IDE channel as a Master device, yes? What about
the "storage" HDD was it connected as a Slave to the boot drive? Or
connected to the secondary IDE channel? How is it jumpered?
3. What's the make & model of your motherboard?
4. When this problem first arose, is there any clue as to why it occurred?
Had you just made some software or hardware changes? Did it just occur
"out of the blue"?
5. After the problem arose, did you try booting to Safe Mode Options? Do
you know what this is? If not, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222
No luck?
6. You're pretty sure your PC is free of viruses and other malware?
7. You mentioned that you disconnected the original boot HDD and then did
a fresh install onto the "storage" (secondary) HDD. Did you reconnect that
latter HDD or does it occupy the same position it has always had? Did you
change the jumper setting?
9. When you installed the XP OS onto that second HDD, did the install go
without incident? No problems during the installation process? It was only
after you completed the install and the system rebooted that you got the
BSOD?
8. In your original posting you stated "When I hook up 4-pin cord as well
as the 20/24-pin cord the pc reboots and ...". Is there some reason you're
mentioning your power supply connection and (I assume) your 4-pin ATX12V
power plug connection? Has there been some problem here or are you just
indicating you're powering up the computer?

Why don't you respond to the above and then we can go on if you want?
Anna
Click to expand...
1) The "old" HDD that will not boot without going BSoD is a Western
Digital WD 800JB (WD Caviar SE), this was originally my HDD that would boot
XP, the other HDD which I wiped and used for storage was MAXTOR D740X-6L
(MAXTOR 6L040J2 ). When the Western Digital began the BSoD I disconnected
the HDD, left only the MAXTOR which I installed XP on. Now I cannot connect
both as I get the BSoD from the Western Digital

2) The connections are PATA, all from the same ribbon, does that answer
the question?

3) Motherboard is: ABIT http://www.abit.com.tw VT8366A-8233 (KR7A) v1.0 ~
(KR7A Raid)
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG 11/23/2001

4) When the problem first occurred.. I have no idea why it happened. The
BSoD message was along the lines of "windows encountered an error, if this
is the first time reboot blah blah blah". Attempting to boot in safe mode
is no good as I get the same BSoD.

5) No luck with Safe Mode, I get the BSoD

6) The PC is virus free, regular Norton scans, three or four different
spyware scanners

7) The cable settings have changed, I disconnected the bad HDD and
installed one the good. Now hooking both up results in the blue screen.

8) The was no reason to mention the power supply other than to mention
what I was hooking up to the drive.

9) Previous to the BSOD the MAXTOR was wiped drive with nothing on it.
The Western Digital was running XP. BSOD appeared so I disconnected it and
installed XP on the MAXTOR and disconnected the Western Digital
 
To reiterate; If the old drive has failed its quite possible you will not be
able to boot whilst it is connected.
This is a common problem with a failed drive, when its connected as a slave.
 
Bob H said:
1) The "old" HDD that will not boot without going BSoD is a Western
Digital WD 800JB (WD Caviar SE), this was originally my HDD that would
boot XP, the other HDD which I wiped and used for storage was MAXTOR
D740X-6L (MAXTOR 6L040J2 ). When the Western Digital began the BSoD I
disconnected the HDD, left only the MAXTOR which I installed XP on. Now I
cannot connect both as I get the BSoD from the Western Digital

2) The connections are PATA, all from the same ribbon, does that answer
the question?

3) Motherboard is: ABIT http://www.abit.com.tw VT8366A-8233 (KR7A) v1.0
~ (KR7A Raid)
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG 11/23/2001

4) When the problem first occurred.. I have no idea why it happened.
The BSoD message was along the lines of "windows encountered an error, if
this is the first time reboot blah blah blah". Attempting to boot in safe
mode is no good as I get the same BSoD.

5) No luck with Safe Mode, I get the BSoD

6) The PC is virus free, regular Norton scans, three or four different
spyware scanners

7) The cable settings have changed, I disconnected the bad HDD and
installed one the good. Now hooking both up results in the blue screen.

8) The was no reason to mention the power supply other than to mention
what I was hooking up to the drive.

9) Previous to the BSOD the MAXTOR was wiped drive with nothing on it.
The Western Digital was running XP. BSOD appeared so I disconnected it
and installed XP on the MAXTOR and disconnected the Western Digital
Click to expand...


Bob:
The real question here (at least for the initial diagnoses) is why did your
WD HDD become unbootable to begin with? The fact that you freshly installed
XP on your Maxtor HDD and that too didn't boot indicates that the problem
may be hardware-related. Presumably both HDDs wouldn't be defective at the
same time and you've no reason to suspect this, right? You could, of course,
check out the disks with a HDD diagnostic from the disk's manufacturer
(probably either the WD or Maxtor diagnostic will work with both drives)
although it does seem highly unlikely that you would have two HDDs becoming
simultaneously defective. (That explains why I was asking you about your PS
comment in your OP)

And just to confirm...after the WD became unbootable and you disconnected it
from the system and before you installed XP on the Maxtor, did you change
the Maxtor's connection so that it would be now connected to the Primary IDE
channel as Master (just like the WD before it)? And, of course, change its
jumper setting accordingly? Or was it still connected as a Slave when you
installed XP on it? Anyway, if the Maxtor isn't now connected as Primary
Master, do so connect it as such and try a boot (the WD still being
disconnected, of course).

And just to confirm again...when you installed XP on the Maxtor, this was a
fresh install of the OS, right? And the install went without a hitch right
to the end of the installation process, right? And only then when the system
rebooted did you get the BSOD, right? You said that the Maxtor was a "wiped
drive"; how were you able to do this if your WD wasn't bootable? Or had the
Maxtor been previously "wiped"?

When you get into your BIOS (I assume you know how to do this), any clue
there re HDD recognition (or lack of)? BIOS elements relating to HDD seem
proper?

Assuming no luck along the lines we've discussed, do this...

1. Disconnect your HDDs from the system. Ditto for your soundcard or any
other external devices.
2. Power on with *only* your power supply, processor, heatsink, CPU fan, RAM
modules, and graphics card connected. Nothing else. And confirm that those
components are properly seated. If you have a PS tester, use it.
3. Do you get a screen display? If so, any error-type messages?
Anna
 
Depends entirely on your system as to how it's done, view the manual or
consult online help.
Yes, both drives need to be connected, and BIOS setup is accessed before the
Windows OS boots, usually using the delete, F1, F2, or some other key
stroke.
 
Sorry for causing confusion but the MAXTOR is booting just fine, when no
other HDD is hooked up. The Western Digital is the problem drive.

XP was running on the Western Digital. The MAXTOR was being used as
storage, it was blank. Then one day the BSoD began. I disconnected the
Western Digital and installed XP on the MAXTOR, leaving the Western Digital
disconnected. Now I am attempting to access the Western Digital. And in
order to do that I must hook it up. When I hook up the Western Digital, the
system reboots and I get BSoD, if I hook up only the Western Digital and
leave the MAXTOR disconnected I get the BSoD. Having only the MAXTOR hooked
up I have no issues. It appears the PC wants to boot from the Western
Digital. Is there a way to not have the Western Digital hooked up but not
have the HDD try to run XP?
 
How would I access the files on that disc? I hook it up and get BSoD, can I
hook it up and not have it try to run, just merely show up as a drive that I
can retrieve what I need? I just want to copy files from that disc. I
will be happy to retrieve my "trapped" files then wipe it clean. Sorry if
was causing confusion.
 
I have been into the BIOS setup, and have seen the boot sequence, but I am
unsure how to specify sequence, research to come. Can I have it hooked up
and not boot but just be accessible?
 
It depends on the make/model of the PC and motherboard, some allow you to
specify which hard drive to boot from if more than one is installed, some
don't.
You can have it as the non bootable drive, just have to figure out how to
get it to boot from the new one, which I believe was the point of your OP.
 
Ok, so now I research on how have it as a non bootable drive, and the other
as the OS? This should be in the BIOS setup yes? thanks again
 
Yes, if your BIOS has the option to select which installed hard drive to
boot from, it's usually in a subsection of the main boot options page where
you set boot order for your drives (floppy, cd, hard, and so on).
 
Age really makes no difference, any component in your PC can fail at any
time with no warning regardless of it's age.
 
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