Can’t boot up when 2nd drive installed… 2

[rdy4trvl]

There’s actually more to this problem. My computer froze while downloading a large PDF and I could not get it to reboot (and Dell couldn’t figure it out either). So I swapped my hard drive (I’ll call this one December drive) with my backup hard drive (I’ll call this my November drive) and booted with no problem and figured I’d simply copy files to update my backup drive. Using windows explorer I accessed the December drive, but it quickly crashed the computer and I could not reboot again until I disconnected the December Drive.

When I boot up with the December drive connected (as the slave) I get the "Dell" Screen, then a quick flash of a blue screen with white text - too fast to read, then the computer asks if I'd like to start in safe mode, normal, last known... None work - it simply returns to blue screen, then asks the same reboot question.

Any ideas how to salvage my data, settings, etc on the December drive?

Thanks

 

[franklin97355]

Have you tried setting Dec up as master or slave on the second IDE connector? Otherwise you might try one of the Linux recovery disks or take it to a professional.

 

[rdy4trvl]

Thanks Franklin - I have tried the Dec as the Slave on the second IDE with no luck....as for Dec/2nd IDE - could I do that just by changing the pin on the drive?

 

[franklin97355]

The pin on the drive sets master or slave. the first and second IDE connections are the plugs/cables on the motherboard.

 

[rdy4trvl]

Update...for better or worse...
Ran Chkdsk and it reported it fixed one or more errors...
then Ran Fixboot...then Fixmbr
After each I attempted to boot with no success. Now it starts to boot...then I receive a blue screen saying the autocheck is not found...skip autocheck....then a second blue screen that flashes so quick its unreadable....then the process starts all over...and continues to loop through this sequence.
I may have make it worse?!? NExt step is probably to just reinstall windows....I'll wait til Monday for that.
Thanks

 

[edemiere]

Well, if you haven't formatted yet and have access to program like Partition Magic, I would check, if there is more than 1 drive in your system with a partition marked as "ACTIVE", then this might well be your problem.

Windows has NEVER responded well to more than one active partition and simply using partition magic to remove the "ACTIVE" status of the partition might alleviate your problem.

Just something to consider or try before you give up and wipe any data you want to save.

Cheers!


P.S.
Stuff like this is why I stick with FAT32 so I can easily retrieve stuff off a failed HDD.

 

[Crowley16]

you might consider a different approach to this problem...

I assume that if you only have your novemeber hdd attached, it boots fine right?

so, maybe you should get a hdd caddy, and put your december hdd in it, then connect it up as an usb external hdd...

I'm not 100% sure how much such caddys would cost though...

P.s. remember to have your novemeber hdd set to Master AND december hdd set to slave, Or put those 2 on different ide slots...

--------------------
Procrastinate Now!

 

[rdy4trvl]

Boots fine with the November (backup disk). And there is only one partition on the disk.

I do have a caddy but never got it to work (not related to the above crash). If it had...my backup would be current.

Anyone suggest any data recovery software. I can't afford the commercial data recovery route again.

Thanks

 

[rdy4trvl]

Near miraculous – equivalent to the Virgin Mary appearing on a grilled-cheese – I was able to retrieve my data. I ran CHKDSK, FixBoot, Fixmbr and Western Digitals own disk repair and hooked the drive up as a slave and its back! Thanks for your help, suggestions, etc!