HELP:Loading a new build of MS OS which never starts

[rootcause]

Help please..

I have never seen this before, so not sure where to look..

I had a issue with my system a week or so ago and now when i turn it on it says i have a file issue.. I have copied the file over, restarted and then it say there is another one missing etc.. so in the end i thought i would just rebuild..

I installed the disk and it all started to boot, said i wanted to delete the partion and reformat, which it did.. but when it rebooted and came back up, it said there was another file system on he disk.. I have tried a quick format, full format.. tried it with windows 2000, xp and xp64 on the machine.. I have pulled all the raid disks out, leaving just the boot disk in, which i use for the OS, I have unplugged the memory and only used 1Gb, then tried it again with another, thinking it could of been the memory?? After formatting, it copies file on to the drive, then restarts and does it all again.. Why.. Has anyone got any idea?? Oh yes I also put a new ide drive in replace of the old boot disk..

HAppy new year!! J

 

[Freestone]

I am having a little difficulty understanding the failing point of the installs. It's probably me not having coffee yet .

A usual install from CD for 2000 or XP goes something you describe, i.e. format drive, copy files then reboot.

Upon reboot are you letting it boot from the hard drive and not the CD drive? If not, then the install will indeed find another operating system.

 

[BadBigBen]

Actually I never came across a situation such as yours...

but I would look at the BIOS, e.g. update it, then load DEFAULT SETTINGS, and try it again...

to nuke a new DRIVE, I use the DBAN utility, it comes in either a bootable Floppy or CD...

http://www.dban.org/

once nuked, with the RAID not attached and turned off in the BIOS, try to install once more...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[goombawaho]

Run the hard drive manufacturer's disk utility to see if the drive is okay. My bet is that the drive is having problems physically. I download the Ultimate Boot CD and burn it because it has most of the major brands' utilities right on it for you.

 

[Sympology]

I'd go with Boot and Nuke. i had an issue where I just could not get windows to format a drive correctly (full format, quick format worked but then IOS would just hand all the time). It justy kept saying "unable to format".

Nuke'd it and all is swimming!

Most people spend their time on the "urgent" rather than on the "important."

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^^ But not if there are defects on the hard drive. You always test hardware at the lowest level before assuming or moving on to software as the problem.

 

[firewolfrl]

I am going to reach out in left field and say either your motherboard is failing or the CPU is having issues.
you can try powermax and zero the drive

http://majorgeeks.com/Maxtor_Powermax_d1386.html

not really sure that your drive is the issue

something to look at is the CPU temps in the BIOS...is the CPU running hot?


I am betting you have a failure in the motherboard

 

[vacunita]

I installed the disk and it all started to boot, said i wanted to delete the partion and reformat, which it did.. but when it rebooted and came back up, it said there was another file system on he disk.

This to me signals that you might have boot into the CD again. Reboot and let it boot normally into the hard drive. If it boots into the CD it will try to run the installation again form the beginning, and will of course detect the previous installation attempt.

Just let it bypass the CD drive so it can continue to boot from the hard drive and continue with the installation.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Freestone]

Just what I had said, vacunita ;-)

 

[vacunita]

Ohh yea sorry about that. Missed your post among all those other hardware failure and other extreme reasons posts.

Anyway, seems to me that would be a reasonable assumption. Not sure they'd be a reason for that if the install were booting from the hard drive.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Freestone]

My reasoning too. It seems the easiest answer. Hopefully the OP will give us an update.

 

[rootcause]

Hi All,

Thank u for your advice and thoughts about this.. I have tried everything and more as well.. Never seen anything like it before either, but think i have cracked it now!!

So just to recap:

PC failed and wouldn't boot because of NTLDR is missing, so loaded on another copy of the os, so i could copy the file across.. good job i did, cos when each file had been copied over and rebooted, there was another file missing?? (If u get me)

Decided to wipe the disk and reinstall the os again, didn't think anythong of it, as i could look at the directories and installed the second os.. So install started, i deleted the old partion, reformatted, the system copied over the file for the next step of the install, i got my 15 second reboot window, system went down, but instead of it coming back up with the gui window install, is started from the begining again and thats all it would do!!! Things i tried are.. Removed all the raid drives and additional raid card, Nuked the ide drive, changed the ide drive, swapped and moved memeory about, even took all of it out apart from one strip and changed that too! Checked the hard drive for issues on another machine, booted from a floppy and formatted, burnt a boot disk, so i could update the bios.. then found a boot bios imagine on the intel site and tried that.. This is when i got a glims of what it could be... when the disk booted at the end there was a message, saying it couldn't find the DVD/CDrom, which i thought was werid.. So i checked the IDE settings and couldn't see anything wrong, both units were set to cable select, so i tried master and slave, done the same thing..Gutted!! So as all my hope and options were running out, i managed to find a old cdrom drive and hey presto!!! the bios iso loaded and now the oS is installed!! Just need to try and salvage the Raid disks now and i will be happy once more.. lol

So has anyone seen this before??? I.e look at the directories, of the rom drive and hard drive that are on the same bus, it allows u to load another copy on the hard drive, u can copy things across, but when doing a fresh install it fails, but also has anyone seen a DVD/CDrom drive knacker a system to that depth and had actually shut it down???

Thank u all for your help,

Julian

 

[BadBigBen]

Yep, now with that elaborate explanation it does make sense and rings a bell...

I've seen PC's where the BIOS would not allow an install to complete, until I downgraded it...

I've seen a drive that would allow the install of the OS to go smooth, until it tried to boot from it and then bonk... brand new drive...

with most errors, like the ones you have described, I usually found that to be due to two things, RAM errors and install CD's that where burned too fast...

oh, and only one time where the CD drive would not work to install the OS...

but glad you found the problem...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[rootcause]

Ah.. So now i have it up and running and to what i thought would be a easy process.. Can anyone tell me how to recover the raid disks i had running??

System.. Had a boot disk harddrive and then a raid 5 setup running, but on the new boot disk build I have lost the raid settings... How can i recover all the data on tho's raid disk?? please don't tell me i have lost it all...

there must be a way??

Best wishes,

Julian