"Error loading OS" on new SATA HDD

[pmonett]

My PC is an AMD 64 3500 on an ASUS A8N-SLI mobo
Disk 0 : Maxtor SATA 200GB (on SATA 1 - new)
Disk 1 : Maxtor SATA 200GB (on SATA 2)

Disk 0 is brand new. First I hooked it up as SATA 3, formatted it with Partition Magic and Ghosted my current (working) partition to the new disk.
Satisfied, I removed the old SATA 1 disk and put in the new - and now the boot sequence does not find the OS anymore !
First, I tried a Repair install. Didn't work better.
Then I tried the Recovery Console and I found a command called FIXBOOT - but it didn't fix anything.
Then I tried a full install with NTFS reformat. Not better.
Then I redid the XP install, but in FAT format. That way, I tested that a regular DOS setup works, and it did.
I then did a FDISK/MBR, rebooted and the disk did boot.
Happily, I then reinserted the WinXP Pro disk and reinstalled with NTFS format.
And now I get the error again.
Always the same : "Error loading operating system".

What did I do wrong ?

Pascal.

 

[linney]

Not sure, but see if there is anything here?

Loading Windows XP on a SATA drive

http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/000867.html

sil3114 sata raid drivers needed for windows xp pro 64
thread779-1062339

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp

307881 - HOW TO: Convert a FAT16 or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307881&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[pmonett]

Interesting links, however I think I have found the root of the issue. It would seem that, for some reason I fail to imagine, Partition Magic did not create the partitions in the right order.
Indeed, when I check with FDisk, I see that the primary partition is after the extended one.
And when I load Partition Magic (DOS version), it tells me that the partition table is corrupt - but it does not give me any option to repair that.
So now I think I need a tool that can erase the partition table. FDisk does not want to - when I try deleting the logical partition, it tells me there is non, and when I try deleting the primary one, it tells me that there is a logical partition to delete first.

Anyone have a tool to erase the partition table ?

Pascal.

 

[rvnguy]

pmonett,

Sorry that you are having this problem.
Partition Magic is usually a very good application and I have never seen the problem that you eluded to.
But you can try Acronis Disk Director on a free trial basis to see if it might be helpful at helping you solve your problem.
I would try and see if it can solve the glitch by resizing the partitions and try to resize to only one. If that fails and you know a little about the Partition table you could use the disk editor to alter the table. At worst write zero's to the table & MBR and it should see the drive as bare metal & you can proceed from there.

Acronis Disk Director Suite

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/

By the way: Did I mess up my French translation in a previous Post?

Hope this helps

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[pmonett]

This glitch surprised me too. I've been using Partition Magic for over a decade now - never had any problem with it.

What post are you referring to ?

Pascal.

 

[linney]

XP PRO/FDISK Problem.
thread779-850607


261473 - Unable to Delete a Partition or Logical DOS Drive Using the Fdisk Utility

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q261/4/73.ASP&NoWebContent=1

http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

 

[pmonett]

Okay, problem solved.

I went to the Maxtor site and got hold of two utilities in exe and iso format. Powermax and Maxblast.

Powermax did not find the disks - apparently it cannot detect HDDs on the NForce 4.
Maxblast did find the disks, and told me that I had a blank one that was "not yet ready to function on your system". I got ot a page where I could specify the partitioning, and it did it right.
I have re-ghosted my OS image and my PC finally boots correctly. I'm now transferring all my data from the old to the new disk.

I've talked with a few people, and everyone tells me that one should never use Partition Magic (or Ghost) under the Windows interface. Always boot with the floppies and work from there.
I do believe that I will proceed like that from now on.

Thanks for all the tips !

Pascal.

 

[bankboysb]

Interesting...