Hard Drive Boot Problems

Alright, so I was trying to install XP on my computer to see if I could get something to work. Normally I run Vista.

Something went wrong with the XP install, and my computer decides not to boot up again. In fact, the hard drive is freezing the BIOS at the logo screen. (Gateway logo, Intel inside, Boot Menu button, Setup button). I try to press the boot menu button, the motherboard buzzes. I try the setup button, nothing works.

I proceed to try to use other HDs in the computer, they work, but none of them have operating systems so they're useless. I try to put my other hard drive in a different computer and install XP on the partition again to no avail. I then try to install Vista using a disc I know works, and it does install. It boots and everything. From there, I try to put it back into my computer, but I get the same problem. Its not getting past the logo screen. I tried resetting my BIOS to the default values but thats not quite working either.

In conclusion, it seems the hard drive isn't dead, but it won't boot on my computer for some reason and I don't know why. It's very eerie and frustrating, so please help.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Sol

Does the hard drive show up at all in the BIOS, or will it not even get that far? If you can get into the BIOS, see if it recognizes the drive correctly, and also see if you can run any SMART tests there as well.

I also recommend hooking up this oddball drive to another computer, give it a thorough format, double-check your jumpers, and try it again. If that doesn't work, then it's likely that something in the drive is fucked up beyond simple repair and it's destined for a RMA or the junkheap.

I can't get that far in the BIOS. I hook it up as a slave drive on my mom's computer and it works fine. I would just format if it weren't for important data that I have on the computer. I would back it up but I have no where to put all of it: It's about 30GB of stuff. I might just buy a new hard drive but I don't know. I want to exhaust all other options before I pull out my wallet.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

burned my shit and got out of there. Formatted. Nothing. It still won't boot. I have no clue what to do now.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Winter Storm

It works fine on your moms computer because it's not being used a boot drive.

I don't know what your problem is, could be physical(the drive itself). Doesn't make any sense for a program to rewrite HDD boot settings, especially if it's the primary drive. Atleast you have your data. My secondary went out and took 74 gigs with it. -___________________-.

But is your HDD a Western Digital?

Yeah, a WD1600. I'm thinking about just buying a 500GB drive and an external enclosure and being done with this. I can't leech other peoples computers for much longer and its really pissing me off having limited capability of what I can do.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well yeah, I hear they aren't the best but its not like its been through any physical wear and tear since I can do everything with it except boot as master. I was thinking maybe installing XP fucked with the boot record, but I figured deleting the XP from that partition and reinstalling Vista would fix the problem. It didn't and now I'm fucked.

I was speaking idiomatically.