after installing win xp pro will not boot from hard drive

[rorpan]

I reformatted a hard drive zeroing the entire drive. Loaded xp pro. Loaded the drivers using the disks that came with the cards( ie vid.) Loaded norton pro corporate. Then started the updates. Put the cd in the cdrom and started downloading the sp1 walked away came back and my computer was rebooting. Then it rebooted again and continued this loop. I could not boot from the hard drive. I don't know why Consequently, I reformatted again hopefully to fix this headache. Why won't it boot from the hard drive

 

[mechBgon]

You may just need to add the hard drive to the list of boot devices in the BIOS (first guess, you need to add HDD0). If you give that a try and either it makes no sense or you want a second opinion, then post what motherboard it is so I can follow along in the owners' manual. Good luck!

 

[rorpan]

Ok I just find it strange that I was unable to boot into windows again after loading the updates. I wonder if I picked up a virus or something during the installation of sp1. I disabled norton corporate during the sp1 update as the direction says? Duting the bios I can see the hard drive and cdrom in the list

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: rorpan
Ok I just find it strange that I was unable to boot into windows again after loading the updates. I wonder if I picked up a virus or something during the installation of sp1. I disabled norton corporate during the sp1 update as the direction says? Duting the bios I can see the hard drive and cdrom in the list

You certainly could pick up a virus if you don't have a hardware firewall (cable/DSL router) or software firewall, or both. So, is it working again or is it still refusing to boot from the hard drive?

If it's still refusing to boot normally, do this:

• On a healthy computer, go download free McAfee Stinger
• ...and ZoneAlarm basic firewall software
• ...and this Microsoft patch
• Burn the above files to a CD. Boot the affected computer in Safe Mode
• Disable System Restore and bail all the SR files
• Run the Microsoft patch to plug the hole, reboot and start in Safe Mode again
• Install ZoneAlarm
• Run Stinger and see if it caught a Sasser worm
• Order a Linksys BEFSR41 or Netgear RP614 router so you have a perimeter defense

Good luck!