Computer won't boot, then will, then wont <SYSTEM SPECS ADDED>

[ZowieHowie]

I was burning some files to DVD today, and I went to check if it was done, and the orange light was lit on the drive, the computer was showing a black screen, though the monitor was on. Basically, the system was on, but was not displaying an image on my monitor.

As a result, I opened up the computer. I was able to get it to boot into WinXP, but the HDD LED light would not turn off. It kept blinking for about 5 mins. The secondary HDD showed up in device manager, but I was not able to open up MY COMPUTER to see if it was recognized there. Then, the system froze. I therefore restarted, and even before the bios screen could appear, it said DISK BOOT ERROR. Please press any key

I did that, it restarted the computer, and gave the same error.

I unplugged my primary slave HDD, and the computer seems to boot fine now. I'm thinking maybe I had a harddrive failure, since I was burning the files to DVD from the HDD that is set as slave.

The problem I have is that I was backing up that harddrive to DVD. The files are important on that HDD. Am I probably correct that it is a hard drive failure, and if it is, is there a way for me to recover my data?

Any ideas?

 

[oldman420]

sounds like a bad drive go into bios and manualy redetect it that may give you some time but i doubd it
also i hear grc.com has a product to rescue drives called spinwrite i think i would try that
good luck

 

[Fern]

Wonder over to the HD manufacturers site and d/l their diagnostic proggie to check the drive.

 

[Zepper]

I've had a lot of problems with drive power connections - cheap flimsy contacts. I had to tighten some of mine repeatedly - I use a small jeweler's screwdriver to press the sides in. Also good to check the date cables as well to make sure they are seated well.
.bh.

 

[ZowieHowie]

Okay, I removed the drive, and it boots fine. I then put a different drive in as a slave, and it worked for a day or so. Now the computer just randomly restarts while I am using it.

When I tried to start it again, it said Invalid System Disk. Insert disk and press any key.

I then disconnected the new backup harddrive and it booted fine. Maybe I am having a power supply issue.....

 

[Bad Dude]

Try changing the cable. Also please give us your system specs.

 

[unbiased]

Hey zoviehovie, sometime a loose connector or a dusty ram also do similar tricks with booting. I hope you have eliminated this possibility.

My two bit's worthText

 

[ZowieHowie]

System Specs

HP <Cough> Pavilion 734N
AMD AthlonXP 2400+
FIC Motherboard Motherboard specifications
768 Megs DDR2100 Ram (512 + 256)
40GB HDD (Primary Master)
40GB HDD (Primary Slave) <~~~computer will not boot when any harddrive is in the system as slave
GeForce4-MX420 64MB DDR (PCI card)
WindowsXP Home
48x24x48 CDRW
16x48 DVD-Rom
56K Modem

 

[ZowieHowie]

any ideas?

 

[stevty2889]

Tryin unplugging your cdrw drive and dvd-rom, and see if you can get it to boot. If it still doesn't work, try plugging the hard drive into the cable the cdrw or dvd rom were on and try again. If it works with the cdrw and dvd rom unplugged, it could be a power supply issue.