Need help with a weird windows boot/HD problem

[Cassius105]

Hi

Think this is the correct forum to put this in, if not please move it.

Earlier today i was trying to install the Supreme Commander Demo, the setup came up with an error and when i tried rerunning it said the program was already running and so i restarted the pc so i could have another go at making it work. Upon restart i got a nice BSOD with "volume cannot be mounted" error. My initial reaction after some probing was that in some strange way the demo setup had screwed my windows install and a simple reinstall would fix the problem. So i set about formating windows drive (its isolated from all other data on its own partition so wasnt a massive thing) and reinstalling, which went fine untill windows was installed and needed to boot for first time at which point the same BSOD error apeared.

At this point i got worried and thought the HD was damaged (though windows installed onto it fine and its being detected fine), and so after trying installing windows again to rule out a random dodgy install i tried installing it on my second HD which produced the exact same result.

I have tried reinstalling windows with only 1 HD connected (tried both HDs by themselves) and have tried using the 2 spare SATA slots rather than the usual ones.

I dont think the HDs are broken because they are being detected, they can be formated and writen to since windows is going through the install process without error and its highly unlikely both would die at exactly the same time imo.

However i am at a bit of a loss as to what exactly the problem is. I think the most likely posibilities are that either im wrong and the HDs have both broken or the SATA bus is broken but if anyone here has any suggestions on what is wrong id be very grateful.

My system specs are:

Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester
1GB PC3200 RAM
MSI K8N Platinum Motherboard
XFX Geforce 6800GT 256MB
2x Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Thanks for your help

 

[Cassius105]

forgot to mention, safe mode produces the same result

 

[DaveBC]

Hmm interesting one.

Bump for some help.

 

[imported_eppenoire]

My first guess is that something corrupted the MBR, you could verify this either by using a MBR repair tool like TestDisk or just unplug the drive that you originally had the OS on and boot off the second one. If this doesn't work, post and I will see if I can think up anything else.

Also run ScanDisk, there a lot of errors on a disk that will allow the OS to install, but will impede its operation.

 

[Cassius105]

i have already tried unplugging the original O drive and just running from the 2nd HD which produces the same result

and scandisk finds nothing wrong.

Will have a go with TestDisk and post results in a bit though

 

[Cassius105]

Test Disk didnt report anything, loaded it with knoppix and knoppix can at least read all of the drives

 

[SolMiester]

Is the boot.ini on the other drive and pointing the o/s install to the wrong partition?.......do a search and report..

 

[SimMike2]

...a simple reinstall...

IMHO, there is no such thing as a simple reinstall of Windows. That is why I always kept a relatively up to date Ghost image of my main boot partition. With Vista Business, I love the new backup option which makes and will restore a perfect copy of my boot partition OS. And this backup will run from within Windows and only take about twenty minutes, so I run it like every other day.

In the old days, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and 98, you really could do simple reinstalls, and they worked lots of times. With XP, I've found simple reinstalls virtually impossible, with the only option being a clean install, which is never, ever "simple."

 

[Captante]

I've had hard-drives get so screwed up that the only way to make things right was to do the equivelant of a zero-fill using a program like Wipedrive... of course I am assuming you did a full format (not quick) when you re-installed Vista ... if not then try that first because zero-filling a large HD is very time consuming.

 

[Cassius105]

Boot.ini is fine.

Iv tried a BIOS reset and a BIOS update

iv tried a full repartitioning of the original OS drive(keeping important data on the other 1)

im gonna try the zero fill format but given that its both drives affected by this issue despite fact they work in every other way im about ready to conceed the mobo is screwed in some subtle way unless anyone has any other ideas

 

[Cassius105]

Bumping once incase anyone else has any ideas on this