OS will not load

[sathyan]

I just put together a mostly new PC (parts listed below) and am having trouble loading an Operating System on it. I tried MS Windows XP (this disc does not have the most recent service packs) and, after giving up on Windows, Ubuntu 9. In each case I am able to boot from the CD and go through the installation process. But at the end when it reboots the PC, the OS will not load from the HDD.

After installing Windows, it displays on screen: "Error Loading Operating System".
After installing Ubuntu, it displays on screen: "No System Disk Replace and Press Any Key". (that may not be the exact message but is close).

I tried (1) several restarts (2) reinstalling the OS with deleting the partition, recreating and formatting (NTFS for Windows; ext2 for Ubuntu)

I am able to run and use Ubuntu from the CD. From there I can browse the web and my HDD. On the HDD I can see the system files were copied to the HDD.

Any idea how to fix this?

System:
AMD AthlonIIx3 2.9GHz / Gigabyte 790TX motherboard / 4GB DDR3 / Radeon 4670 (PCIe) / 500W Antec PSU
WD 120GB IDE HDD (NTFS format) - reused from an old PC in which it was a data (not boot) drive used with WinXP
Toshiba DVD ROM / NEC LCD / USB Keyboard / USB Mouse

thanks,
Sathyan

 

[VirtualLarry]

WD 120GB IDE HDD (NTFS format) - reused from an old PC in which it was a data (not boot) drive used with WinXP

This is probably why. In order for an OS to boot from a HD, it has to be set up as a Primary MBR partition, and the bootable flag for that partition needs to be set. Data disks are generally not set up to be bootable.

So if you only reformatted, or didn't even do that, it's not going to work. You need to blow away ALL of the partitions, and start fresh.

I recommend downloading the mfg's diagnostic tools. For WD, that would be the DOS CD ISO of "DataLifeGuard Tools". You can download that file, burn it to a CD as an image (use ImgBurn, a free burning program), and then boot off of it.

Then do a "write zeros". There's an option to clear the first and last million sectors. Choose that one.

Then boot off of the OS install CD again, and it will prompt you to create partitions.

 

[Nothinman]

I am able to run and use Ubuntu from the CD. From there I can browse the web and my HDD. On the HDD I can see the system files were copied to the HDD.

Odd as it may be it does seem like you don't have an active partition, but that's easily fixed from the Live CD with fdisk.

 

[JackMDS]

I think that when you install XP at the beginning you have an option to delete the current partitions on the HD.

Do so and XP with give you an option to build new partition.

Otherwise a New HD is Not that expensive these days. :biggrin:

 

[sathyan]

Thanks. I think I'll just get a new hard drive. My copy of Windows XP says "Version 2002" do you know if that supports 137GB drives on SATA? Once installed of course I'll do the SP's.

 

[RebateMonger]

Thanks. I think I'll just get a new hard drive. My copy of Windows XP says "Version 2002" do you know if that supports 137GB drives on SATA? Once installed of course I'll do the SP's.

If the box or disk is labelled Version 2002, it's likely the RTM (original) version. SP1 or higher is needed to support disks above 137 GB.

The best thing is to "slipstream" your XP copy to SP2 or higher. It's very fast to do that using NLite. All you need is a CD burner, a blank CD, your original XP, and a downloaded copy of the XP SP2 service pack itself (from Microsoft.com).

 

[JackMDS]

He is using a 12iGB HD

 

[silverpig]

Either the partition is not bootable (easily fixed), or the drive is not selected as being a boot device in the BIOS boot order.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I just ran into this on a laptop.

Make sure that the drive is showing up in the bios and not set to "disabled" or "none" or something like that. Windows setup is "smart" enough to see around the bios and find the drive, but if the bios doesn't have it detected it won't boot from it. I went round and round with this laptop until I noticed the hard drive wasn't listed on the IDE channel. D'oh!