Perplexing install problem "Error Loading Operating System"

[MichaelD]

I've never seen this one before. I'm trying to load XP Pro off a CD I've used many times, as recently as last week.

The box boots bios fine.
The box boots to CD Rom fine.
The box does the whole partitioning/loading Windows files/reboot thing fine.


When you reboot and it tries to boot from the HD instead of the CD you get a BIOS error message:

"Error loading operating system"

I've never seen this before. ALL the parts I'm using in the box were good a few weeks ago. Again, the bios boots fine, indicating no hardware probs.

I changed the HD cable TWICE already.

Any ideas?

 

[Rike]

Could be a bad sector on the hard drive, corrupting the install. A problem like that wouldn't show until you tried to boot the OS. Can you pull the drive and scan it on another computer?

Is this the same rig we were talking about with dual vs. single channel RAM?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Rike
Could be a bad sector on the hard drive, corrupting the install. A problem like that wouldn't show until you tried to boot the OS. Can you pull the drive and scan it on another computer?

Is this the same rig we were talking about with dual vs. single channel RAM?

*DING!* You win. Same rig. I'm building a F@H box out of parts...good parts too. Worst part is the 8 year old CDRW I'm using for a CDRom drive. But the bios boots fine (recognizes all parts AND the Dual Channel memory) and the OS loads fine.

The HD is about 5 years old but it worked about...a month or two ago. :roll:

I see what you're getting at; the HD is bad. BUT, if it was bad, the OS wouldn't load on it, right?

 

[Rike]

I have to admit I'm getting out of my depth here. The bad HD is my best guess. If it was just a couple of bad sectors on the HD you might be able complete the install but not have it actually boot the OS. Total guess, no guarantees , no refunds. I?d get a second opinion. *summons mechBgon*

Edit: I always forget to change the message topic/rating icon. *boots self in the head*

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Rike
I have to admit I'm getting out of my depth here. The bad HD is my best guess. If it was just a couple of bad sectors on the HD you might be able complete the install but not have it actually boot the OS. Total guess, no guarantees , no refunds. I?d get a second opinion. *summons mechBgon*

Heh, ironically, I also summon Mech when I'm fresh out of guesses. Mech and I have been around awhile and have seen most "probs."

Then of course, you run into crap like this. :roll:

I'm thinking it's the HD too. What sucks is that I pulled it out of another WORKING box about two months ago.

I'm going to DL Maxtor's latest utilities; but in the past, I've tested Maxtor and WD drives as "good" and they've been hosed.

 

[Rike]

Whatever the problem turn out to be post back here. If it turns out to be the HD, I'd really like to know. I like it when I guess right; it makes me feel smart.

BTW, you have about 138 TIMES more posts than I do. LOL

 

[MichaelD]

Well, it passed every single low and mid-level test. (I knew it would!!! :roll: )

As I said earlier; I've seen this in the past. I'm doing a low-level format now; that will take about an hour on this 40GB drive.

I'm hoping that this is what it needs; this HD has been my "test bitch HD" for about two dozen installs.

 

[imported_whatever]

i had a refurb drive from WD that stored data fine but wouldnt work as a boot drive.
a low-level format fixed it.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: whatever
i had a refurb drive from WD that stored data fine but wouldnt work as a boot drive.
a low-level format fixed it.

I finished the low-level format a little while ago...been wasting time in OT...gonna put the drive back and try again now.

 

[mechBgon]

~ so they said there was pizza in here... somewhere...


 :light:
:Q ~ it's a trap!



Uh, full specs on the problem rig?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
~ so they said there was pizza in here... somewhere...


 :light:
:Q ~ it's a trap!



Uh, full specs on the problem rig?

/waves

Hello'dare.



I'm loading WinXP as we speak. BRB.

 

[MichaelD]

BOO-YAH!

LL format seems to have fixed it.

I installed from the CD, rebooted, but didn't change the boot order upon reboot. I"m sure you guys know what I'm talking about.

I let the bios go thru the "Boot from CD?" upon the reoobt and didn't hit any keys. It found the HD, and booted from it.

The installation continues. BRB.

 

[mechBgon]

sweet

 

[Anubis]

yea sounded like a messed up sector

 

[MichaelD]

Well, half a dozen reboots later (drivers/patches/etc) it's going strong.

It's been awhile since I've had to deal w/bad sectors and such. I love my SCSI drives. :heart: Having to use IDE is such a step down.

 

[Rike]

So . . . I was right. I like being right. Congrats Michael D! :beer: I helped you figure out a problem you would have solved anyway. :roll:

 

[MichaelD]

Hooray! It ran all night, no probs. It officially good to go. *OFFICIAL STAMP*

You did good, Rike; helping each other out is what AT is about. Unless you're over in OT, then making your neighbor feel so horrible that he wants to hurt himself is what it's all about.

 

[modalone]

I got the same ERROR you got recently. I haven't tried the low level format yet. What did you use to format?

I can see the hard drive via linux but can't see it with a dos6.22 boot disk

 

[modalone]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Well, half a dozen reboots later (drivers/patches/etc) it's going strong.

It's been awhile since I've had to deal w/bad sectors and such. I love my SCSI drives. :heart: Having to use IDE is such a step down.

I've had issues with scsi drives crapping out on me in the past. I had a 9GB part of a raid that one day became a 0GB! It seemed like the performance degraded exponently over time.

 

[agnitrate]

Just for those that had this issue :

I encountered this and tried all the diagnostics from the mfr. and all turned up OK. It turns out that the BIOS was recognizing the access mode of the HD improperly. It was using CHS instead of LBA mode so I simply forced it to use LBA and then it worked just fine after initally copying the setup files for the windows install. It would load the CD, copy the files and then I received the 'Error loading operating system message'. Just a tip for you guys.

-silver