POST then nothing!

[ryansebiz]

I just installed my new Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS on my Main PC (specs in sig), set it up in XP, created a new volume and rebooted.

The computer went into POST like always but after that nothing. No Windows loading screen or anything ? just a black screen (my monitors did not go into sleep mode). I tried finding my computer on the network from my laptop but it could not access any files.

XP is installed on dual Raptors in RAID 0. I accessed the RAID menu and the array is healthy and set as the boot device. I then tried unplugging the SATA cables of the storage drive and all USB devices and rebooted. Still no Windows.

I've tried disconnecting the Raptors and booting with the WD and after POST I get the "Boot disk failure" message (since Windows is not installed). Funny thing is, I don't get that message with the Raptors.

I tried pressing F8 and F10 to bring up Safe Mode but no luck. All I was able to access was the boot menu and RAID menu, but I cannot get into Windows.

RAM is Corsair XMS 2GB DDR400. Nothing is overclocked.

Fortunately I do have a backup of all my files. I?d prefer not to have to reinstall everything though.

Should I try clearing the CMOS? I haven?t yet because I don?t want to destroy the array in the BIOS. Would clearing the CMOS leave a healthy array?

Any other ideas of what I should try?

 

[sieistganzfett]

if i understand correctly, the Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS is the storage drive you disconnected, and even leaving just the raptor raid 0 array, it posts then goes to the black screen, never showing a glimpse of windows loading? do NOT delete the array yet, i'm sure you know that raid 0 is not safe at all and the chance of you losing it all is 2x more likely than if just 1 hd, if a drive were to fail... try to do a windows "repair install" on the raid 0 array and see if your boot volume with windows shows up when you boot the windows cd, you can even try the recovery prompt from tho xp cd first, doing something like a chkdsk /f if the array shows to windows..

 

[ryansebiz]

Originally posted by: sieistganzfett
if i understand correctly, the Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS is the storage drive you disconnected, and even leaving just the raptor raid 0 array, it posts then goes to the black screen, never showing a glimpse of windows loading?

Yes, that's right.

do NOT delete the array yet, i'm sure you know that raid 0 is not safe at all and the chance of you losing it all is 2x more likely than if just 1 hd, if a drive were to fail... try to do a windows "repair install" on the raid 0 array and see if your boot volume with windows shows up when you boot the windows cd, you can even try the recovery prompt from tho xp cd first, doing something like a chkdsk /f if the array shows to windows..

I will set the CD as the first boot device and give that a try and report back.