WOW!!Strange boot issue

[evilphantomx]

long story short...

hit the power button ,windows BSOD'd me,used repai console and fixmbr,did'nt work,tried fixboot then fixboot AND fixmbr...no go....

lost partition table info some how....full drive no info missing but can't access it cause no partition.....install 2nd HDD to copy so I can try anything without fear of loss...nope,nothing is able to copy over to new drive...arrrgggg....ok fine I'll do a full reinstall if I have to but let's see what I can do first......finally used HDD Regenerator....found 180 bad sectors and recovered all....YEA!!!

But....won't load windows,not even a BSOD....hummmm......
gonna try repair console again....boots to cd...runs install...get to option screen select "R".....checks the drive...blackscreen...restart...WTF...tried again...same...tried install option...same point it restarts...oh no!!!

figure I'll just fresh install on new drive...don't remove old one...this time no problems...so go to repair console and it asks which windows install to log onto....WOW...it can see the C:\windows folder now...after several fixmbr's and fixboot's...figure out that it will boot all the way into windows (XP Pro)and all my stuff is there....no loss at all but it won't boot without the blank formated slave attached???WTF????

figure it might be a drive geometry/partition table/MBR problem but never seen one of these.....why will it boot to C:\WINDOWS (per the only entry in the boot.ini) ONLY when a drive that is niether C: nor containing a WINDOWS folder is attached?What if I used Partition Magic to merge the two....would that rewrite the partition table?What the hell is on the 2nd drive that lets it boot and can I get it onto only the one so it can boot normally again?....Should I go commando and take Bill Gates hostage and make him fix it...OR ELSE!!!!?Hemlock for lunch?Get my trusty chainsaw out and well....you know....?
The voices keep telling me that this can be solved if I just use enough FIRE!!!!and I'm starting to think they are right!!!!

Little help here????

 

[montag451]

When you put the 2nd drive in, did you change the jumpers on the back of the first drive around?

 

[evilphantomx]

tried every configuration...primary slave,secondary master,cable select,ect...

switched ide's around k8nspro has ide giga raid so enabled and tried from there....all no go unless the second hard drive is connected...


now....where did I put that gas can......hummmmm

 

[montag451]

Mebbe you could try going into BIOS and disabling the 2nd hdd, even when it is not in the system.

 

[evilphantomx]

not possable on this mobo....can't choose which ide...only choice is hard drive....then in advanced you can give the detected drives a boot priority I have concidered making the drive non bootable but I really don't know if that would work for this cause I get the feeling that for some reason windows is using the partition info from the second drive to get the ntldr accessed then it just uses the boot.ini info to complete the startup.

 

[imported_nocturne]

As the geek mantra goes: If all else fails, reformat.

 

[evilphantomx]

yea...just that it has become a grudge match between it and myself....and I already got back what I was sure was gone...so really....I just gotta know....I hate unanswered questions...and like O.C.ing.....gotta push it and see what it will do,even if it kills it....so anyone got any ideas???

 

[lenjack]

Double and triplecheck those jumpers. They can be awfully tricky. In fact, have someone else check them. Another pair of eyes might spot something you overlooked.

 

[evilphantomx]

%100 sure it is not a jumper issue....anyone know all the ins and outs of drive geometry,partition tables and how windows XP uses the partition info when booting?

 

[imported_nocturne]

It should be noted when a HD error is fixed, that means the sector is completely wiped and flagged to never be used again. Even the program you used can only be deemed reliable for the recovery of document and other less-sensitive file types.

I'd never recommend the Repair option, unless you were trying to get into XP one last time to backup--before a full reformat. It just causes many strange little problems.