Computer Won't Load XP: Help Solve Problem

[Stevedye56]

Hey I recently took my desktop pc and put it into a tower case. It hasent worked since even though it did work before. It keeps telling me that there is no OS installed. The computer is an IBM so i don't have the XP disc from it because i got it used, although i have a dell XP disc which i successfully installed on my old laptop to make sure it works. I've checked the cables but with no luck.

Anyone know what's going on?

 

[z-component]

Are you using the same hard drive as you were before? Is there only one hard drive?

 

[Stevedye56]

Are you using the same hard drive as you were before? Is there only one hard drive?

Yes same hard drives, there's one hdd with the os on it and the other i bought to slave but i can't until i get it working obviously

 

[Brother Jerry]

No OS indicates that the drive that is designated as primary drive to load from has no operating system on it.

What can cause this.
1) more than one hard drive in the system and the slave drive is designated as master while the OS drive is set to slave.
2) more than one hard drive in the system and both are set to slave, or both master.
3) Cables reversed to HDD
4) Floppy in the floppy drive
5) Non bootable CD in the CDROM Drive and HDD not selected in BIOS as another option to boot from
6) HDD crashed
7) HDD Controller crashed.

All of these as well as a few others could be the culprit.

Double check your hardware config and make certain everything is setup correctly.
Take it down to just the HDD and no other drives at all.

Hope that helps
Sincerely
Brother Jerry

 

[Stevedye56]

No OS indicates that the drive that is designated as primary drive to load from has no operating system on it.

What can cause this.
1) more than one hard drive in the system and the slave drive is designated as master while the OS drive is set to slave.
2) more than one hard drive in the system and both are set to slave, or both master.
3) Cables reversed to HDD
4) Floppy in the floppy drive
5) Non bootable CD in the CDROM Drive and HDD not selected in BIOS as another option to boot from
6) HDD crashed
7) HDD Controller crashed.

All of these as well as a few others could be the culprit.

Double check your hardware config and make certain everything is setup correctly.
Take it down to just the HDD and no other drives at all.

Hope that helps
Sincerely
Brother Jerry

I tried this but its an older version of setup so i can't set the boot order...

 

[Stevedye56]

Iff the Hdd crashed how would i go about partitioning it and installing xp since i only have the dell disc? should i borrow a friends universal xp install disc? I can't change bios either becasue of how old the menu is.

 

[NoTime]

Even older versions of BIOS will normally show and identify the hard drives with their assignments (ie:channel 1 pri model# /sec model#; channel 2 ...)

So is the BIOS showing your drives?

 

[Stevedye56]

Even older versions of BIOS will normally show and identify the hard drives with their assignments (ie:channel 1 pri model# /sec model#; channel 2 ...)

So is the BIOS showing your drives?

Yes the installed drive is called "hard drive 0" but i can't see any settings.

P.S. i don't see any channel 1 pri model# etc...

 

[NoTime]

Sounds like a "very" old computer.

The only other suggestion is to download a floppy bootable disk diagnostic utility and see what it has to say.

 

[Stevedye56]

Its socket 1, so yes it is very very old.

 

[Stevedye56]

Sounds like a "very" old computer.

The only other suggestion is to download a floppy bootable disk diagnostic utility and see what it has to say.

Where should i download afloppy bootable disk diagnostic?

 

[Stevedye56]

Should i just setup a new hdd?

 

[NoTime]

Where should i download afloppy bootable disk diagnostic?

Look on the drive manufactures web site.

 

[NoTime]

Should i just setup a new hdd?

You said you just changed to a tower case.
If you hooked everything up the same it should work like it did before the change.

Since it doesn't then either something got broken or you pluged stuff together differently.

It might be worthwhile to check if the drive is actually operating.
OTOH If you do have an OS loader boot disk, then it will tell you what it finds for a drive to load to, before it actually changes things.

 

[manbush]

Did you make sure
A) The IDE/SATA cable is connected to the HD
B) The power connector is connected to the HD

Also, make sure you set your BIOS to boot from your HD. Also, make sure that there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive.

 

[Stevedye56]

Did you make sure
A) The IDE/SATA cable is connected to the HD
B) The power connector is connected to the HD

Also, make sure you set your BIOS to boot from your HD. Also, make sure that there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive.

Ive tried this, i can't change the settings in the Setup. Nowhere does it show a picture of the boot order... this is insane.

Should i just set up a bran new hdd?

 

[sstone]

Well usualy it it in Advanced BIOS features. Are you sure that the jumpers are in the right place(when the pc starts it should show the ide devices connected(after the ram testing),http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/StartupScreen.gif" , if there are both of the discs, than they are connected ok and are recognized by the pc.

 

[sstone]

Hm i now read that your pc is socket1(this is for 486 processors), why would you run xp on a 486(isn't it kinda slow, really slow :D )?

Or it is a slot 1, which are pentuims 2,3 and celerons(which i have for server, and the bios, has a boot order utility).

 

[Stevedye56]

oh sorry it is slot one because its pentium 3

 

[Stevedye56]

Any other ideas?

 

[j777]

If you have a spare IDE cable laying around I would replace it with the current cable attached to your HDD. It is possible that in unplugging the cable you have damaged it in some way that is causing these problems. It is especially likely since it seems as though none of your hardware has changed except the case. Also make sure you are plugging it into the primary IDE socket and not the secondary (on the motherboard). Another simple thing you might want to do is reseat both the HDD's IDE cable and power connector.

 

[russ_watters]

Steve, you haven't really responded to all the questions here, so it is hard to know where to go. Ie:

-Is the hard drive showing up when you turn on the machine (like in the pic that sstone posted)?

Knowing whether or not the pc is actually detecting the hard drive is critical to helping you.

After verifying that the hard drive is being detected, go to www.bootdisk.com , download an XP bootdisk and run fdisk from it to verify that the hard drive still has a partition on it.

 

[Stevedye56]

ok sorry, yes the hard drive is showing it up it shows up as hard drive 0 with 8gb of space even though it is a 20gb hdd. But i do not get the picture that sstone poseted.

 

[turbo]

Have you tried downloading an emergency start-up disk that you can boot from the floppy drive? You may be able to get it to recognize the HD and install it (at least with minimum functionality) until you can get access to the OS on the HD.

 

[Stevedye56]

Have you tried downloading an emergency start-up disk that you can boot from the floppy drive? You may be able to get it to recognize the HD and install it (at least with minimum functionality) until you can get access to the OS on the HD.

I made a XP boot disk from another desktop i had. It was the same version, XP home, but it sent me to A:/ and i didnt know what to do...

 

[russ_watters]

type "fdisk" and see what it says about the disk.

If bios is saying your 20 gig drive is an 8 gig...how big is the other drive and is it shown? And did you use a utility that came with the hard drive when you first installed it? 8 gig is a size limit of older computers...

Did you perhaps switch the ide cables to the two drives?

Something else: some computers are finicky about moving drives around - make sure you have the drives in exactly the same place physically as they were before. I once had a computer that I tried disconnecting an old, dead drive from and simply disconnecting it made the computer rearrange the other drives, screwing up the boot.

 

[Anttech]

Something else: some computers are finicky about moving drives around - make sure you have the drives in exactly the same place physically as they were before. I once had a computer that I tried disconnecting an old, dead drive from and simply disconnecting it made the computer rearrange the other drives, screwing up the boot.

Because your Boot file is telling you exactly where to boot from. in this formate:

 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)

Probably your dead HD was still using a physical Slot.

 

[Stevedye56]

type "fdisk" and see what it says about the disk.

If bios is saying your 20 gig drive is an 8 gig...how big is the other drive and is it shown? And did you use a utility that came with the hard drive when you first installed it? 8 gig is a size limit of older computers...

Did you perhaps switch the ide cables to the two drives?

Something else: some computers are finicky about moving drives around - make sure you have the drives in exactly the same place physically as they were before. I once had a computer that I tried disconnecting an old, dead drive from and simply disconnecting it made the computer rearrange the other drives, screwing up the boot.

I may have swtiched the cables, but if switched them back and forth many times trying almost everything. I did not install XP on the hdd. I swtiched the case becasue the old one was in really bad shape like serious dents in it. I will try fdisk though and see what i get.

 

[Stevedye56]

Allright, I typed in fdisk, fdisk: fdisk/ fdisk:/ fdisk\ fdisk:\ and none were recognized as commands.

 

[Stevedye56]

Ok here's what i get when i hit F1

System Summery
Product Data
Devices and I/O Ports
Start Options
Data and Time
System Security
Advanced Setup
ISA Legacy Resourves
Power Management

Save Settings
Restore Defualts
Load Defualt Settings

Ive tried to load the defualt settints but it was a pointless effort. The Hdd 0 shows up as 8136mb or so. If this helps at all i can get the subsets of each catiglory.