Re: Help!?!?! Can't load windows xp.

[cooleagles]

Ok. So I just built the system below. Tested it and works fine. So went to load windows xp pro and was partitioning the 250gb drive when at 90-odd% it froze. I thought no probs i'll just restart the computer and try again. However, when it goes to boot from the cd i get an error stating 'press any key to boot from the CD .... error loading the operating system'.

I thought maybe it was the cd. So I tried an old windows cd (xp home) that i have lying around with the same result. I have no idea what's wrong or what to do. Can anyone help me???


My rig is below.

Mobo: DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 Ultra D Motherboard
PSU: OCZ Powerstream 600W
CPU: AMD Opteron 64 170 Dual Core Processor
Cooler: Zalman CNPS 9500 LED Cooler
Grease: Arctic Silver 5

RAM: OCZ PC4000 Platinum EB 2GB (2x1GB)
GPU: HIS X1900XTX 512Mb IceQ

HDD1: Western Digital 250G SATA 7200 rpm HDD
HDD2: Western Digital 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
DVDRW: Sony DRU820A INT 16X DVD +/- DVDRW DUAL LAYER
DVD: Sony 16x DVD

 

[mdalli]

Well, I definitely consider the prime suspect to be the hard drive. Take the drive out, plug it into an existing computer and go Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Storage --> Disk Management, and independently format/ partition it.

Since it's so easy you might make sure that the MB BIOS is up-to-date; it might also be some sort of early rev BIOS bug.

 

[cooleagles]

yeah sounds like a good idea. it does seem to b the hard drive as switched them around and now windows wants to install.

unforetunately, the other computer that i have is pretty old and doesn't have sata connections on it. plus i'm going in for knee surgery and won't have a chance to format the other drive anytime soon. so i might just load windows on the larger hd.

what sort of partion should i use? i've read somewhere that u should use the whole drive??

 

[mdalli]

I always use the whole drive. The only good reason I've ever heard is if you have some sort of multiple operating system thing going, which is dumb.

But have no fear, your "bad" drive is almost certainly still under manufacturer's warranty. Contact the drive manufacturer and get an RMA, and they'll probably send you a new one.

 

[FITCamaro]

However, when it goes to boot from the cd i get an error stating 'press any key to boot from the CD .... error loading the operating system'.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

You need to hit a key dude. You're not and its trying to boot off the hard drive but nothing is there.

"Press any key to boot from the CD" is not an error message. That happens any time you have a bootable disk in the drive. Now the first time you boot up the system with a brand spanking new hard drive thats not been formatted, it doesn't need you to hit a key. But after that it does.

Now if you're hitting a key and it gives you that, then something is wrong with the disc or something because its not touching the hard drive at that point.

 

[sailer]

I always use the whole drive. The only good reason I've ever heard is if you have some sort of multiple operating system thing going, which is dumb.

But have no fear, your "bad" drive is almost certainly still under manufacturer's warranty. Contact the drive manufacturer and get an RMA, and they'll probably send you a new one.

There is a very good reason to use partitions in a drive: data protection. If you're using the whole drive and something corrupts the operating system, everything is lost, the OS, your data, and everything else that happens to be on the disc. If your OS is on one partition and your data is on another, the OS can go south, but your data is safe, waiting for you to reload windows and then go back to the data.

Some people use multiple discs to do the same thing. They have a small hard drive for the OS, and a large hard drive for their data. This is probably easier in the long run. Others use a variation of this, partitioning the large, second drive into a small and a large partition, then mirroring the OS on the small partition. Then if some change causes the OS to stop functioning, they have a back up OS that is still clean and usable.

As for saying that having multiple operating systems is dumb, you've just never had a need for such. Some people need a different OS than Windows, but still want Windows there for some things.

 

[FITCamaro]

I always use the whole drive. The only good reason I've ever heard is if you have some sort of multiple operating system thing going, which is dumb.

As another person said its not dumb as some people need multiple OSes.

But another good use for multiple partitions on one drive is similiar to the multi drive idea. If you create 2 partitions, that means if you can back up just that partition of the drive, and then if you need to reload your OS, you just have to reload that partition, not the entire drive. That makes backing things up far easier since the image of the drive will be smaller and easier to store.

 

[Pain]

I partition every drive I install. Data and games go on the 2nd partition, and I can also ghost my OS. Me stoopit.

 

[Wgfalcon]

i agree it could be the hd but just to double check your not overclocking anything yet right?