Windows cannot pass the startup screen.. help please

[bakadesu]

hello, first of all, i'am a newb.. i have 2 harddisk one of them is an old I.D.E (40 gig) which i used it as a primary (to put my os) and the other one is a SATA (160gig) to put my data etc.. (secondary)

this problem began when i rip a video from a website (using a flashgot extention on firefox), and on halfway, my electricity went down (power failure) so my pc didn't have the time to complete the file rip. and then all hell broke loose

when i plug the SATA on my mobo, the OS (windows XP) stuck on the startup screen and couldn't continue. but when i unplug the SATA the problem is gone and my XP start normally.

i'm guessing is that the windows still saving that data to my SATA so because of that, it became stuck at the startup of the windows, but as i already wrote, i'm a newb, so i don't know exactly. so if its true can anyone help me how to cancel that saving process? or if it isn't the pronlem, can anyone tell me what it is?

thank you for the reply, and i'm very sorry if my english sucks.

 

[evongugg]

Try the SATA drive in another computer.

 

[bakadesu]

yup i've tried that, and the problems still preserve, even on another pc. does that mean my SATA broke? sorry for this newbish question, cause all my important data are in there...

 

[evongugg]

Is it recognized in the bios?
Try different cables.

 

[Paperdoc]

My guess is data corruption of the SATA drive, probably in the hidden files that contain the directories and sector allocation data, but possibly in the Partition Table since windows apparently can't even make any sense of the drive. If that is the case you need some software able to analyze and restore the data properly. If this works, the file you were downloading will be junk and you will have to delete it and download again. But the rest of your data should be recoverable.

There are free software tools available for this, but I don't know how well they work. There are others you must pay for. Some make a useful offer: download and run a free trial version that will analyze your disk and show you exactly what ti can do- which files it can recover, whether ti can fix your partition table, etc. IF you think that is exactly what you want and it will do the whole job, you can pay them their price and it will finish the recovery for you. If you don't pay it won't do the recovery, but at least you will know how much of your stuff CAN be recovered with software. Maybe, with that knowledge, you choose to try out some free alternative.

Read my SECOND post in this thread for some places to find software for partition Recovery. If more is needed (data recovery), some of those same sites will give you ideas.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=32&post=251427&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[bakadesu]

Bios still recognized it.. i've tried changing the cable already, i also tried changing the SATA connection on my mobo (SATA1, SATA2) but it doesn't give any effects.. i even let it through a cold boot (i let it booting normally) but it still stuck although i let it booting for 2 hour.. i can't even enter safe mode cause it also stuck on the startup screen... i'm confused.. oh, thank you for your reply by the way.

 

[bakadesu]

@paperdoc : does this program can work even if the SATA hard drive didn't detected by the windows? cause i have to unplug the SATA hard drive from my mobo for my pc to start normally (which i'am doing right now, i use only the 40gig hard drive the one that i used to store my os) once again, i'm a newb so i have a slow pace level of understanding.. please forgive me..

 

[Paperdoc]

You have a very good point. If the software tools run under Windows, how can you do that if Windows won't load in the first place?

Try one of two possible routes. First, try forcing Windows to start in Safe Mode. To do this, as Windows first starts to load hold down the F8 key until it gives you a menu, then choose Safe Mode. If Windows starts that way, you may be able to use your browser (IE or whatever) to look for these software tools and check whether they can do the job. Also look particularly for any indication whether they can function within Windows Safe Mode, or whether they require full Windows operations.

Second possibility - not so neat. Disconnect the data cable to the SATA drive, leave your case cover off and boot up. After Windows is running, plug the SATA drive's data cable back in. If you're lucky Windows will keep running and you might be able to operate that way for a while, although Windows likely will not be able to use that drive, and may even freeze up if you try.

If neither of these works, run without the SATA drive and check the websites to see if any of them supply a version that can boot and run from its own disk (likely a CD) without Windows at all.