Can't boot to Windows

[lieronet]

I have an ASRock 4CoreDuo Sata2 mobo and I cannot boot to windows for the life of me - on one particular hard drive. When I try to boot to windows with the hard drive intended for the machine, it shows the loading windows logo, then bluescreens and starts the boot process over. On that hard drive I've reinstalled windows twice to no avail. What complicates things is that it boots just fine from another hard drive of mine. I've been tinkering with it for a week or two and it's driving me up the wall. I can give any details needed, but I am in desperate need of help.

 

[Techn9ne1730]

Well first off, you choose an ASrock mobo. I have no issues with ASUS but these are there cheap budget boards.

Secondly, sounds like you answered your own question more then likley. Had your provided your PC specs in the first place it would be easier to say, but sounds like a bad HDD. One HDD works, one doesnt. Are the drives both IDE, both SATA, one SATA, one IDE, and did you try them on the same SATA port if there STA drives?

 

[Outlander_04]

Asrock motherboards are good budget boards . Yours could be faulty , but then that happens to all manufacturers from time to time .

The problem is most likely with the hard drive . Its unlikely to be a cable/port issue if you an install windows . But the information you dont give is HOW you reinstalled windows .

Try a low level format using the tool that the hard disk maker has available on thier website . Then create a new partition and reinstall windows . If that doesnt work bin the drive

PS by any chance is the drive a seagate 7200.11? You may just need a firmware update before the format

 

[lieronet]

The drive is a 7200.7 SATA, and I've had it work fine on two other computers. I've also updated the mobo drivers to the latest, for what it's worth.

The first time I installed was actually a repair of the existing XP Pro install. After that didn't do anything, I bought a new drive and formatted+installed Windows XP Pro on that. That didn't work either, and I thought the problem might have lie in XP Pro, so I formatted the first hard drive and installed XP Home on it. Still nothing.

 

[aford10]

Boot off your OS disc into the repair console. Try running chkdsk /r on the drive.

 

[lieronet]

The other drive I tried was a WD Caviar Green for what it's worth.

 

[Outlander_04]

a 7200.7 is an old drive

its probably toast
but try the low level format and repartition using seagates tools

back ups first

 

[lieronet]

The 7200.7 works fine in two other computers I've tried it in, I don't think it's the problem but I could be wrong.

If I could find the formatting tools on Seagate's site I would try this low-level formatting that has been suggested to me but I can't find the tool on the site. If anyone could deliver links I would appreciate this.