Boot Problem

[Je]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

I have a machine that had 2 hd's installed, each with their own operating
system, both WinXP. I removed one drive, the primary ide and I jumpered the
other drive just like the primary one and I get the following error message:
"Boot Agent, Media Test Failure, check cable, exiting boot agent, Boot
Failure: System Halted". Cables are okay anyway everything works fine when
I put it back to what it was originally. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Jack

--
Email no good, reply to group

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

The boot sector was on the drive you removed. XP is a primary OS - it
boots from the first physical drive in the system.

You can try booting to a recovery console from the XP CD and doing a
fixmbr and fixboot to see if that renders the second drive bootable. If
not, the only thing you can do is reinstall the other drive or reinstall
WIndows on the second drive (with it in the master position on the cable).


JE wrote:
> I have a machine that had 2 hd's installed, each with their own operating
> system, both WinXP. I removed one drive, the primary ide and I jumpered the
> other drive just like the primary one and I get the following error message:
> "Boot Agent, Media Test Failure, check cable, exiting boot agent, Boot
> Failure: System Halted". Cables are okay anyway everything works fine when
> I put it back to what it was originally. What am I missing?
>
> Thanks,
> Jack
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Is the hard drive cable a cable select type with master or slave determined by
position on the cable? Or is it (less likely these days) a straight cable which
requires explicit master/slave jumper settings?

Does the drive have a "single drive" jumper position?

.... Ben Myers

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 19:35:07 GMT, "JE" <Zeke@legs.com> wrote:

>I have a machine that had 2 hd's installed, each with their own operating
>system, both WinXP. I removed one drive, the primary ide and I jumpered the
>other drive just like the primary one and I get the following error message:
>"Boot Agent, Media Test Failure, check cable, exiting boot agent, Boot
>Failure: System Halted". Cables are okay anyway everything works fine when
>I put it back to what it was originally. What am I missing?
>
>Thanks,
>Jack
>
>--
>Email no good, reply to group
>
>

 

[Je]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Hi Ben, good to hear from you again. Yes it has the 2 position cable and I
have it on the first (end)
connector. It has 4 jumper settings and I tried it in all positions and
without a jumper also.

Thanks,
Jack



<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41bcac1f.15255260@nntp.charter.net...
> Is the hard drive cable a cable select type with master or slave
> determined by
> position on the cable? Or is it (less likely these days) a straight cable
> which
> requires explicit master/slave jumper settings?
>
> Does the drive have a "single drive" jumper position?
>
> ... Ben Myers
>
> On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 19:35:07 GMT, "JE" <Zeke@legs.com> wrote:
>
>>I have a machine that had 2 hd's installed, each with their own operating
>>system, both WinXP. I removed one drive, the primary ide and I jumpered
>>the
>>other drive just like the primary one and I get the following error
>>message:
>>"Boot Agent, Media Test Failure, check cable, exiting boot agent, Boot
>>Failure: System Halted". Cables are okay anyway everything works fine
>>when
>>I put it back to what it was originally. What am I missing?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Jack
>>
>>--
>>Email no good, reply to group
>>
>>
>

 

[Je]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

Thanks Ed. I figured that I would maybe would have to do that. It's no big
deal, I was just curious why this worked the way it did. I didn't realize
that the boot sector was only on one drive.

Thanks,
Jack


"Edward J. Neth" <ejn63@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:32413dF3itohtU1@individual.net...
> The boot sector was on the drive you removed. XP is a primary OS - it
> boots from the first physical drive in the system.
>
> You can try booting to a recovery console from the XP CD and doing a
> fixmbr and fixboot to see if that renders the second drive bootable. If
> not, the only thing you can do is reinstall the other drive or reinstall
> WIndows on the second drive (with it in the master position on the cable).
>
>
> JE wrote:
>> I have a machine that had 2 hd's installed, each with their own operating
>> system, both WinXP. I removed one drive, the primary ide and I jumpered
>> the other drive just like the primary one and I get the following error
>> message: "Boot Agent, Media Test Failure, check cable, exiting boot
>> agent, Boot Failure: System Halted". Cables are okay anyway everything
>> works fine when I put it back to what it was originally. What am I
>> missing?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jack
>>