Making a former Slave HD bootable

  • Thread starter Thread starter aa
  • Start date Start date
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%2301h7zk8HHA.5360@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:uohdUvk8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> If you don't remember which drive letter you had for
>> Windows 2000 and if you used the inbuilt Windows
>> boot loader then you can bet that your drive letter was
>> NOT the letter C:. You now have two options:
>> - Ask an expert in such matters to physically assist you.
>> This is too complex to be resolved in a newsgroup.
>> - Scrap the lot and start afresh.
>>
>>
> Just as a last hope before I scrap it - suppose it IS letter C. What would
> be the options?
>

Rather than mucking around with boot sectors etc, boot
the machine with a WinXP boot diskette and see what
you get.
- Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Note that the last three lines each start with the word "multi".
If your newsreader wraps them around then you must
unwrap them.

Now boot your machine with this floppy disk and try
each of the three boot options. Remember to instruct
your BIOS to boot off the floppy disk drive!
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%2301h7zk8HHA.5360@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:uohdUvk8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> If you don't remember which drive letter you had for
>> Windows 2000 and if you used the inbuilt Windows
>> boot loader then you can bet that your drive letter was
>> NOT the letter C:. You now have two options:
>> - Ask an expert in such matters to physically assist you.
>> This is too complex to be resolved in a newsgroup.
>> - Scrap the lot and start afresh.
>>
>>
> Just as a last hope before I scrap it - suppose it IS letter C. What would
> be the options?
>
>

By the way, either your clock or your time zone is wrong.
You're posting in the past.
 
You probably have numerous problems. If you're still getting an MBR error
on booting, there is probably a problem with which drive the BIOS is labeling
as the boot device.

--

- Gary Chanson (Windows SDK MVP)
- Abolish Public Schools


"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:#xkQE8l8HHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> That is probably true, but before seeking remedies I would like to see what
> exactly the problem is.
> Is it faulty boot sector or MBR or letter mapping or else?
> BTW fixmbr seem not to change the MBR becase dispite a message that it
> successfully changed the MBR, when I run it again it again says that the
> existong MBR is a nonstandard one
>
>
> "Gary Chanson" <gchanson@No.Spam.mvps.org> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ
> ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ: news:urqSVVl8HHA.1212@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> >
> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
> > news:##NYepk8HHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> > >
> > > I was under the impression that your second disk had a fully
> > > operating version of Win2000, which used to run off drive C:.
> > > If this is not the case then your best bet is a complete
> > > reload of Windows 2000, followed by a reload of all
> > > applications. Remember to back up your important data
> > > files first.
> >
> > I think you're right. It sounds like this system is too much of a
> mess
> > for him to clean up himself, even with all of the help we can give. Even
> for
> > an expert, it could be more effort to fix then to rebuild from scratch.
> >
> > --
> >
> > - Gary Chanson (Windows SDK MVP)
> > - Abolish Public Schools
> >
> >
> >
>
>
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uS1hi4m8HHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:ulY6SVl8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> > Rather than mucking around with boot sectors etc, boot
> > the machine with a WinXP boot diskette and see what
> > you get.
> > - Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
> > Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
>
> Does XP/w2k automatically format a diskette as a bootable one? I recall that
> to make a diskette bootable a special command has to be used but do not
> remember which particular one

Yes, it does make it bootable.

--

- Gary Chanson (Windows SDK MVP)
- Abolish Public Schools
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uS1hi4m8HHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:ulY6SVl8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Rather than mucking around with boot sectors etc, boot
>> the machine with a WinXP boot diskette and see what
>> you get.
>> - Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
>> Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
>
> Does XP/w2k automatically format a diskette as a bootable one? I recall
> that
> to make a diskette bootable a special command has to be used but do not
> remember which particular one
>
>

I note that you're still posting with an incorrect time
stamp. While this is irrelevant with respect to your
attempts at making your disk bootable, I hope that
it is not a reflection of a casual attitude towards
repairing your PC. Unless you carry out my instructions
carefully, you will fail.
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:Ovgl50q8HHA.3900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>

> I note that you're still posting with an incorrect time
> stamp. While this is irrelevant with respect to your
> attempts at making your disk bootable, I hope that
> it is not a reflection of a casual attitude towards
> repairing your PC. Unless you carry out my instructions
> carefully, you will fail.
>
>
It's not a casual attitude. It's consentration on the problem at hand and
ignoring the rest. I am bad at multitasking. A tunnel vision.
Do you mean my computer clock being 1 min behind? Now it is corrected
(within a reasonable precision)
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uKSMqds8HHA.1416@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:Ovgl50q8HHA.3900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>
>> I note that you're still posting with an incorrect time
>> stamp. While this is irrelevant with respect to your
>> attempts at making your disk bootable, I hope that
>> it is not a reflection of a casual attitude towards
>> repairing your PC. Unless you carry out my instructions
>> carefully, you will fail.
>>
>>
> It's not a casual attitude. It's consentration on the problem at hand and
> ignoring the rest. I am bad at multitasking. A tunnel vision.
> Do you mean my computer clock being 1 min behind? Now it is corrected
> (within a reasonable precision)
>

No, your clock was many hours behind. It's easy to tell because
several answers in this thread were posted ***before*** you
asked the question . . .
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:eGuIueu8HHA.4200@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> No, your clock was many hours behind. It's easy to tell because
> several answers in this thread were posted ***before*** you
> asked the question . . .

Then the problrm perhaps is with my friend's notebook I use while my PC is
down. He (the friend) came from Moscow, and though he set the UK time on it,
the NG server inteprets it as a Moscow time and adds the time differents (3
hours)
I do not feel like tampering with setting on this computer.
 
Microsoft is well aware of numerous problems, but it opts to igonore them
and dugs the same bags from one version into another for the customers have
no alternatives.

"archer" <toerag@spamhole.com> ???????/???????? ? ???????? ?????????:
news:1189362778.824684.53700@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 8, 4:18 pm, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com> wrote:
>
> > By the way, either your clock or your time zone is wrong.
> > You're posting in the past
>
> If every OE user, who has commented on this sort of thing in
> newsgroups over the years, directed their discontent at Microsoft
> instead, MS might, by now, have fixed OE so that it isn't a problem
> for their users (i.e. like every other newsreader client out there).
>
 
On Sep 8, 4:18 pm, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com> wrote:

> By the way, either your clock or your time zone is wrong.
> You're posting in the past

If every OE user, who has commented on this sort of thing in
newsgroups over the years, directed their discontent at Microsoft
instead, MS might, by now, have fixed OE so that it isn't a problem
for their users (i.e. like every other newsreader client out there).
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:ulY6SVl8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> Rather than mucking around with boot sectors etc, boot
> the machine with a WinXP boot diskette and see what
> you get.
> - Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
> Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
> - Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
> ntldr
> ntdetect.com
> - Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
> [boot loader]
> timeout=10
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>
> Note that the last three lines each start with the word "multi".
> If your newsreader wraps them around then you must
> unwrap them.
>
> Now boot your machine with this floppy disk and try
> each of the three boot options. Remember to instruct
> your BIOS to boot off the floppy disk drive!
>
The trick did not work. I kept receiving the same message about
misconfigured bootable device though in BIOS I set the first, the second and
the third boot device as diskette. It looked as if it simply did not try to
read boot.ini from the diskette.
Do you mean that if ntldr, and ntdetect.com and boot.ini are on a bootable
diskette, the system reads them and acts on them, ignoring similar files on
a hard drive?
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:ulY6SVl8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> >> - Scrap the lot and start afresh.
I finally followed this advice of yours and formated one of the partitions
on that HD and installed XP Home there.
When I booted I noticed that the OS we tried to restore was actually w2k and
in the new XP installation is shown under letter H.
There are couple of stange things there I wish to understand.
1. When booting I was given an option to boot into XP or into w2k. So diring
XP installation the presence of w2k on tha disk was detected and boot.ini
was formed accordingly.
2. XP boots well. An attempt to boot into w2k failed with the same
notification about wrongly configured HD.
I tried to use your diskette changing WINDOWS to WINNT and partition(1) to
partition(6) - same result.
Why would not it boot?
3. Earlier when I booted from w98 boot diskette I could list the directories
on all the partitions except the one with OS.
dir H returned that the drive is not available - why so?
 
"Frank Booth Snr" <fbsnr@yahoo.co.uk> ???????/???????? ? ???????? ?????????:
news:h_6dncAyHrBk6HnbRVnyvgA@bt.com...
> The blue connector on the mobo is the primary hard drive controller.
> Connect the ribbon to this (blue connector on the ribbon), and put the
> hdd at thw other end (master position). Make sure the jumper position on
> the hdd is set to master correctly. Then go into BIOS and check that it
> reads the hdd correctly as master, before anything else.

Thank you Frank, very useful.
 
Do you think that is such an easy task? Ever do any programming?
"archer" <toerag@spamhole.com> wrote in message
news:1189362778.824684.53700@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 8, 4:18 pm, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com> wrote:
>
>> By the way, either your clock or your time zone is wrong.
>> You're posting in the past
>
> If every OE user, who has commented on this sort of thing in
> newsgroups over the years, directed their discontent at Microsoft
> instead, MS might, by now, have fixed OE so that it isn't a problem
> for their users (i.e. like every other newsreader client out there).
>
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:e1Tmh0y8HHA.1484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...> When you report back, do not
write "misconfigured bootable device".
> Instead you must quote the full error message ***verbatim***!
>
I used this as a shortcut to an earlier quotet verbatim:
w2k could not start because of a computer hardware config problem. Could not
read from the selected boot disk. Check
boot path and disk hardware.
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
news:upMvdjy8HHA.1900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:eeDNEey8HHA.536@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> > Microsoft is well aware of numerous problems, but it opts to igonore
them
> > and dugs the same bags from one version into another for the customers
> > have
> > no alternatives.
> >
>
> Would you care to give us some specific examples?
> Don't mention the PC clock time issue - this is not a
> problem but a design decision.
>
Sorry, by bugs I meant what you call a design decision - numerous design
decisions in applications which are pain in the arse to use an application -
if examples are needed - you only need to go to one of websites called
something like Microsoft sucks or Microsoft must dye - there are collections
there. Microsoft made huge contribution to this technology when they
started, and Bill Gates deserves a monument in gold, but now they just twist
our balls and they actually set an example of a big company ingnoring
customer, so other companies followed the suit so no matter if you have
problems with a computer or with a washing machine, you are on your own like
it used to be in Old Good Soviet Union.
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:eeDNEey8HHA.536@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Microsoft is well aware of numerous problems, but it opts to igonore them
> and dugs the same bags from one version into another for the customers
> have
> no alternatives.
>

Would you care to give us some specific examples?
Don't mention the PC clock time issue - this is not a
problem but a design decision.
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ePC%231ny8HHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:ulY6SVl8HHA.4436@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
>> Rather than mucking around with boot sectors etc, boot
>> the machine with a WinXP boot diskette and see what
>> you get.
>> - Format a floppy disk on some other WinXP/2000 PC.
>> Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
>> - Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your WinXP CD to A:\
>> ntldr
>> ntdetect.com
>> - Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
>> [boot loader]
>> timeout=10
>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
>> [operating systems]
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
>> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
>> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
>> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>>
>> Note that the last three lines each start with the word "multi".
>> If your newsreader wraps them around then you must
>> unwrap them.
>>
>> Now boot your machine with this floppy disk and try
>> each of the three boot options. Remember to instruct
>> your BIOS to boot off the floppy disk drive!
>>
> The trick did not work. I kept receiving the same message about
> misconfigured bootable device though in BIOS I set the first, the second
> and
> the third boot device as diskette. It looked as if it simply did not try
> to
> read boot.ini from the diskette.
> Do you mean that if ntldr, and ntdetect.com and boot.ini are on a
> bootable
> diskette, the system reads them and acts on them, ignoring similar files
> on
> a hard drive?

This is correct, but only if you formatted the floppy disk
on a Win2000 or XP PC.

When you report back, do not write "misconfigured bootable device".
Instead you must quote the full error message ***verbatim***!
 
aa wrote:
> Just to exclude some stupid errors. To make sure that the HD is correctly
> connected. I have two sockets on the motherboard, next to one another for
> those flat ribbon cables. One socket is blue, the other one is black.
> How shall I tell which one is for the master HD?
> Also each ribbon has one connector at the end and another connector in the
> middle - does it matter whether the master HD is connected to the center of
> the ribbon or to its end?
>
The blue connector on the mobo is the primary hard drive controller.
Connect the ribbon to this (blue connector on the ribbon), and put the
hdd at thw other end (master position). Make sure the jumper position on
the hdd is set to master correctly. Then go into BIOS and check that it
reads the hdd correctly as master, before anything else.
 
"aa" <aa@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uHKRQZz8HHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
> news:e1Tmh0y8HHA.1484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...> When you report back, do not
> write "misconfigured bootable device".
> > Instead you must quote the full error message ***verbatim***!
> >
> I used this as a shortcut to an earlier quotet verbatim:
> w2k could not start because of a computer hardware config problem. Could not
> read from the selected boot disk. Check
> boot path and disk hardware.

This is not a BIOS error. It's a message for the Windows loader.

--

- Gary Chanson (Windows SDK MVP)
- Abolish Public Schools
 
Back
Top