Solve : Multitude of problems....BIOS/Windows/Harddrive?

1.	Solve : Multitude of problems....BIOS/Windows/Harddrive?
Answer» Things never are as easy as it is planned. I bought a Maxtor 200gb harddrive and was gonna start with a fresh install of XP Pro. So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first GO into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer. Well crap, so something is up with the new drive or the software. May i mention the software frequently locks up before i get it to format. It took me about 8 times before i could get through it all the way. Anyhoo, so i figure i'll take out the new harddrive and put my old one back in and do a file swap from one harddrive to another and then just reinstall windows. Well with only my old harddrive in, it will give me the black XP screen with the bar going back and forth, and then goes to the blue screen with the small Windows XP icon. Normally it would load windows from there and then go to the login screen. Instead it is hanging up at the blue screen. I've let it sit for 20 minutes and it still stays on that blue screen. The computer i am working on is an old HP XT953 with a P3 1.0GHz and was originally Windows ME. I had upgraded to Windows XP Pro SP2 and that is what is on my old harddrive now. When i go into the BIOS, it gives me three options for the types of windows in a drop down box. One option is "Other", the next option is "Win 95", and the last option is "Win 98/2000". I've had it on all three types and it still hangs up. The BIOS i have on the computer is a PhoenixBIOS Core Version 4.06 BIOS Revision 2.10 05/08/01. All i want to figure out is how i can go back into windows. I've tried going into Safe Mode, using the last known good configuration, i've tried them all and they all get stuck at the same spot. Please help me! If you need any more info let me know. For some reason i can't get my bootdisks to work either on this computer and it says that windows was unable to format the disk. When it rains it pours! I've also loaded Default Settings in the BIOS and still won't go into windows. Running out of options hereUsing overlay software is to be avoided if at all possible! Remove it now and forget Windows for the moment, let's get the hardware sorted out first. Does the BIOS actually see the drive and does it REPORT it's full size?Quote ...So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first go into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer. ... Beuning: Is the software you ran on a CD that was shipped with the Maxtor hard drive, or some other software? If some other software, what is the name of the program? Did you check the Windows XP catalog to see if the hard drive is supported by Windows XP? http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314062 Doc Quote Using overlay software is to be avoided if at all possible! Remove it now and forget Windows for the moment, let's get the hardware sorted out first. Does the BIOS actually see the drive and does it report it's full size? Overlay software as in the DDO? The bios read the drive ok without me doing anything to it. It only recognizes the 137gb instead of the 200gb, which i have read that if i am installing XP SP1 or later that it will recognize it. I partitioned the drive into 3, one at 100gb and two at 50GB. I'll try reading up on removing the DDO.Quote Quote ...So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first go into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer. ... Beuning: Is the software you ran on a CD that was shipped with the Maxtor hard drive, or some other software? If some other software, what is the name of the program? Did you check the Windows XP catalog to see if the hard drive is supported by Windows XP? http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314062 Doc It is the MaxBlast 4 software that came with the Maxtor CD. The DDO software installs itself if the BIOS is older and won't recognize the full harddrive capacity.Buening: Backdated is correct. Have you checked the documentation for the motherboard to see if it supports hard drives as large as 200 GB? Many Windows Me systems shipped with hard drives smaller than 10 GB. Have you checked the Web site of the motherboard manufacturer to see if there is a flash upgrade for the BIOS? DocWell here is the funny thing. I have the updated BIOS and the computer originally came with a 40GB harddrive. A few months after i got the computer i added a 160Gb slave for all my games and files. That one installed in a cinch and i partitioned it into 4 separate 40gb drives. I'm not a guru with computers so please correct me if my assumtions are wrong, but if you partition the harddrive into smaller drives that are less than the 137Gb it really doesn't matter if the BIOS is able to handle larger drives. Is this correct? At first, i tried using the Maxblast software in DOS cause i wanted the 200gb drive to be my bootdrive. Well it kept giving me a disk read error, so i hooked up my 40gb boot disk along with the 200gb and booted up windows. When i got into windows and ran the software, it would only allow me to transfer all the files from my 40 to my 200 but i wanted a clean install of windows. The drive partitions showed up in My Computer. While i was in windows, a warning window popped up and said that the system is not setup for drives larger than 137gb and if i wanted it to turn on those settings. It said it had to adjust the Registry and the screen blanked and restarted windows. Well since then i am not able to get back into windows and this is scaring me. I had most of my files backed up, but there are a few files on my desktop that i would like to save. Is there any way i could get into my old harddrive to retrieve some files? Reinstalling windows on that drive would delete the files in My Documents and the Desktop. I'm getting a set of boot disks for XP Pro TODAY at work. My previous set gave me an error on disc 4 saying a file was corrupt. I'm trying to install windows on yet another drive, 80gb (yeah i'm getting desparate to get into windows here). As far as the 200gb, i put in a bootable Win ME cd and it goes through the initial setup and then aborts the install saying that the harddrive wasn't found. It said that either the cables aren't hooked up or the drive wasn't initialized and that i need to run FDisk. I don't feel comfortable enough with FDisk to know what i'm doing. One other note. I removed the DDO from the 200gb and when i restart the computer it goes to a black DOS screen and says Disc Read Error. It doesn't check the disc drive or CD drive or nothing. I'm thinking i may have a defective drive. If anyone could help me get back into my old harddrive i would appreciate it!!!! I tried going into safe mode, and even reverting back to a known good configuration and nothing works. I'm not sure if i can get a BIOS upgrade from the mobo manufacturer cause it is an HP computer. Since it isn't a retail mobo, the only updates i can get are through HP and they haven't had an upgrade in a few years. It does have the upgraded BIOS though. In the BIOS, it recognizes the harddrive and states that it is 137gb and not the 200gb.The bottom line is that you'll need a hard drive equal to or smaller than the BIOS limitation size for this computer to reliably operate. You could try the overlay software again but it's definitely not to be recommended.Quote The bottom line is that you'll need a hard drive equal to or smaller than the BIOS limitation size for this computer to reliably operate. You could try the overlay software again but it's definitely not to be recommended. Does it matter if that harddrive is partitioned into drives smaller than the 137gb barrier? Or does the bios recognize the hardrive as its full size regardless of how many partitions it has? Thanks for the help everyone!

Answer»

Things never are as easy as it is planned. I bought a Maxtor 200gb harddrive and was gonna start with a fresh install of XP Pro. So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first GO into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer.

Well crap, so something is up with the new drive or the software. May i mention the software frequently locks up before i get it to format. It took me about 8 times before i could get through it all the way. Anyhoo, so i figure i'll take out the new harddrive and put my old one back in and do a file swap from one harddrive to another and then just reinstall windows. Well with only my old harddrive in, it will give me the black XP screen with the bar going back and forth, and then goes to the blue screen with the small Windows XP icon. Normally it would load windows from there and then go to the login screen. Instead it is hanging up at the blue screen. I've let it sit for 20 minutes and it still stays on that blue screen.

The computer i am working on is an old HP XT953 with a P3 1.0GHz and was originally Windows ME. I had upgraded to Windows XP Pro SP2 and that is what is on my old harddrive now. When i go into the BIOS, it gives me three options for the types of windows in a drop down box. One option is "Other", the next option is "Win 95", and the last option is "Win 98/2000". I've had it on all three types and it still hangs up. The BIOS i have on the computer is a PhoenixBIOS Core Version 4.06 BIOS Revision 2.10 05/08/01. All i want to figure out is how i can go back into windows. I've tried going into Safe Mode, using the last known good configuration, i've tried them all and they all get stuck at the same spot. Please help me! If you need any more info let me know. For some reason i can't get my bootdisks to work either on this computer and it says that windows was unable to format the disk. When it rains it pours!

I've also loaded Default Settings in the BIOS and still won't go into windows. Running out of options hereUsing overlay software is to be avoided if at all possible! Remove it now and forget Windows for the moment, let's get the hardware sorted out first.
Does the BIOS actually see the drive and does it REPORT it's full size?Quote

...So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first go into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer. ...

Beuning:

Is the software you ran on a CD that was shipped with the Maxtor hard drive, or some other software? If some other software, what is the name of the program? Did you check the Windows XP catalog to see if the hard drive is supported by Windows XP?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314062

Doc
Quote

Using overlay software is to be avoided if at all possible! Remove it now and forget Windows for the moment, let's get the hardware sorted out first.
Does the BIOS actually see the drive and does it report it's full size?

Overlay software as in the DDO? The bios read the drive ok without me doing anything to it. It only recognizes the 137gb instead of the 200gb, which i have read that if i am installing XP SP1 or later that it will recognize it. I partitioned the drive into 3, one at 100gb and two at 50GB. I'll try reading up on removing the DDO.Quote

Quote
...So i hooked the only the new harddrive and ran the software to format and partition it. Well it said to first go into the BIOS and check to see if it recognizes the harddrive first. Did that and exited the BIOS. After the harddrive was formatted and partitioned, i restarted the computer and it goes to the blue banner screen for Dynamic Drive Overlay and states to "press spacebar to boot from diskette or press C to bot from CD-ROM." Well a 1/2 second after that is displayed i get a Disk Read Error and to hit control alt delete to restart the computer. ...

Beuning:

Is the software you ran on a CD that was shipped with the Maxtor hard drive, or some other software? If some other software, what is the name of the program? Did you check the Windows XP catalog to see if the hard drive is supported by Windows XP?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314062

Doc

It is the MaxBlast 4 software that came with the Maxtor CD. The DDO software installs itself if the BIOS is older and won't recognize the full harddrive capacity.Buening:

Backdated is correct. Have you checked the documentation for the motherboard to see if it supports hard drives as large as 200 GB? Many Windows Me systems shipped with hard drives smaller than 10 GB. Have you checked the Web site of the motherboard manufacturer to see if there is a flash upgrade for the BIOS?

DocWell here is the funny thing. I have the updated BIOS and the computer originally came with a 40GB harddrive. A few months after i got the computer i added a 160Gb slave for all my games and files. That one installed in a cinch and i partitioned it into 4 separate 40gb drives. I'm not a guru with computers so please correct me if my assumtions are wrong, but if you partition the harddrive into smaller drives that are less than the 137Gb it really doesn't matter if the BIOS is able to handle larger drives. Is this correct? At first, i tried using the Maxblast software in DOS cause i wanted the 200gb drive to be my bootdrive. Well it kept giving me a disk read error, so i hooked up my 40gb boot disk along with the 200gb and booted up windows. When i got into windows and ran the software, it would only allow me to transfer all the files from my 40 to my 200 but i wanted a clean install of windows. The drive partitions showed up in My Computer. While i was in windows, a warning window popped up and said that the system is not setup for drives larger than 137gb and if i wanted it to turn on those settings. It said it had to adjust the Registry and the screen blanked and restarted windows. Well since then i am not able to get back into windows and this is scaring me. I had most of my files backed up, but there are a few files on my desktop that i would like to save. Is there any way i could get into my old harddrive to retrieve some files? Reinstalling windows on that drive would delete the files in My Documents and the Desktop.

I'm getting a set of boot disks for XP Pro TODAY at work. My previous set gave me an error on disc 4 saying a file was corrupt. I'm trying to install windows on yet another drive, 80gb (yeah i'm getting desparate to get into windows here). As far as the 200gb, i put in a bootable Win ME cd and it goes through the initial setup and then aborts the install saying that the harddrive wasn't found. It said that either the cables aren't hooked up or the drive wasn't initialized and that i need to run FDisk. I don't feel comfortable enough with FDisk to know what i'm doing.

One other note. I removed the DDO from the 200gb and when i restart the computer it goes to a black DOS screen and says Disc Read Error. It doesn't check the disc drive or CD drive or nothing. I'm thinking i may have a defective drive.

If anyone could help me get back into my old harddrive i would appreciate it!!!! I tried going into safe mode, and even reverting back to a known good configuration and nothing works.

I'm not sure if i can get a BIOS upgrade from the mobo manufacturer cause it is an HP computer. Since it isn't a retail mobo, the only updates i can get are through HP and they haven't had an upgrade in a few years. It does have the upgraded BIOS though. In the BIOS, it recognizes the harddrive and states that it is 137gb and not the 200gb.The bottom line is that you'll need a hard drive equal to or smaller than the BIOS limitation size for this computer to reliably operate.
You could try the overlay software again but it's definitely not to be recommended.Quote

The bottom line is that you'll need a hard drive equal to or smaller than the BIOS limitation size for this computer to reliably operate.
You could try the overlay software again but it's definitely not to be recommended.

Does it matter if that harddrive is partitioned into drives smaller than the 137gb barrier? Or does the bios recognize the hardrive as its full size regardless of how many partitions it has? Thanks for the help everyone!

Solve : Multitude of problems....BIOS/Windows/Harddrive?

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