Solve : This is a serious problem?

1.	Solve : This is a serious problem?
Answer» I am not sure what you're asking me for. The system has 2 HDD, 2 Graphic cards, and an AMD CPU with 2GB memory. Do you want me to be more specific? e.g. brand name of each HDD, capacity of each HDD, etc.? I only swapped an Acronis clone of the C drive when the problem first appeared. I haven't done any further swapping. That clone is still in the system. Short of taking the PC to a repair shop, I will try to take out each stick of memory to see if that's the issue. I could attempt to reinstall Windows on the original C drive, but I'd be shocked if that worked. Any further suggestions on what to do are appreciated.Why hasn't anyone answered my questions? Quote from: BULLWINKLE on March 19, 2013, 09:44:50 PM Why hasn't anyone answered my questions? What was the question? You want to know if you MOTHERBOARD is OK? The fact that you can get into the BIOS setup indicates that 99% of the systems is working. You were told to boot from the install CD. Did you do that? If the install CD boots up, it will present you whit a selection to run the recovery console. Did you every get to that point? Please tell us if you can get into the recovery console. It matters. A little empathy here. I've been directed by 3 different guys into 3 different procedures in a very confusing situation. All I was doing was asking Patio to clarify what he meant by "system layout". At any rate, I'm not trying to offend anyone or ignore anyone. And I am grateful for WHATEVER help can be offered. I have made progress. I have discovered that the original C drive is non-functional. I attached it to my own PC and it wasn't recognized. To verify that, I attached the duplicate C drive from my wife's system to my PC and it was. So now I'm only using the cloned drive. No one had advised that I go into the Recovery Console until you did. When I did so, I reached the command prompt and entered bootcfg /rebuild It came back with the following message: C:\RECYCLER\lots of letters and numbers Add Installation to boot list? I answered ALL (guessing) It then came back with: Enter Load Identifier: And now I'm totally stumped as to what this MEANS or what to enter. Can you help? Thanks again. UPDATE I researched and entered Windows XP Professional for login entry, and then /fastcheck for the OS load request. I got back to the Windows C prompt, and so rebooted from the HD. Same problem: WINDOWS COULD NOT START BECAUSE OF A COMPUTER DISK HARDWARE CONFIGURATION PROBLEM. COULD NOT READ FROM THE SELECTED BOOT DISK. CHECK BOOT THAT AND DISK HARDWARE.Boot back into the Recovery Console from the boot disk... At the command prompt type in fixboot and hit Enter... Then type in fixmbr and hit Enter...you will see a warning prompt...answer Y and re-boot. P.S. Noone was ignoring you...we aren't always here 24/7...UPDATE 2 I reentered the Recovery Console and did a CHKDSK /r. After that I ran FIXMBR followed by FIXBOOT. Then booted from the HD. Same problem. Perhaps it's a memory error?Sounds like a bad image file to me actually...Does that mean that the C drive I copied with Acronis isn't working? I've tried to do a reinstall of XP before but it never completed. As soon as I enter the XP Code, it drops to the same error message. If the BIOS is OK, the mb is OK, the CPU is fine, then it seems that it can only be the HD or memory - as far as I understand PCs. What to do next aside from reformatting and starting from scratch - although something tells me that that error may still appear. Quote from: bullwinkle on March 20, 2013, 05:00:53 PM ..... What to do next aside from reformatting and starting from scratch - although something tells me that that error may still appear. You can check to see if the CD has a thumbprint on it., That can stop it. Clean with a lint-free cloth Gently. Or, the CD-drive may have dirt on the lens. Clean it with those things you get in a store where they sell them things. Here is a trick that worked for me. Using another PC, make an exact image copy of the install CD. It works and is legal for your own use. The product key works on the duplicated CD. I have done this. It works. And not just for OS CDs. EVEN other CDs have this behavior. Hope this helps. Nope - no thumbprint. My latest attempts have been to pull each of the two memory sticks in turn and to replace the ntoskrn.exe file in the system32 directory. Neither worked. I'm afraid it's the mb. I guess it's time to give up the ghost and send it to a repair shop. I'm out of ideas. Thanks to everyone for your time and helpI like to report on the solution to this problem since it was never solved. This is my way of paying those of you back who bothered to help me. Perhaps in the future someone else may have this issue. I took the PC to a repairman. As I had determined, the original C drive was not working. However it turns out that the cloned drive was also corrupted and so a format and complete install of XP had to be done. The system now works, although this was my nightmare scenario. Thanks again for your help.

Answer»

I am not sure what you're asking me for. The system has 2 HDD, 2 Graphic cards, and an AMD CPU with 2GB memory.

Do you want me to be more specific? e.g. brand name of each HDD, capacity of each HDD, etc.?

I only swapped an Acronis clone of the C drive when the problem first appeared. I haven't done any further swapping. That clone is still in the system.

Short of taking the PC to a repair shop, I will try to take out each stick of memory to see if that's the issue. I could attempt to reinstall Windows on the original C drive, but I'd be shocked if that worked.

Any further suggestions on what to do are appreciated.Why hasn't anyone answered my questions? Quote from: BULLWINKLE on March 19, 2013, 09:44:50 PM

Why hasn't anyone answered my questions?

What was the question? You want to know if you MOTHERBOARD is OK? The fact that you can get into the BIOS setup indicates that 99% of the systems is working.

You were told to boot from the install CD. Did you do that? If the install CD boots up, it will present you whit a selection to run the recovery console. Did you every get to that point? Please tell us if you can get into the recovery console. It matters.
A little empathy here. I've been directed by 3 different guys into 3 different procedures in a very confusing situation. All I was doing was asking Patio to clarify what he meant by "system layout".

At any rate, I'm not trying to offend anyone or ignore anyone. And I am grateful for WHATEVER help can be offered.

I have made progress. I have discovered that the original C drive is non-functional. I attached it to my own PC and it wasn't recognized. To verify that, I attached the duplicate C drive from my wife's system to my PC and it was. So now I'm only using the cloned drive.

No one had advised that I go into the Recovery Console until you did. When I did so, I reached the command prompt and entered bootcfg /rebuild

It came back with the following message:

C:\RECYCLER\lots of letters and numbers
Add Installation to boot list? I answered ALL (guessing)
It then came back with:
Enter Load Identifier:

And now I'm totally stumped as to what this MEANS or what to enter.

Can you help?

Thanks again.

UPDATE

I researched and entered Windows XP Professional for login entry, and then /fastcheck for the OS load request.

I got back to the Windows C prompt, and so rebooted from the HD.

Same problem:

WINDOWS COULD NOT START BECAUSE OF A COMPUTER DISK HARDWARE CONFIGURATION PROBLEM. COULD NOT READ FROM THE SELECTED BOOT DISK. CHECK BOOT THAT AND DISK HARDWARE.Boot back into the Recovery Console from the boot disk...
At the command prompt type in fixboot and hit Enter...
Then type in fixmbr and hit Enter...you will see a warning prompt...answer Y and re-boot.

P.S. Noone was ignoring you...we aren't always here 24/7...UPDATE 2

I reentered the Recovery Console and did a CHKDSK /r. After that I ran FIXMBR followed by FIXBOOT.

Then booted from the HD. Same problem.

Perhaps it's a memory error?Sounds like a bad image file to me actually...Does that mean that the C drive I copied with Acronis isn't working?

I've tried to do a reinstall of XP before but it never completed. As soon as I enter the XP Code, it drops to the same error message.

If the BIOS is OK, the mb is OK, the CPU is fine, then it seems that it can only be the HD or memory - as far as I understand PCs.

What to do next aside from reformatting and starting from scratch - although something tells me that that error may still appear. Quote from: bullwinkle on March 20, 2013, 05:00:53 PM

.....
What to do next aside from reformatting and starting from scratch - although something tells me that that error may still appear.

You can check to see if the CD has a thumbprint on it., That can stop it. Clean with a lint-free cloth Gently.
Or, the CD-drive may have dirt on the lens. Clean it with those things you get in a store where they sell them things.

Here is a trick that worked for me. Using another PC, make an exact image copy of the install CD. It works and is legal for your own use.
The product key works on the duplicated CD.
I have done this. It works. And not just for OS CDs. EVEN other CDs have this behavior.

Hope this helps.
Nope - no thumbprint. My latest attempts have been to pull each of the two memory sticks in turn and to replace the ntoskrn.exe file in the system32 directory.

Neither worked. I'm afraid it's the mb.

I guess it's time to give up the ghost and send it to a repair shop. I'm out of ideas.

Thanks to everyone for your time and helpI like to report on the solution to this problem since it was never solved. This is my way of paying those of you back who bothered to help me. Perhaps in the future someone else may have this issue.

I took the PC to a repairman. As I had determined, the original C drive was not working. However it turns out that the cloned drive was also corrupted and so a format and complete install of XP had to be done.

The system now works, although this was my nightmare scenario.

Thanks again for your help.

Solve : This is a serious problem?

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