Boot up problems

[Amazin Caucasian]

ok this is my third or fourth thread I know thats bad and everything, but so far all the threads have failed because no members seem to view them. So, when I boot up i get a black screen. It says windows\system32 file is missing and to fix this problem to to repair console on windows setup cd. when i try and go there it doesnt recognize my hard drives. I check all the connections and they seem fine. SO I tried to load the Sata 64bit Si334L driver or w/e from my mobo cd and both times i have put it on a floppy disk and boot up with windows setup it says the same file is corrupted....any ideas on what to do????

P.S. I only reposted because my comp has been down for about a month now.......

[Kov-Ice]

Is this a new build? Is it the hardware in your sig, or is this another computer?

[Amazin Caucasian]

the one in my sig..the OS is on my raptor by the way...its relatively new, 4-5 months

[Kov-Ice]

So this was a working rig at one point? Any hardware change made right before it began the black screen? Had the SATA drivers been on previously?

[Panama Red]

Have you tried a repair/ install instead of the repair console?

[Amazin Caucasian]

No changes had been made, I'm sure the drivers were on there....I tried to reinstall it if thats what u mean but it says it doesn't recognize the hard drives.

[pam123]

Have you tried downloading the sata driver from the Asus web site?
That should get you an uncorrupted driver in case the problem is the cd.
Also download the diagnostic for your hard drive since the problem may be there.

[Amazin Caucasian]

Could i download the driver from a different computer....I can't do the diagnostic because I can't boot.....

[pam123]

Sure but hold on a moment.
You mean you can't even get into the bios?
Or are you thinking the diagnostic requires you to get into windows?
The hard drive diagnostic runs from a floppy and to run it you place the floppy drive first in the boot order and boot the computer with the disk in the drive.

[Amazin Caucasian]

to get into windows, i don't know how to get sata drivers or diagnostics.......

[pam123]

Since the windows install is on the 37GB Raptor from Western Digital go to their download web site : http://support.wdc.com/download/downloadxml.asp#2
Follow the instructions for creating and using the floppy disk and remember that you'll have to put your floppy drive first in the boot order.
If you have trouble simply disconnect your raid set-up when you run the test.

[Amazin Caucasian]

which one should I download? the sata controller or the data lifeguard

[pam123]

Your downloading the diagnostic.
Data lifeguard diagnostic for DOS (floppy).
Read through the link.

[Amazin Caucasian]

i ran the diagnostics.......said everything was fine. I opened up windows setup again and it recognized a hard drive, turns out my Raid was disabled and it recognized the Baracudas. SO i enabled the Raid and now it doesn't recognize anyhting......

[pam123]

So now you know the drive with the OS install is fine.
That means you have to reinstall the raid/sata drivers when you do the repair.
I note that you are referring to the 64 bit raid drivers.
Unless you're running the 64 bit version of windows you can't use those.
What are the other choices on the cd?

[Amazin Caucasian]

32 bit SIiil34 or w/e and then some NVidia raid drivers, ok so i figured i try the 32 bit one. I made the floppy and then booted Windows setup. It says to hit F6 to install a third party SCSI or Raid driver so i tried to hit F^ and i hit it repeatedly and nothing happened, but i hit F2 next for ASR and it worked. So then I tried a diff keyboard. Same thing......im starting to get quite frustrated.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by Amazin Caucasian opened up windows setup again and it recognized a hard drive, turns out my Raid was disabled and it recognized the Baracudas. SO i enabled the Raid and now it doesn't recognize anyhting......

Let's make a deal, don't go changing any bios settings except the one you need to put either the floppy drive or the cd drive first in the boot order.
If the raid set-up was recognized before you changed it but not after I trust you changed it back.

" 32 bit SIiil34 or w/e and then some NVidia raid drivers, ok so i figured i try the 32 bit one. I made the floppy and then booted Windows setup. It says to hit F6 to install a third party SCSI or Raid driver so i tried to hit F^ and i hit it repeatedly and nothing happened, but i hit F2 next for ASR and it worked. So then I tried a diff keyboard. Same thing......im starting to get quite frustrated."

Pull out your motherboard manual now.
If your keyboard has an F-lock key make sure it's off.
Now when you first built the computer, I remeber you on the build forum from earlier this year, what drivers did you install?
Does the manual tell you anything about using a particular order of installation or which ones to select depending on which raid array ( I remember Asus boards as giving you a choice of possible set ups)?
For some reason I can't get on the Asus site at all, it just hangs, but you seem to be trying to install drivers at random and that's not going to work.

[Amazin Caucasian]

i read it and it seems like everything that im doin is fine...it says make the floppy then hit F6. Windows Setup only recognizes the Barracuda, which doesnt have the windows on it. SO when it asks to repair windows it gives me options and the only option is E:\Windows and when i select that it hangs..

[pam123]

Let's backtrack minute.
The windows install is on the raptor?
When you first set the computer up and installed windows what were the bios settings and what steps did you go through?
A repair install will follow those steps

[Amazin Caucasian]

well i changed some alarms, turned off the sound, enabled Raid....you mean stuff like that?? dont we have to get the Hard drive to be recognized first??

[pam123]

When something goes wrong and you have to fix it the fewer things you change the less confusion you sow.
What you wanted to do, the only thing you have to do, is the repair the install of Windows.
To do that, if the cd-rom isn't first in the boot order you have to make it so just as you had to make floppy drive first in the boot order to run the HDD diagnostic.
Those are the only things you should have changed in the bios when you were trying to get the computer back up and running.
Any other changes from when you first set up the computer, sound, alarms, etc., wouldn't be the problem here.

[Amazin Caucasian]

o ok, well how am i supposed to get my hard drive to be recognized? the driver? i can't do the driver because its not revognizing F6 for some reason.....I'll try it again....but should the driver fix my problems?

[Amazin Caucasian]

no dice....it seems like everytime i find a solution it fails and then there is another problem that prevents me from doing what i need to do

[pam123]

Despite the title this is what I use as a guide when configuring or repairing a raid set up.
I can't shake the impression that your somehow skipping over a necessary step somewhere.
If necessary we can always redo your install from scratch but please read through this first : http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1156288,00.asp

[Amazin Caucasian]

What confuses me is that the Raid array doesn't have anything to do with this. Windows is on the raptor which has a corrupted file. In order to repair that I hvae to go to the recovery console, but Windows Setup doesn't recognize my raptor. So in order to get the raptor recognized i have to install the driver, but I cant install the driver because it isnt recognizing F6.

[pam123]

Does your board have native sata support?

[Amazin Caucasian]

I'm pretty sure...how could i find that out?

[pam123]

Originally Posted by Amazin Caucasian I'm pretty sure...how could i find that out?

I have been trying, since last night, to access the Asus web site and I'm not having any luck.
I got briefly lucky and got the German site but that isn't going to do either of us any good.
Let's take a break until Asus get itself back on line, in english.

[Amazin Caucasian]

alrighty, is there anything else i can do without Asus? cuz my comp has been down for at least a month now

[pam123]

The guys at Asus say everythihg will be okay tomorrow.