xp hdwe changed, now won't boot.

[racerbrownn]

i'm removing my dvd-rw and extra hdd from my emachines w cel 2.5, 40 gig hdd 256 ram.
now it won't boot all the way to the login screen. it shows xp loading and when the login screen should be showing, it just goes blank.

this is a pc package with xp preinstalled and only recovery discs to repair any software damage.

i kind of hate to delete all the rest of the added software on this pc but i didn't want to hassle with m$.

unfortunately, when i put recovery disc 1 into the drive and boot up, it doesn't stop to see the cd so i can choose the recovery option. i went into the bios and there is no mention anywhere for changing boot order.
even odder is the fact that the bios doesn't see the cdrw either. but the tray opens and when i was tring to run the recover discs, the cdrw did spin up for a while during the time the screen was blank.

i would rather reactivate than recover anyways.

what is a recommended way to handle this problem [if the hardware change is even what is stopping this thing?]

thankx,ray.

[Panama Red]

If you removed a hard drive, recheck the jumper configuration on the remaining drive. Most will need CS jumper selection but some Western Digital HDD's have 'neutral' setting. Check their site support area for jumper configuations.

[racerbrownn]

i removed my backup add on hard drive. the oem equipped hdd is still in the pc and is still on the end labeled master and i never touched the jumpers that i can remember.

p.s. the oem hdd is listed as the primary master in the bios, 'course the pc does boot so the hdd is being used.

still one question remains....if the boot is halted because of a hdwe chage that activation doesn't approve off, will xp load all the way to the login screen and then go blank?

[Panama Red]

I had an eMachines a while back. Never had a problem getting in to bios/boot order. It's there, cuz I remember using it. Try putting the DVD back in and see if it will boot. If it does, remove the DVD from Device Manager and shut down. Then try taking it back out and see if the machine will boot.

Not sure what you mean by "if the boot is halted because of a hdwe chage that activation doesn't approve off"..

[racerbrownn]

sorry, you are right, under boot options there was a line for boot priority. i'm just used to seeing first boot device, second boot device etc in the main screen [ like my abit nf7] and others i've had. it was already set to cdrom as first and hdd as third.

putting the dvd back in would require removing it from my build that i'm using right now. [sigh]

since i'm kind of new to xp, when a hdwe change is big enough to screw the activated copy it has recorded, what is the symptom like that the pc won't boot.

this pc will boot thru the black welcome to windows xp loading screen with the green line crossing the middle of the screen repeatedly but when the time for the blue screen with the login name box choices should be displayed, it is just black.

[racerbrownn]

god, this is sooo dumb.

so i take out the dvd and put into the emachine.
NOW the bios see's both of them. now the recovery cd is working in the dvd and reinstalling as we speak. maybe i did change the jumpers on the cdrw and just don't remember.

once it is done, i'll check and let you know.

p.s. it still would not complete bootup hence my decision to run the recovery disc's.

edit:

like a dumb a$$, i had jumpered to cdrw to slave and the dvdrw to master. live and don't learn! [i really don't remember changing the cdrw jumper which was oem with the pc and i'm sure it was master.

this also explains why the cdrw in my new build wouldn't show up with my dvdrw. now it does since the are no longer 2 masters on the same cable. shheeesshhhh.

and after all is said and done.........the emachine still WON'T boot to the login screen!!!!!!!!!!!!

looks like i'll be making a call to tech support tomorrow to see if they have any bright ideas. [don't think i'll mention the stupid hdwe mistakes if you know what i mean]

[Panama Red]

Kinda like the carpenter's rule: Meaure twice, cut once.

I'd like to have a dollar for everytime I was 'sure' of something only to find out I'd overlooked the obvious.

Another good saying: The obvious isn't obvious until it becomes obvious!

[racerbrownn]

yeah, i've screwed up the carpenters rule too [forgot to add the case of the tape measure to the total ]

anyways, emachine suggested that i delete the partition and rerun the recovery discs.
i deleted but got confused about remaking one with dos as the only choice i saw for a primary choice.
i went with it and when the recovery was completed, fdisk did show the partition as ntfs and not dos so i'm ok
could i have just ran the recovery disc with no partition using xp and could it have made it's own?

anyways, when the bootup got past the main xp startup screen into the black hole, it poped to blue with a one line sentence at the top saying window was now preparing to start and it got to 6 periods before it fell back into the black hole and was gone again.

did i do something wrong by creating a primary dos partiton that was active?

[glc]

You should run the recovery discs with no partitions on the drive. You should never use Fdisk to create partitions on a drive that's going to be used with 2K/XP.

However, the black hole sounds more like a video problem, if you have an old PCI video card kicking around, you may want to try that, if you can get a POST with it, go into the bios and disable the onboard video.

[racerbrownn]

well, i REALLY got blindsided on that one.

i did delete the partition and run the recovery discs to load xp etc.
still didn't help with the black hole.

i still can't believe that the monitor that i plugged into the emachine was not compatible with it!!!!

granted the monitor was not the same one the pc was used to but i have built a p4 platform 3 years ago and it worked fine with this 1996 ibm 17" monitor.

once again i chased my tail all over for a totally dumb reason!

since when are monitors so fussy when they meet svga standards.

{i could understand an old compac 15 monitor that i had not wanting to work right but.......

[racerbrownn]

to be fair, i should mention that a different mouse, keyboard and the ibm monitor were used during the time of conflict.

the compac monitor [with 2 pins missing in the connector compared to the ibm] actually gave me more than the black hole but it displayed about 8 squeezed images at once and rather blurry as well.
but the color was blue with the question mark lower right showing the install assistant.
thats when i decided to reconnect the pc to the mouse, keyboard and monitor i had been using originally. [i probably should have mentioned the different addons at the beginning of this post but couldn't see them causing the problem.]

is it likely that the monitor isn't compatible with this new hdwe? even though i was on a 1.7 celly with a raedon 64mb card and worked ok. [maybe it took a crap after not being used for a year.]

[racerbrownn]

well, i just finished swapping the ibm 17 monitor 1996 build date with a monitor that is early 2000 from my father who is using an old p3 pc of mine.
the ibm works fine for his pc.
the newer 17" monitor [compusa brand] works fine with the emachine!
is it common for mid 90' monitors to not be compatible with modern day hdwe??
boy, this sure took a bite out of my a$$