Windows

[TorontoKid]

Hi Everyone, I've a huge problem which I'm sure has an easy solution...I just don't know how to do it. The main issue is that my PC is just stuck constantly rebooting itself...so I turned it off.

System Specs:
Athlon 750
256k ram
Windows XP Pro
1 30GB HD
1 120GB HD (Partitioned into 2 parts)

Background: Everything was running fine. I had windows xp installed on the 30GB Drive (C). I had SP1 installed. One day I had nero copying a cd. I stepped out of the room for a moment and when I came back in I had a black screen that said "Press a Key to reboot". So I did, and from that point on, I got the "NTLDR is missing. Press CTRL-alt-DLT" message. No matter what I tried, that kept happening. So I looked on here for possible solutions. I tried FIXBOOT from the repair console. I tried Fdisk and changing the active partition. Nothing worked, so I decided since I really didn't have that much on drive c, to just reformat and reinstall windows. I changed the boot order and booted from my windows xp disc, and started to do a clean istall. When I had to pic where to install Windows..I could see the roughly 30gb partition from my 30gb drive as well as the 2 roughly 60GB partitions from my 120gb hd. I don't think the 30gb partition was labled "C" but I knew that was the drive I wanted to install it on. I chose to reformat that partition and it took quite a while, but eventually the installation continued..and when it was done...windows started right up. I went to my computer and looked around and realised that windows XP had been installed on the correct drive (The 30gb) but it was labled drive "D" instead of "C". The 2 partitions on the 120gb hd were labled "C" and "E". I assumed this would be a problem upon reboot since everything looks for "C" but my OS in on "D". So went into my computer and tried to change the name of "D" to "C" but got a message that I couldn't change the name of my "Boot Drive" So I was stuck with it being called "D". I then tried to reboot and that's when the machine started the cylces of just restarting itself. So I went in and changed changed the active partition using the startup disk and I noticed that only the 2 partition on the 120gb hd were shown as options "C" and "E". My next step was to try to reinstall XP again, but when I got to the screen where I'm asked where I want to install it, I see my 30gb drive already labled as "D"...so I know that that is part of the problem. How do I get my installation to go onto the 30gb drive as drive "C"? or is there something else I have to do .

ANy help will be most appreciated. when I came back in I had a black screen that said "Press a Key to reboot".

[reboot]

Temporarily remove the cables to your 120 gig drive, so there's only one drive in the computer. Fdisk the 30 gig, and make the partition active. That will insure that it becomes C again. Install Windows. Reconnect the other drive.

[TorontoKid]

Thanks, I followed your advice and disconnected the larger drive so the 30 gb is assigned "C". No I have it formating but there seems to be something wrongs. It's only 30Gig and cruises along up to 85% formatted and then CRAWLS. It's taken about 3 hours to get from 85% to 87%. I imagine that it's gotten to the point where the OS was previously installed. Is it normal for the re-formatting to slow down so much when it gets the that point? or is there something I should check?

[reboot]

Not normal. It sounds like there may be bad sectors on that drive.
Go to the mfg website and get their diagnostic tools.

[systempat]

It's starting to sound like a hard drive problem. Hope it's not, but the symptoms are kinda pointing that way.
If you have system utilities to run on it you might want to see what they say about it. At this point you may want to install Windows to the first partition on your 120 gig.

[res07tg2]

One of my drives did that. I had to let it go almost 12 hours formatting. When it was finnally done my 40 gig drive was now 32. I guess I had alot of bad sectors. It has however run for almost two years now at 32 gig. Originally as my only drive and now as storage.

[mike breck]

Hi TorontoKid,

Just a note about constant rebooting in XP.

Whenever XP encounters a Stop Error (the kind that used to produce the blue screen of death in Win9x), the system automatically reboots.

The could be almost anything, including incompatible software, an out-of-date BIOS, or outdated drivers for computer components such as video cards, CD-RW drives, printers, or scanners.

This means, of course, you can end up with a vicious circle where XP constantly reboots without telling you the cause of the error. That's why I think it's better to disable Automatic Reboot. At least that way, you will get a BSOD which hopefully will tell you what is causing the error.

To do this

Start > Control Panel > Settings > System (in the Classic-style

Start menu, Control Panel is under Settings).

Click Advanced > System And Recovery > Settings.

In the System Failure section, clear the Automatically Restart

check box, then click OK.

Also, one of the anomolies of XP is that you can change any drive letter APART from the boot drive. So if you end up with the boot drive as D: - you cannot change it.

However, for future reference, while confusing, annoying and illogical, having a boot drive letter other than C: doesn't appear to affect the running of XP at all.


HTH