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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Hardware / May 2008Error messages on startup.
I have WindowsXP Recently I am having trouble starting up the computer at the beginning of the day. The night before I have to shut it down by turning off the main power switch because if I use the Windows method the computer starts up again all by itself. Now when I try to start it up the following morning I turn on the power again and press the start switch, but it takes about 1/2 hour for the computer to start, which it does all by itself. On starting, the black-and-white screen pauses for a long time at "Detecting IDE drives", then on proceeding is freezes and gives the message "Disk Boot Failure", and "Insert System Disk and Press ENTER". I then turn off the computer and start it again and if I do this several times the start-up will proceed to the Windows start-up screen and all is OK. Can someone help me to fix this. Regards, Frank > I have WindowsXP > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > start-up will proceed to the Windows start-up > screen and all is OK. You have hardware failure. It could be as simple as a bad power supply, or more components could be involved. There is no way anyone reading your post can tell. You'll need to do systematic and thorough hardware troubleshooting or take the machine to a qualified computer professional. http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot Standard disclaimer: I can't see and test your computer myself, so these are just suggestions based on many years of being a professional computer tech; suggestions based on what you've written. You should not take my suggestions as a definitive diagnosis. Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). If possible, have all your data backed up before you take the machine into a shop. Malke  SignatureMS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com Don't Panic! >> I have WindowsXP >> [quoted text clipped - 64 lines] > > Malke Alas I am starting to panic. The problem turned out to be both the Power Supply AND the HDD, this latter being a "Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500Gb". I have bought and installed a new Power Supply (with a greater rating this time), and a new Seagate HDD as above. Fortunately I had done an image backup 2 days previously (on a portable HDD) with the Norton V12 Ghost for the C: drive and the D: drive, and I have now successfully recovered all the content on these two partitions. Sadly, I neglected to do an equivalent backup for the E: partition (because it's so large) and this now lost on the old damaged Seagate HDD. There is a great deal of data on this E: drive in the form of photos & movies & e-books, and I want it all back. The old damaged drive seems to be damaged on the printed-circuit cover plate (judging by the burnt-Bakelite smell) and this is removable by undoing 6 screws. Therefore I ask: can these printed-circuit cover plates be acquired separately from the HDD, or can I buy another cover plate and exchange it with the damaged one. The old HDD seems to be spinning OK? I am loath to take the damaged unit to some specialist HDD-recovery firm because of the sensitive data it contains. Please help, Frank > There is a great deal of data on this E: > drive in the form of photos & movies & [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > specialist HDD-recovery firm because of the > sensitive data it contains. The only way to reliably get data off that drive is to send it to a professional data recovery company such as Drive Savers (my preference) or Seagate Data Recovery or the like. General prices run from $500USD on up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop drive for one of my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth the money; only you know what your data is worth. I understand that some insurance companies are now covering data recovery charges so check with yours. Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/ Companies like DriveSavers deal with sensitive data all the time so unless it is data that will get you sent to prison - and I'm not suggesting it is - I wouldn't worry about it if you want to get that data back. You cannot fix this yourself. There have been instances of people purchasing an identical hard drive and swapping out the control boards, but that is tricksy and unless you have very strong skills I don't suggest you try. The boards must be exactly identical and there is no way to determine what is really wrong with the drive. Every time you spin that drive up you run the very high risk that you are destroying data. If the data is important, send it to a professional. Malke SignatureMS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com Don't Panic! >> There is a great deal of data on this E: >> drive in the form of photos & movies & [quoted text clipped - 63 lines] > > Malke I had to buy a new HDD, the same type and model as the failed one, and then I changed over the control card of this to the old one. This worked, and I was able to retrieve all the data. It was a burned-out control card on the HDD. I had the computer tested and I was told that the HDD control-card burnout was caused by a faulty power supply, and, also, that this was causing the curious start-up-after-shutdown problem. I had a new larger-capacity power supply installed (way over capacity) and all is well now. I went to the expense of installing an extra identical HDD and I use this to do routine complete backups with Norton12.0. This is cheaper than stuffing around if the same thing happens again. I have extra portable pocket-sized HDDs for off-site backups too. Someone might benefit from these experiences. Regards, Frank PS. I did contact Seagate about the problem but they were not specific in their help; rather they gave what amounted to a sales pitch of the "send-it-in-and-we'll-try" for which they were going to charge over $1500.00 succeed or fail. >>> There is a great deal of data on this E: >>> drive in the form of photos & movies & [quoted text clipped - 100 lines] > which they were going to charge over $1500.00 > succeed or fail. It's refreshing to know the method can work. A couple posters have tried to fix their hard drives, by replacing the controller with an exact substitute, with no luck. Your success story is a nice change. Paul >>>> There is a great deal of data on this E: >>>> drive in the form of photos & movies & [quoted text clipped - 115 lines] > > Paul It may depend on the character of the control-card fault. I know nothing of these things except that my failed card gave a typical burnt-Bakelite smell. Also the failed HDD was fairly new (18Mo old) and the technician at the shop had a very close match on the shelf. |
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