XP Home reinstall after swapping hard drive

Question

The harddrive on my Dimension 8400 was reporting that it was going to fail in the near future, so I backed up my data and got a new HD, and then decided to do a fresh install of XP.  So, i got out the Dell Resource CD and the XP install disc that came with the system, replaced the HD, plugged in only the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and set up the BIOS to boot from the cd first.  Now, no matter which disc I put in, I always get the message 'No boot device available - strike F1 to retry boot or F2 to enter setup.'  It starts reading the resource CD like it will boot before giving the message, but barely reads the XP cd before popping the same message.  The original drive was a 160gb SATA, the new one is a 250gb SATA, so I was trying to follow the RAID setup process on dell's FAQs, but I can't boot from the cds at all to even start that.  Anything I might be able to do or any ideas as to what is going on here?  I've tried the discs in both the cd rom and the dvd, but the dvd isn't even accessed when it attempts the read.

5150Guy · Answer

Hello

This may be a dumb question, but are you tapping the enter key when you get the message "hit any key to boot from CD"? Not all systems present this option however. The message only lasts a couple seconds and you could miss it.

Also, make sure your CD's are clean and scratch free. If you have another system available, see if the disks are readable in it. If so, you may have a hardware or motherboard problem, like a failing hard drive controller, which can be interpreted by software as a failing drive.

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

No, I don't get a message asking to hit the enter key.  It flashes the Dell logo, then comes up to a black screen with a blinking prompt while it's trying to read the discs, then displays the message.  I've tried both of the cds in my other system, and they are able to be read with no difficulty.

5150Guy · Answer

Hello,

My best educated guess is hardware. :smileysad:

Open your computer and make sure all the drive connectors are seated correctly and all the way on the motherboard and on the drives. I fear the worst for you at this point.

If anyone else has ideas, please post.

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

Everything checks out as being connected up.  I even pulled and reseated the drive cables on both ends, still the same results when I try the CDs.  So, if it's a hardware issue, would it be an issue with the cd drive?  Or am I looking at a motherboard issue?   The whole reason this issue started was with the message that suddenly appeared, saying that S.M.A.R.T. had reported that the HD was reporting that it may fail.  I had been experiencing a lot of hang time once windows loaded up, as much as a minute sometimes between clicking a program and it actually coming up.  This would occur even with all non essential programs and processes shut down, and there was still over 100gb of storage available on the HD at the time.

5150Guy · Answer

Hi again,

Are you able to read from the CD drives reliably once you are in Windows?

How old is your machine? Is it still on warranty?

Since the drive communications (SATA and IDE ports) are on the motherboard I would have to say it is the motherboard failing. If you have already replaced the hard drive with the same results, that is pretty much proof that it is the motherboard. However, as one last check, unhook all other internal and external devices from your computer, PCI cards, CD DVD drives, add on modems, video, etc, and leave only the Hard Drive hooked up. If you still get the same performance, then it is probably motherboard.

By the way, do you have any special USB drivers in the system for a camera or memory card readers? There can be problems with these and system perfomance.

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

I have been fiddling around with the system a bit and reinstalled the old HD.  Once i was in windows, I tried to access the cds from the primary cd drive, and it once again failed to read them or any other cd i put in there.  It seems that that drive at least is having a problem.  I got the discs to read on the secondary dvd/cd rw drive, however.

5150Guy · Answer

Hi again, It certainly 'sounds' like there are problems with the drive ports, which is why on bootup the primary CD drive is not recognized. You could try swapping the CD drives on the cable, and switch the jumpers so the other one is master and the former primary drive is slave. OR, you could just leave the secondary drive hooked up, but make it the master on the jumper setting, and leave the first one (currently primary) unhooked from the cable. If you still can't access the drive, then it is the motherboard. If it works, then the other CD drive is just bad. I have seen where a bad drive can cause Windows to hang and or crash. Maybe you will get lucky! Hope that helps! 5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

Oh, the fun never stops, lol. Yep, it was a bad cd drive, actually got the other drive setup as the primary and it does work. Thought my troubles were over, but...okay, BIOS recognizes that there is a nice big 250gb HD hooked up, and that it is active. I create the RAID drivers diskette just in case from the resource CD, and go to install windows. Okay, so far so good, go thru the initial steps, get the RAID drivers loaded up and...it can't find a hard drive connected to the computer. Windows says I don't have a hard drive hooked up even though the BIOS registers one. I've tried it with and without the RAID drivers, same result. Is this computer possessed? Seems that it tries to foil me at every turn, lol. Any ideas, or is an exorcism (bad motherboard needing to be replaced, maybe?) my only option?

Oh, thought just occured. Could it be a jumper issue? I noticed that the drive they sent had no jumpers...would I need to set up the jumpers on a SATA drive?

5150Guy · Answer

Hmmmm, very interesting. I have very little experience with SATA drives at this point, I don't know if it is jumper dependent or port dependent. It is something for you to take a look at though! If things do not come around with settings proper, then MoBo time.

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

Thanks for all the help, 5150Guy.  You're a real life saver, lol.  Turns out that all I had to do was change a BIOS setting for it to recognize the drive.  Got everything installed without a hitch, now for the long process of reinstalling.  Thanks again for all the help!

5150Guy · Answer

Hey, that's GREAT! At one point I was going to suggest the BIOS, but the settings are usually automatic when detecting drives, so I passed it over. What did you have to change?
I have been fixing computers for a lot of years, but I admit SATA is pretty new to me, so I am learning also in this regard.

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

Had to switch it from Autodetect RAID/something (first option on the BIOS) to Autodetect RAID / ATA on the drive options.  Seems rather obvious now, lol.

5150Guy · Answer

Interesting, I'm gunna have to take a look at that for future reference. Funny it changed from where it was though with the factor drive, to when you installed a new drive, thats what puzzles me. Things should not change themselves in BIOS.

Thanks!

5150Guy

Urban Sniper · Answer

No, it didn't change itself.  That first setting was where it was for the first drive, that's why I never imagined I would have to change it to something else.

Windows General

XP Home reinstall after swapping hard drive

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