Can't find boot drive even after reinstall

[Jerreke]

Hi all,

since a couple of months I've been having this strange problem and I hope I'll find an answer here;

The problem first occured when Windows XP was installed: when I started the PC I got an error saying that the location of the bootable device was incorrect. I tried restarting for a few times, without any luck. When I restarted the next day it all worked again.
After a couple of weeks this problem jumped up again ...

This happened a couple of times until I decided to reinstall Windows XP. But even then it still happened every now and then.
So then I decided to do another clean install, this time on a new Hard drive and with Windows 7.
However the problem still persists.

Does anyone have a clue about the possible cause? I'm starting to think this is not a software-related problem?

Thanks!

 

[Umpalumpa]

Does it really say "incorrect position" or more like "no bootable device"?

Those are two very different things and hide different problems. Can you tell us exactly the message on the screen?

Thanx

 

[Jerreke]

Well I don't have the error now, but it was something about a dll which could not be found. If I googled the error it came down to a problem with boot.ini

 

[Jerreke]

Well the error stated that hal.exe (1 l) could not be found.
I have 2 hard disks in the computer, so if I disconnect both drives and reconnect them and then restart the computer it works again, for a week or so.

Anyone has a clue?