peggypwr1 said:
The good news is I can see my 320 gig as drive D (slave drive) in windows explorer. This sounds far fetched, but is there any way I can uninstall the nvida drivers from my drive D?
and in prior post peggypwr1 said:
<quote>
I have an old 30 gig HDD. Can I make my 30 gig the primary and my 320 gig the slave. Reformat my 30 gig, reinstall windows, then transfer files from my 320 to my external HDD via Windows Explorer. Right now, I have no idea.
Is my momb crapping out, my PSU? I dont know. I bought these components at the same stime less than a year ago.
<end quote>
So appears peggypwr1 is currently + succedssfully booting from temporary 30GB HDD with fresh Windows install, and can see 320GB @ D-drive. So ATM I would conclude:
1) No bad mobo, power supply, video card, RAM etc. hardware-wise, except maybe 320GB HDD is failing OR critical file(s) necessary for bootup on 320GB drive are bad.
2) peggypwr1 already did a Windows in-place repair install on 320GB HDD, however that didn't fix 320GB bootup problem - so most likely crritical Windows files needed for bootup on 320GB are OK (ie, are not the problem);
3) what next? I recommend, in this order, while booted from 30GB C: drive:
a) As recommended previuosly several times by others, download and run the hard drive manufacturer's disk checking software! It should detect any serious drive disk/controller problems that warrant an return/exchange/replacement. If it passes, continue;
b) When booted from 30GB drive, delete D;\pagefile.sys (later when attempting to boot from that 320BG drive, Windows will create a new pagefile.sys on the root of that drive);
c) Start> Run, type "cmd". In the command window that opens type "chkdsk d: /R /V" ->Enter. Watch for (& jot down if you can in) path+filename of any files reported as bad/fixed. (When chkdsk is done, you can scroll up in the command window to write down bad/fixed file info). Report back here any bad/fixed path+filename(s);
d) While command window still open, type "defrag d: -f -v" ->Enter. When defragementation process is done, type "exit" ->Enter in command window, to close that window;
e) Start> Search > for Files & folders, ensure option to include hidden/system files is checked, in All or part of name: field type "nv*.*, choose Look in: ONLY D: drive to be searched (ie NOT "C:" and NOT "Local Hard Drives (C:,D)", click Search button. That search should show various nVidia video driver files, Delete them - CAUTION: If your motherboard has nVidia chipset, do NOT delete.
4) Start>Shutdown>Restart, on black&white boot selection screen choose 2- Windows on D drive, ->Enter and IMMEDIATELY press and hold F8, select Safe Mode. When in Safe Mode on drive D, Start> Settings> Control Panel >Add/Remove Programs, select nVidia Video Drivers. When that finishes, Shutdown> Restart, on boot selection screen again choose 2-Windows on D drive. Windows on 320GB HDD should detect your video as New Hardware, install drivers for it - NOTE: you may have to install video drivers from your 320GB hard drive. Then reboot again onto D drive, and Report back here if it now works or not (if latter, what does do now?).
Apologies to peggypwr1 if these steps are overly presciptive, never know how knowlegable people are when trying to identify & fix problems.
Fingers X'd.....
