Windows fails to boot.

[Blind Dragon]

Ok, there is 2 ways to do this we could turn that space into your C: drive

the simple way is to now select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition

Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size

use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER

Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options:
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick) <- for windows partition

After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to continue. After the Windows Setup program is completed, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions. I would recommend adding an additional partition later for storing data, and leave this one for XP

 

[gohalos35]

to be specific:

Unknown Drive

(There is no disk in this drive.)

[Four of those}

then..

131070 MB Disk at Id 0 on Bus 0 on ATAPI [MBR]

Unpartitioned Space 131069 MB

 

[Blind Dragon]

Do the unknown partitions have any size or are the 0MB

 

[gohalos35]

when i highlight the new partition and press Enter nothing happens? do i need to go somewhere different to format the partition?

 

[gohalos35]

they have 0mb.. well now the new one has 131~ and the other has 8mb all the others are 0

 

[Blind Dragon]

yea you will always have 7 or 8MB that you cant use

You should be able to select the new partition and hit enter, but since you can't tap f3 two times to exit.

Again we will go the long way of using command prompts.

Go back to the recovery console but this time type FORMAT C: /Q /FS:NTFS

be sure to use spaces where I did

 

[gohalos35]

ok thats done

 

[gohalos35]

hope to God someones paying you for this... theres a cold one with your name on it whenever you happen to be in colorado thats for sure.

 

[Blind Dragon]

type exit and lets see what happens

nobody paying me anything, this is for fun. Cold one sounds good though

 

[gohalos35]

modelo especial my friend.

typed exit, booted from disc automatically... try to install again?

 

[Blind Dragon]

I was really hoping that is what would happen. yes try to install

press any Key when you see the prompt to 'Press Any Key"

 

[gohalos35]

same prompt upon install attempt.. please insert your NT, Me, 95, 98 or Windows 2k disc blah blah

 

[Blind Dragon]

Ok, we are going to make you a bootable XP disk.

First you need ISO Recorder v2 for XPSP2 or you can use nero or roxio if you already have those

Download and install that to the computer you are on now.

Next Download Boot CD – Windows XP Emergency Boot CD (XP SP2 Pro & XP SP2 Home


1. After you download the ISO CD image to a folder on your computer you need to unzip/extract it. Then

2. Insert a blank CD in your CD-RW drive.

3. Start Windows Explorer.

4. Locate the ISO file, right-click the file name, and then click Copy image to CD to open the ISO Recorder Wizard.

5. Follow the steps in the wizard to write the image to the CD.

Here is a link in case you need more info http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm it also tells how to do it with common software like nero or roxio

 

[Blind Dragon]

I hope this works for you bud, but i have got to sleep. If you have problems I will check back in 5 hours or so when I get up for work and will see how it went.

After you create the bootable CD, insert it to your machine and continue with the install then use your product key

If you get the message that your product key is already in use call microsoft and explain to them what happened, and that you had to reinstall. They will have you read off a few numbers and give you a lot of numbers to type in which will give your key the go-ahead.

This is assuming that this hard drive is not defective

 

[gohalos35]

cdr drive on this comp is on the fritz... doing it on laptop be a sec.

 

[gohalos35]

okay thanks a ton for the help man.. really, truly appreciate it.

 

[Blind Dragon]

anytime, just let me know how it works out for you

 

[gohalos35]

said the file <windows root>\system32\hal.dll was missing or invalid. never even got to the install step.. thanks again... i think i should quit and go buy a new pc.

 

[Blind Dragon]

I'm guessing that it is either a motherboard or harddrive problem.

But if you want to try something first

Go back to the recover screen and type bootcfg /list

A list will now appear of all the entries in your boot.ini file

Next type bootcfg /rebuild

Your boot.ini file should now be repaired

Type Exit and it will automatically try to boot

 

[gohalos35]

did this when i woke up.... i installed the hard drive from my old comp as master and set my current HD as slave... it booted to the BIOS screen and this is what it showed:

Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG

Version: TCB431B
Memory Testing: 458752K OK

L2 Cache Size: 512K
System BIOS Shadow: Shadowed
System Video BIOS Shadow: Shadowed
UMB Upper Limit Segment Address: F00H
PS/2 Mouse Initialization Status: Plugged

Primary Master: Quantum Fireball c715 07 A01.0F00
Primary Slave: HDS722516VLAT20 V340A63A
Secondary Master: LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-832S VTS3
Secondary Slave: None

Floppy Discs: Fail (80)
Display Switch is set Incorrectly
CMOS Checksum Error - Defaults Loaded

-----------
So I hit F1 to load with defaults and it stopped responding... very similar to the way it failed to load at the on-set of the problem... i think its a mobo problem too. Just because of the way it failed again, just like it did before.

I'm going to switch it back and try the way you said in your last post. Pretty sure im effed here though.

 

[Blind Dragon]

Turn off BIOS shadowing and see if the problem goes away

But my guess is that your PSU fried your motherboard as was mentioned in the sticky

 

[gohalos35]

i just bought a dell. scrapped the old one out for parts. thanks for all your help... never again with the emachines. never. ever. ever.

 

[Blind Dragon]

Good choice, I guess you didn't want to do your own build after dissecting the old system aye

 

[gohalos35]

yeah that whole process was a bit too much for me... id rather pay someone else to do it at this point... hopefully my roommates comp will run WoW for a week.......