Hi, I'm having some more difficulties with my system, and while trying to learn how to repair/upgrade computers, I seem to be digging myself into a bigger hole! I can't seem to resolve this issue. I'll try to give as much info as I can:
The Comp has a 700mhz P3. Mobo is a Korean one, Meditech. Originally there was 1 CDRW (Plextor), 1 CDROM (Goldstar), one Harddrive (quantum). I was able to install 2000 and get it working. I added more ram (PC133 to a PC100 system) and it still functioned, recognized the additional ram, and didn't throw out any error messages.
Tried to get it to dual boot with XP Pro, but didn't get a complete install (Some 5 files were unable to copy onto the 2nd partition.) (Search other posts by me for more details on that)
Got another old comp up and running, and installed 2000 on it, and decided to turn this problem comp into a sole XP OS, and install a second harddrive(maxtor).
(HERE'S WHERE I Think I screwed up) I wanted to wipe all the data off the 2 harddrives, so I used Hiren Boot CD 6 to run the HD diagnostics. I used maxtor diagnostic (among other testing tools), and low-level formatted it. It was interrupted in process.
Now when I try to boot a boot cd (Hiren or XP) I get "Boot from Atapi CD-Rom: Failure , Missing Operating System" error message. BIOS is set to go CD, C, then A. (I've tried from both cd drives)
If I change the BIOS to boot from C:, I get a missing operating system error.
If I change the BIOS to boot from floppy, I can boot an old 98 boot disk to a: prompt.
From there I can read the CDs (cannot run XP setup from DOS), and see the following drive designations: a:floppy, c:HD, d: HD, E:MS Ram Drive, F: CDRW, G: CDROM.
From e:\> I tried running scandisk. It scanned e:. Changed the switch to scandisk c:\all, or d:\all and for both got 'cannot examine'
From a:\> tried Fdisk
Shows that Drive 1 is C:, active, primary dos, with unknown system (NTFS)
Shows that Drive 2 has a logical drive, D:, ext dos, and system unknown (NTFS)
I've checked the jumpers, replaced the HD cable with 80-wire cable select, and reset jumpers, checked connectivity, etc. Replaced CD cables with other ribbon, checked jumpers, etc...
CD drives on IDE2 channel, HDs on IDE1 channel.
All show up in BIOS and POST.
My powersupply is 250 W, which I think should support all included devices. (Just in case, I disconnected 1 HD's connections to see if that affected it... Nope!)
BIOS and POST recognize all IDE devices, I've reset the config, gone back to default and setup defaults, and tweaked it a little to match.
I think I need to fix the MBR, or reformat the HD... I don't understand why the ATAPI won't boot... I can't seem to find a resolution through searching MS, googling, etc... Will continue searching, but seeing if you have any ideas...
I don't care about any data on the drives, I just want to confirm that they're good, and install xp on this system... I'd be happy just to have the CD boot!
Linear Mode
