xp won't boot

[eclipse92026]

:( Okay... Hi all,

I've got a problem now with my computer where when I start up the darn thing gets past post then gets to the xp @ home page with the little green thingy that moves at the bottom then stays on that screen and goes no where. Now I hit the restart button and then it does its' little song and dance gets past post then asks me if I wanna start up in the three different safe modes and I tried each one of them and then computer just freezes at that screen after I select it. Occasionaly I'll get past that screen and then to a screen that's all black with a little tiny cursor in the upper left corner that just sits there and flashes... ugh.. confused... I also even tried to boot using the last known good setting; but alas... still no triumph. Someone please help me :eek:

[eclipse92026]

by the way this might help

1.4 AMD Athlon XP 2200
Asus A7N266-VM
20GB HD
512 DDR PC 2100
ATI - All-In-Wonder 8500DV
SB Extigy

[Paul Komski]

Try a Repair Installation (http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/tips/dougknox/doug92.asp)

[eclipse92026]

Kae... well that'd be nice if I could even get my computer to read from the cd-rom.

But all I could get it to do is read from the floppy. So I inserted the xp boot disks to reinstall. well I got the xp boot disk to partition my drive but it just froze on the part where it was gonna format the drive I selected to install windows. It then terminated saying my drive was too damaged. I dunno how that even happened I mean one day it worked then the next day kapoot. The funny thing is I didn't even install anything prior to the crash to make it go crazy. Anyway now I've got a new hd in there it's a Western Digital 200GB special edition 7200 RPM anyway well it won't even read my hd now.. ugh.. I dunno what to do... Help... :(

[Budfred]

It sounds like you have a motherboard problem. When 2 different hard drives won't work, that makes it likely that you have a problem with the motherboard or with the BIOS. You might want to reset the BIOS to defaults and see if that works. Make sure you write your current settings down first in case you want to go back to them later.

If that doesn't do it, you may have a bad IDE controller on the mobo. Have you tried both IDE ports?

[eclipse92026]

:confused: Okay well first off thanks for helpin out again Budfred you're a lifesaver. But yeah I can't use the onboard ide controller for my new hd cuz it's 200gb windows xp won't register the proper size of mass storage devices unless I use a controller card.. So.. eh... dunno what todo bout that... but I think you're right... the whole motherboard being the problem cuz it won't even read the cd drives. so ehh... I'll try to reset bios. I'm willing to try almost anything right now... I just dun wanna spend money on a new mobo if I dun have to.

Mike

[Budfred]

If you are using a PCI controller card, that could be the problem. Probably would be a could idea to reseat it and make sure it is making good contact.

I have never heard that WinXP can't handle 200Gig and I am not sure that is true, does anyone else know anything about that??? Even if it is true, you should be able to partition the drive so WinXP would perceive it as smaller drives.

[Paul Komski]

The ATA Interface (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/size.htm) uses 24bits and can therefore only support drives up to 137GB (2²⁴). You therefore need a 48bit or higher IDE controller.

Added:-
As far as I know the NTFS file system can support partitions up to 16 PetaBytes (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/petabyte.html) (16.10¹⁸) or 2⁵⁰ if my math is correct that is.

[Sylvander]

Use this
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q308041

[Paul Komski]

Also found 137Gigabyte barrier solutions (http://service.maxtor.com/rightnow/product_manuals/137GB_Solutions.pdf) in pdf format.