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Boot problem after format

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Nickas14

Registered
Joined
Apr 8, 2011
Location
Greece, Athens
Hi everyone.

I have two operating systems installed on one HDD each in a different partition, Windows XP and 7.
I formatted the partition with the XP, because there was some error and I couldn't log in to my account or any other. I re-installed Windows XP with the installation CD and when the computer restarted for the first time, it finished POSTing but didn't boot from the HDD(whether the CD was in or not).
Now I can boot in both XP and 7 but only using hiren's boot cd, which I found on google. Also, my windows XP failed again, in less than 3 hours after installation, now it says that a file is corrupt. I will have to re-install it again.

It seems that my computer doesn't see my HDD as a booting device. Even though it is recognized during POST. Inside the BIOS I have tried selecting the HDD as first boot device but nothing happened.

Also, I tried updating my BIOS (lost my overclocking settings :mad:) and nothing changed.

When I bought the computer, I first installed XP.
Using the Hiren's BootCD I come across this page http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Hirens-Boot-Cd.jpg. When I select the first choice it asks me which operating system I want.

How can I fix this and what caused the problem?:confused:

My system is :
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 630
Motherboard: GIGABYTE MA770T-UD3P revision1.0
HDD: WD800JD 00HKA0
 
Last edited:
You said that Windows XP became corrupt after it was installed. You may have some bad hardware.
You should test your memory and hard drive first. The Hiren's BootCD has all the tools you need.

To test the memory under Testing Tools run "Memtest86+ 4.20"

To test the hard drive under Hard Disk Tools run "Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools 1.24"

If you install Windows XP 1st and then Windows 7 a menu should have been created automatically so that you can select which one to boot. This menu is the first thing you will see when the computer gets past POST.

If you want to make changes to this menu or add it later you can use a program like EasyBCD while in Windows. I have used it a lot to modify the boot menu.

EasyBCD
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

The Non-commercial version of EasyBCD is free for personal use.
 
Ok, thanks everybody.
I followed this video and solved my problem.
I will also make these tests MisterEd mentioned before re-installing Windows XP.
 
Good to hear you got it working. You've got to be careful about where you put the MBR when installing a new copy of winders. Sometimes it winds up on a drive you aren't expecting, inadvertently tying another drive to your OS install.
 
I ran the tests and nothing wrong was found.
I re-installed Windows XP and the same happened again.
I followed the video again and fixed it, but now when I choose to boot into Windows XP the same error appears. The strange thing is that when I boot Windows XP from the Hiren's boot CD it boots up normally.
That means Windows XP weren't corrupted after the first installation. The MBR does something and I can't access XP through windows boot manager.
 
Like we said before, you probably wiped out the MBR on the XP drive when you formatted it. The Hiren CD (not sure, never used this) is probably setting up a temporary MBR to allow you to boot.
 
When dual booting, XP always has to be installed before W7. = For 'sure' is the recommended method. He can do it the other way around now that he has foolishly just formatted his XP partition and not removed XP from the dual boot loader first.

Now he probably should make sure Win 7 will still boot at all by itself and not depend on a boot CD like Hirems and then follow a tutorial on installing Win XP after Win 7 is already installed.
 
When dual booting, XP always has to be installed before W7. = For 'sure' is the recommended method. He can do it the other way around now that he has foolishly just formatted his XP partition and not removed XP from the dual boot loader first.

Now he probably should make sure Win 7 will still boot at all by itself and not depend on a boot CD like Hirems and then follow a tutorial on installing Win XP after Win 7 is already installed.

I'd just use two separate HD's and make life easier..... :chair:
 
It can still put the MBR on a separate drive, and he may have had the same problem.
 
Thanks for your help everyone.
I keep getting an error (same with the first one I had) on Windows XP so I'll delete it for good. I 've installed Windows XP on this computer and others countless times and never came across the same error or any error.
The only reason I kept Windows XP was to convert unreadable greek subtitles to readable ones. Now I found a way with MS Word on Windows 7. So I don't need XP anymore.
If I choose to install XP again in the future I will take into consideration your replies.
 
Thanks for your help everyone.
I keep getting an error (same with the first one I had) on Windows XP so I'll delete it for good. I 've installed Windows XP on this computer and others countless times and never came across the same error or any error.
The only reason I kept Windows XP was to convert unreadable greek subtitles to readable ones. Now I found a way with MS Word on Windows 7. So I don't need XP anymore.
If I choose to install XP again in the future I will take into consideration your replies.
Sorry i didn't get back until now...Some time in the future you might try this if you are willing to erase everything on that drive and start over. You need to find a program that zeros the drive. Sometimes that will overwrite and fix bad parts on the drive. A long time ago I had two different drives that both failed the installation of Windows XP. After I zeroed the drives the Windows installation went OK.

There is also the possibility that the boot sector of the drive has unrecoverable bad places on it. I had a drive like that once. Windows could never be installed on it but it worked OK as a data drive.
 
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