Not sure if this belongs here but at wits end

[Angel_Fire_]

Ok first off I am new here. I got a custom built computer from my ex that he didnt give me any emergency disks for. About a month ago the computer got a missing or corrupt file message upon start up. I went out of town so I didnt mess with the computer till i got home. my friend sent me a disk to install the OS. Windows XP PRO. now the disk didnt boot up when i put it into the drive. so my friend had me open the pc up and look at the drives. my ex had 5 different drives hooked up into this computer. i pulled it all apart and tried the master drive in another system. it still read the same error. so my friend suggested putting the master drive in the othere system as my master in the system i was using. it would boot up and get to pci device listing. it read the master drive but not the cd drive. and then would stick on the pci device listing. i am not sure what to do. dont know if i hooked the drives back up correctly but i need help getting the system to work again.

[RandyL]

Hi Angel;

I'm a little confused about what you are saying.

 

Are you saying you put your drive in another computer and attempted to boot from it?

 

Are you saying you put a drive from another computer into your computer and attempted to boot from it?

 

What exactly does it say on this XP Pro disk that you want to install on your custom built computer and where did your friend get it?

[Angel_Fire_]

answers

 

The disc looked like a custom made cd. Kinda like a tech cd. Something like my ex husband used to make. The only way I can explain it is the cd was designed to boot up and fix a registry error, which i was told that was the message that kept popping up.

 

And yes I tried booting it up in another system same error message. I tried setting the master drive from custom to slave and the other system's (also custom) master to the master drive in the main pc i was using. I disconnected everything and just reconnected the two drives and cd tray. It read the second master drive that i put in there and the slave i set up but it didnt read the cd tray anymore.

 

Then it would go into pci device listing and just stop.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hi Angel

 

Welcome to FPCH

 

Well this disk is either some obscure pirated copy of XP or an XP Recovery disk, it's hard to tell.

 

The original primary master in your pc would not boot in any other pc, the same would apply to another pc's primary drive attached to yours as a primary boot drive.

 

I assume that all devices are IDE and you have reconnected them incorrectly.

 

It does sound like the main primary boot drive does have significant errors though.

 

The main primary drive should be set as Master on IDE 0 or 1 if it is a more modern board.

[Angel_Fire_]

motherboard

 

ok.......i have no disks to fix the os or even reinstall it. and hooked up wrong yeah i can see myself doing that as i am not that well versed in computers. i tried reconnecting it from memory and thought i did ok. I put the master drive on a blue hook up like it was before. same with the cd rom drive. put the other devices on the black connectors. but if it will help the mother board is an asus and i believe the number on it is p48(or b its not clear)533-E.

[BeeCeeBee]

Wolfey has replied to you in a manner that assumes you know what you are doing. Repectfully, I am taking you at your word that you are computer illiterate.

 

Jumping from the drives to the mobo is not going to clear things up. Are these 5 drives physical drives (hardware) or are some just drives that appear when you go to my computer.

 

What are they, how many are hard drives, CD ROM etc.?

 

If you are sure that you remember which hard drive was the original try putting it back exactly how it was. Try not attaching anything else and booting. Tell us what you see.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok your mention of a Blue connector indicates an IDE connection.

 

 

Did you alter any of the jumper positions on the back of the hard drives?

 

This is an example only of jumper configurations.

 

http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachments/technical-support/14133d1114903866-what-does-no-fixed-disk-mean-jumpers.png

 

If you did not then you must look at the hard drives and see which are jumpered in the Master position as there are many connotations with regard to this.

 

Pick one that is jumpered in Master and connect it to the blue motherboard connector with the longest end of the ribbon cable being attached to the board, connect the hard drive to the very far end of the cable.

 

Reboot.

 

If the operating system is not on that drive you will get an error.

 

Try with the other drive in the manner suggested.

 

Then get back to us.

[Angel_Fire_]

booted up

 

ok wolfey i set the pins back to where i had them before....i double checked it by looking at the top of the hard drive as i was instructed by my friend.

 

now as for the message i am getting it says scanning ide drives then after its done it pops up with no array is definds tells me to hit ctrl f for fast build or esc for booting. now i have let it run long enough it takes me back to how to start my windows

 

option 1 start windows normally = the computer automatically restarts and the whole process begins again

 

option 2 stat windows from last known good configuration= windows could not start because the fallowing file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\system32\config\system you can attempt to repair this file by starrting windows set up using hte original set up cd select 'r' at the first scree to start repair (i covered this as it's not really an option for me as my ex husband never gave me cds to recover anything on this pc.

 

options three and four fallow option 1 just re starts.

 

it recognises the hard drive but not that there is any cd rom drive currently so then even if i had the cd to repair i cant use it as the computer is not reading a cd rom drive.

[Angel_Fire_]

added to previous post

 

i hit ctrl f for fast build and it says there is no disk and to check the data cable and power cord. i know there is power to the cd rom drive as the button on it is lighting up.

 

and beeceebee yes there are 5 physical hard drives 2 are wester digital i believe 120 gb hard drives. 2 are samsung 40 gb hard drives the last one is a samsung 80 gb hard drive

Edited January 13, 2009 by Angel_Fire_

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Just how many hard drives are involved here Angel as this looks like some obscure RAID setup is going on here?

[Angel_Fire_]

hard drives

 

there are 5 hard drives originally set up.....currently i have the master hooked into the system. I know it was the original os system by the cord connected to it and the pin on the back. That drive is the samsung 40 gb hard drive, the next drive down is also set to master this drive is the 80 gb hard drive which is connected to the second samsung 40 gb hard drive that is slave. If i remember the term correctly that was used once before it was piggy backed. then comes the two 120 gb western digital hard drives. the pins are set up as master with slave present.

 

At least looking at the pin settup on top of the drives that is how it reads....

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok I notice the board has 4 IDE connectors but unfortunately it would be impossible for us to tell how the RAID array was configured now you have had it apart.

 

To us the best option here Angel is for you to do several things.

 

One is to run checkdisk on all of the 5 drives attached to another pc to test for system errors and also format them at the same time if none are found.

 

Obtain a new copy of XP and install to one primary master with the rest being storage drives.

[Angel_Fire_]

hmmm

 

there are a couple of the drives that obtain old family movies that my ex recorded onto the computer. is there any way i can get away with not reformatting them as i am not sure i have everything to re do the movies into the computers and i really dont wanna lose them.

[BeeCeeBee]

If you know which drive or drives hold the movies you can put it aside and format the other drives. If you do not know you can treat them as external drives in another working system. Provided they are not badly damaged you should be at least able to view the contents.

 

You will have to follow the directions given however if you want get a working OS on one of your drives.

[BeeCeeBee]

You have duplicated your post and it will be deleted for clarity. Please read my previous post.

[Angel_Fire_]

stupid question

 

how exactly do i reformat the drives? and i am making the drives slaves to check for the movies as i was able to view the content on the drive before. lets just say my friend led me a merry chase and all that happened in the end was me wanting to take the computer out and take a shot gun to it.

[BeeCeeBee]

OK Angel you are going in t bit of a circle here. You are going have to follow Wolfey's instructions for at least one of your hard drives. That is why I asked you if you knew where these movies are stored. If you do not know you should get a caddy that will allow you to attach your hard drives, one at a time, to a working system by way of a usb connection.

 

If you do that you should be able to fins your movies and put that disc or discs aside.

 

You must format at least one of the hard drives as Wolfey said and you must acquire a good valid copy of XP if you have any hope of getting your system up and running.

[Tootech]

If you have access to another computer, buy one of these adapters

 

Plexus USB to IDE 2.5"/ 3.5" Transfer adapter With Power Adaptor - Ebuyer

 

One end has a IDE plug, which your hard drive will plug in to, the other is USB, which will plug into another computer

 

You can plug each drive in one at a time and copy any data you need.

 

The only exception is that if your drives were setup as a striped RAID array, there is really no chance you would get the data back. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing whithout trying it.