[RESOLVED] PC Problems

[Zeb]

Hi guys,

any reasonable suggestions would be appreciated!

I'm having PC problems. Whenever I start up, the initial boot sequence runs fine, but once windows starts trying to load (just before the win XP is displayed) I get an error - "WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder is corrupted." it then has something about trying to do a repair with the original windows cd.

So anyway, I put the cd in, then when it gets the the first options screen I hit "R" for repair. It tells me it can't detect the hard disk. So I reboot, and try a full install - same thing. But it can detect the hard disk (how else would it know to look for windows\system32?). And the hard disk appears in the BIOS and on the startup screens.

Regardless, I tried new SATA leads, a new HDD, new motherboard and new RAM - same thing. It detects the hard disk, but can't do much else - it appears it can read from the drive, but can't write to it (and even with a brand new HDD, when I try to install windows it says it can't detect the hard disk).

The only thing left is to change the CPU, but I don't have a spare CPU (Athlon XP Socket A) lying around and would rather not waste the money on getting an old CPU which may or may not fix the problem!

[rockx]

hey did u try n change ur IDE cable(if u using that) something the cable cretes this kinda problem

[Zeb]

It's SATA, not IDE, but yeah I tried that. And I tried using the other SATA channel (with both new and spare cable)

I haven't tried a different power cable, as I only have 1 SATA power connector, but the drive is getting power (i.e. I can hear it, and if I touch it, it is spinning), so I don't think it is worth hunting down a new power cable.

thanks for the suggestion though. Anyone else have some thoughts?

[rockx]

another thing could b is ur win XP cd might b having sector problems. like sometimes i do copy files n folders from a CD, it happens well, but sometmes later there comes n error. so that might b another thing.

[Zeb]

i don't think so - it doesn't seem to be a problem with the CD - it just claims it can't see the hard disk (which it can).

I think the only thing left is to send it back and cop the expense for them to figure it out. At least they can swap everything out 1 at a time and test without having to waste money buying it.

[cilu]

Zeb, does the BIOS checks find the HDD? If so the chip sets on HDD are ok, but the file allocation table may be corrupted. Did you try to run Safe Mode with command prompt? Do you have a DOS diskett? Try to run the fdisk utility and see if it find something wrong with the HDD. Also, can you take the HDD out and put it in another PC and test it (there are plenty of softwares)?

[MrViggy]

It sounds to me like Windows XP is not detecting the SATA chipset, and not loading the driver for it. This would explain why everything else detects the drive, but not XP (also explains why when you try to boot, it says that the SYSTEM32 folder is corrupt).

Was XP ever running on this PC, in it's current configuration? If so, perhaps the driver files got corrupt somehow. Either way, if you have access to another machine, see if you can download the drivers for this SATA chipset, and when you boot from the Windows CD, it should allow you to insert a floppy to load "extra" drivers.

Viggy

[Zeb]

Zeb, does the BIOS checks find the HDD? If so the chip sets on HDD are ok, but the file allocation table may be corrupted. Did you try to run Safe Mode with command prompt? Do you have a DOS diskett? Try to run the fdisk utility and see if it find something wrong with the HDD. Also, can you take the HDD out and put it in another PC and test it (there are plenty of softwares)?

BIOS finds the HDD. I haven't tried in a new computer, but I have tried a brand new hard disk (straight from the box). No success. I don't have a DOS disk, but the weekend is a day away, so I will try that.

It sounds to me like Windows XP is not detecting the SATA chipset, and not loading the driver for it. This would explain why everything else detects the drive, but not XP (also explains why when you try to boot, it says that the SYSTEM32 folder is corrupt).

Was XP ever running on this PC, in it's current configuration? If so, perhaps the driver files got corrupt somehow. Either way, if you have access to another machine, see if you can download the drivers for this SATA chipset, and when you boot from the Windows CD, it should allow you to insert a floppy to load "extra" drivers.

It's been running XP successfully for the last 18 months. I didn't know that WinXP didn't come with the SATA drivers... Mind you, it doesn't actually give me an option to enter a floppy to load other drivers (on new install) - it just says it can't find the hard disk.


Thanks for your help guys. I've got a couple of other things to try now before I send it back to the shop.

[MrViggy]

It's been running XP successfully for the last 18 months. I didn't know that WinXP didn't come with the SATA drivers... Mind you, it doesn't actually give me an option to enter a floppy to load other drivers (on new install) - it just says it can't find the hard disk.

Windows NT, 2000, XP (95, 98, and Me too) have various hardware drivers on the install CD. Before it can actually install the OS, it has to load the proper drivers to talk to the hardware (otherwise, it can't install).

Windows NT and 2K used to prompt you to insert a floppy, if you were installing to something other then an IDE drive (i.e. SCSI), and it couldn't find the proper drivers on the Windows install CD.

WinXP must have SATA drivers, otherwise you wouldn't be able to install and run from an SATA drive!

Oh, hey, I know this may sound stupid, but you didn't accidentally disable the SATA interface in the BIOS?

Viggy

[wien]

Viggy is right. For the WinXP install (including repair mode) to be able to detect your S-ATA drive, you need to load drivers for your controller first. I certainly have to do that on my computer, and I suspect you have the same problem.

That still doesn't explain the corrupt system32 folder though.

[John E]

Since you've changed the motherboard, do make sure that your clock multipliers are set sensibly for your CPU (definitely try this before changing the CPU!!) I recently changed my motherboard and had exactly this problem - though in my case, the PC just refused to boot any OS. It was able to get into the BIOS though.....

A couple of other things.... try disabling a few things in the BIOS (e.g. disable the LAN hardware temporarily). This will cause re-allocation of the IRQ's which might improve things. At first, my new mobo wouldn't boot into Win 98 unless I disabled something-or-other (I can't quite remember what I had to disable now - but it was something I didn't really need).

Also, unless you reformatted your hard drive, you might possibly still have old drivers around that were used on your old mobo but are now redundant and causing problems.

Finally, most SATA boards have still got a couple of legacy IDE connectors. If all else fails, try fitting a standard IDE hard drive and see if you can boot from that.

Good luck...!

[MrViggy]

More execellent suggestions, John. I didn't think of clock multipliers!

Viggy

[Zeb]

MrViggyThanks again. The bios on my new motherboard actually has an option to set the SATA drive to appear as IDE or SCSI, so I might try setting it to IDE and try the install then. Otherwise, I'll duck around to a friends place and grab some SATA drivers.

John EThe clock multipliers are set correctly, although I've only diabled a couple of things - so I'll try a few more things.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

[John E]

I've only diabled a couple of things - so I'll try a few more things..

Hi Zeb - the main idea in doing this is just to force a re-allocation of IRQ's. With my new motherboard there was a certain device (I can't remember what device it was now) but something was sharing an IRQ setting with my graphics card. This didn't seem to bother Windows XP but Win 98 didn't like it at all.

Also - again I can't quite remember why - but at one stage I needed to disable "Plug & play OS" in the BIOS settings. Once I'd sortied everything out I eventually re-enabled it again but at first, that was causing problems too.

[Zeb]

Thanks one and all for the help! I told the BIOS to impersonate the SATA drives as IDE and was able to fix windows. I then changed it back to RAID and now all works fine (well, I now have to reactivate windows, but I'm sure I can figure that out )

Finally I can watch DVD's in the comfort of my bed again, and now battlefield 2 is out...