HD in BIOS but not booting

[patrussell]

I'm trying to move a WD Caviar 80GB HD from an old Compaq into a Dell Optiplex GX240. I can boot from the original HD in the Optiplex and the CD. When I install the WD drive it has to be by itself on the controller with the jumper removed for the BIOS to recognize it but I cannot get the OS to boot. Right now all I get is a blinking cursor in the top left of the screen.

I am working on this for a friend and really need to keep the old HD (WD) as the primary.

Any thoughts?

Pat Russell

 

[ski]

Does the WD HD work as Slave on the IDE 2 channel in the Dell system, i.e., can you view its contents in Windows?
If not, then the HD may be bad.
If you can view its contents as Slave, then it may have to be reformatted and the O/S reinstalled in order to boot from it.

 

[patrussell]

Everything works with the old HD as the slave in the Dell. I was hoping to be able to use the old HD as is but it doesn't look like this will work.

Thanks.

Pat Russell

 

[vacunita]

What Os does the old drive have?

You can't expect a drive installed on a different machine with different hardware, to boot on a new one, with all new hardware. It would have no drivers for it to use, and at the very least would constitute a violation of Microsoft's terms of service whereby you cant run the same operating system in 2 different machines at the same time.

This would in turn require re-activation of the OS in the new machine, and at the very least re-pairing the installation so drivers for the new hardware can be loaded.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wahnula]

You can't expect a drive installed on a different machine with different hardware, to boot on a new one, with all new hardware.

Especially a Compaq/HP HDD in a Dell machine! That's like putting Ford parts in a Chevy, it will reject the part like a bad organ transplant!

Seriously you can't get there from here, unless you have a Dell OS & driver CD.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[wolluf]

If its got XP on it and you have an install CD, a repair reinstall (

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341)

should return this drive to working in its new location - though as mentioned you will probably need appropriate drivers too, which you should be able to download from Dell site. Also as mentioned - there is licence issue with XP (if it is XP). If the 'Dell' machine now just has this version of Windows, should be able to reactivate it as Dell machine (using Dell key for the repair - assuming both same version of XP - OEM XP Home for example).

 

[patrussell]

I gave up on getting the Compaq HD to work as the master. I knew it would be a longshot but wanted to try anyway. Got everything working with it as the slave and the PC is ready to be returned to it's now very happy owner.

Thanks for the help and your time.



Pat Russell

 

[CapitalData]

What you should do is connect the drive to another computer, make sure you are able to see files.
-If you can't - then you need to recover your files either by using data recovery software or seek help from data recovery company.
-If you can see your files, the best is to back them up first before doing anything, and then scan the drive for errors first to make sure there are no bad sectors or any other issues. Then you can fix MBR (there are many utilities on the web). If after repairing the MBR you couldn't launch Windows, I suggest you formatting the drive and performing a clean install.

Best Regards,
Karen
Capita Data Recovery Inc.

http://www.capitaldatarecovery.com