Old HD can't see OS, can't load OS

[Arden]

I was upgrading a friend's computer from an old Compaq,
to PII, more memory, etc. All I wanted to do was move the HD to the new computer, it is 10 g and doesn't need to be changed. It wouldn't boot in the new box, message was no OS.
There is a partition on the drive, and all the data and OS are in one partition.

Tried reading the directory and it looked like hileragliphics (sp?)

When I boot the computer with another HD and slave the old one I can see everything.

Tried scandisk, defrag, tried re-installing windows, and it says it can't because there is a problem with the file directory that scandisk can't fix. Tried Norton, all of these programs fixed a little, but screwed things up enough that now the drive won't boot in the old computer.

What should I do? I don't want to lose the data on the old drive, didn't want to go looking for all the old drivers. Now I have a mess. Any suggestions?

 

[wolluf]

'When I boot the computer with another HD and slave the old one I can see everything' - so my suggestion is to do just that - retrieve what you need to backup. Then, if you want o/s on it, wipe drive and start again. From what you've said, the o/s on it is unlikely to function properly again anyway.

 

[Accessdabbler]

I wonder if the BIOS isn't reading the drive properly. Go into the CMOS and see if it is being read as a 10gig drive.

More likely however is that the drive became damaged during the move. Best to do what Wolluf suggested and get the info off that drive.

 

[Arden]

I have successfully gotten the data off the drive, all is well. I came across this info, and think that the partition, and what Compaq has done in the loads is the problem...


"...Compaq has a proprietary bios partition on the hard drive (making a direct replacement difficult

 

[mudskipper]

Difficult, but not impossible. If you go to compaq's site, you can download the disks needed to set the Diagnostic Partition back up. You can even put it on a new drive if needed. Merry Christmas
Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[TimeTraveler]

I have a similar problem with a HD that is fine if booting from floppy, but won't boot by itself. (The HD just goes into an infinte chatter.)
It would be grand if there was a real solution, and not "copy off and sub another drive". Part swapping isn't a fix in my book - not with cars nor computers, since it doesn't address the real problem of why this thing broke down and what do I do in the future if this happened...
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