This is an absolute disaster of a scenario. Ok, so the PC was working great except I couldnt access https login sites like hotmail, yahoo mail, gmail, anything. I tried everything and then decided on Service Pack 3 for XP. I installed it and then restarted and got the blue screen of death. Luckily I backed up my files on a DVD in case I had to reinstall the OS so here's the problem....awhile ago I shorted out the spot on the motherboard where the IDE cable from the cd/dvd rom drive goes. I installed a PCI IDE card, hoooked up both DVD drives that way, and it has been working with that setup ever since. Now when I put in the Emachine System Restore CD and power the computer on, then go to BIOS and make sure its set to boot from the CD drive I get this... "CDRom drive number not found system restore stopped. press a key to cotinue."

I've tried with the emachines cd, and a seperate MS XP cd, and tried both DVD drives and get the same message. Very frusterating PLEASE HELP!!

The BIOS does not detect the drive as a boot option as it is running off the PCI controller.

The BIOS is looking for the IDE controller.

Try the other IDE channel. Presumably the one with the Master hard drive. Mount the DVD as the slave on that channel.

Otherwise look for a BIOS option to boot from the PCI controller. Probably not available but maybe.

SP3 can also always be removed. Try booting into Safe Mode then Add/Remove Programs.

Make sure the box that says "Show Updates" is checked then Remove SP3.

Ok I put the dvd drive to slave off the HD IDE cable. Its recognizing it now, but as soon as it wants to start I get this every time...

Set the BIOS to boot the CD drive prior to the hard drive.

That error indicates that your hard drive is still trying to boot.

I changed the dvdrom drive to boot in BIOS, and also selected it in the boot menu. When it starts it says "emachine system recovery" press R for recovery options, press f11 to start recovery so I do that then its by PC ANGEL and it says "system restore environment is incomplete. system restore reinstalls the environment." so whatever, I click it, and it starts loading all these files...then gets to "c:/l386/ole32.dl cant be recovered!" so I can abort or retry and its not doing anything.

Are there any other Recovery Options?

Such as a "Destructive Recovery" or "Factory Settings" etc.

If the recovery CD depends on data on the hard drive this might be the issue you are having.

Did you ever try booting the current system into Safe Mode?

You could also try the Microsoft CD and boot into the Recovery Console.

Here you could try the commands:

FIXBOOT

or

FIXMBR

You could also try the Microsoft CD to run a Repair Install (using your eMachine license key).

This latter would be a last resort as it may corrupt drivers and proprietary issues with eMachine.

Originally Posted by jephree

Are there any other Recovery Options?

Such as a "Destructive Recovery" or "Factory Settings" etc.

If the recovery CD depends on data on the hard drive this might be the issue you are having.

Did you ever try booting the current system into Safe Mode?

You could also try the Microsoft CD and boot into the Recovery Console.

Here you could try the commands:

FIXBOOT

or

FIXMBR

You could also try the Microsoft CD to run a Repair Install (using your eMachine license key).

This latter would be a last resort as it may corrupt drivers and proprietary issues with eMachine.

The MS XP Pro cd is a "burnt copy". when I try to boot with THAT disk it doesnt even recognize it as a bootable disk.

with the emachine disk doesnt give me recovery options just goes directly to that message then installs from there. I hooked up an old HardDrive I had to see if the CD needed something on the drive...when I start the recovery it DID give me those options "destructive recovery" or the recommended one that keeps the files which it wouldnt let me do. So I reinstalled the OS and it booted up like normal. But I need the original HD.

Upon startup theres doesnt appear to be a key to bootup in safe mode and I didnt see any mention of it in the BIOS? Either way, I need to reinstall the os to clear some problems and start fresh, not just where I was 2 days ago.

when it was working I had the regular C:HD and a D:HD which was slaved which now the dvd rom is using. Im thinking it needs to be connected to the smaller D:drive to install the os, so I tried hooking that one up, and its not even recognizing it as a drive even though I know that drive was dedicated to "system recovery".

So, whats going on with THIS hard drive if I could install and run the OS just fine on an older hard drive?

Most manufacturers Recovery options are either CD or Recovery partition.

It would be rare that an entire drive would be a recovery drive. When that option is available the main drive is usually partitioned into C & D with D holding the XP files for recovery/reinstall.

I am not familiar with the exact eMachine method for recovery but you can search their web site depending on your model which I do not know:

http://www.emachines.com/support/product_support.html

It is strange that the CD would show different options with different drives.

Are the jumpers set correctly? Perhaps Cable Select on both drives would be best for this process. Assuming you have your data backed up a Destructive Recovery which is a Clean Install would be best. This formats the drive thus removing all previous data.

If you can install to any hard drive you should be able to access the old hard drive if you need to access data.

This is assuming the problem hard drive is mechanically functional.

You can make a boot floppy or CD of the hard drive manufacturers diagnostic in order to test the drive.

From your original problem I would suspect that hard drive might be failing.

Originally Posted by jephree

Most manufacturers Recovery options are either CD or Recovery partition.

It would be rare that an entire drive would be a recovery drive. When that option is available the main drive is usually partitioned into C & D with D holding the XP files for recovery/reinstall.

I am not familiar with the exact eMachine method for recovery but you can search their web site depending on your model which I do not know:

http://www.emachines.com/support/product_support.html

It is strange that the CD would show different options with different drives.

Are the jumpers set correctly? Perhaps Cable Select on both drives would be best for this process. Assuming you have your data backed up a Destructive Recovery which is a Clean Install would be best. This formats the drive thus removing all previous data.

If you can install to any hard drive you should be able to access the old hard drive if you need to access data.

This is assuming the problem hard drive is mechanically functional.

You can make a boot floppy or CD of the hard drive manufacturers diagnostic in order to test the drive.

From your original problem I would suspect that hard drive might be failing.

I am positive in seeing that the D: drive was designated as the recovery. Which is why the CD installed the os fine on the old HD, but wont on the regular HD, unless D: is hooked up which is physically impossible with my burnt mobo ide port.

upon booting up xp on this old HD, it will not recognize any of the cd/dvd drives..and it freezes and wont let me change the resolution, which is why I cant use this drive. All I want to do is re-install an op system on my hd that was working yesterday. Looks like Ive reached a dead end.

Well a lot of confusion on my part.

What is the exact eMachine model?

You said: "I hooked up an old HardDrive I had to see if the CD needed something on the drive...when I start the recovery it DID give me those options "destructive recovery" or the recommended one that keeps the files which it wouldnt let me do. So I reinstalled the OS and it booted up like normal. But I need the original HD."

Are you saying you reinstalled on this computer? Why do you need the original hard drive?

I understand you have a damaged motherboard and very likely a damaged hard drive.

The D: drive makes no sense as a separate hard drive. As a separate partition it might but the CD should override it.

Are you saying this computer came with two hard drives installed? Anyway the exact model should clear that up.

Also if you could clarify the hard drives in question by say 1; 2; 3 etc. rather than old or regular that might help us help.