Recently our computer started to play up. When I tried to start the computer it would jam after that screen showing system info. If you restarted the computer, [U]sometimes[U] it would start properly, other times it would just jam. So the OS (XP Pro) was reinstalled...bad Idea, Hello blue screen of death! Now when ever you try to start the computer your greeted with that horrid blue screen. Basically what it says is about a hard drive fault. and that if this is the first time it's happened to just restart the computer other wise contact your system admin...me. And I'm a little perplexed. I'm prepared to wipe the hard drive but there are a few little things I need off it first. So I though I'd put my Hard drive from my new PC into the old one and run the computer off that just to access the old HD. But it didnt reconise it was there. So I took the new HD out and back into my PC and then I got the Blue screen of Death. Luckily I was able to run it with Safe Mode and use System Restore to get it working again, somthing which did not work on the old one. Any help would be so much appreciated!
And sorry for it reading like a five year olds work (and then this happened, then this, and this then this...)
Thanks.
Dan

First off you cannot just move hard drives and expect XP to boot. Unless the motherboards are identical or if you have preinstalled all the required drivers a reinstallation of XP would be required.

In general XP needs to be installed on the hard drive while on the motherboard.

If you want to extract data from the first faulty drive you would want to slave it into a working computer.

As to the hard drive the hard drive manufacturer will have a diagnostic on their web site if you want to test the hard drive.

How did you try to reinstall XP in the first place? A Repair Install?

Hey, yeah a repair install.

Well if you want your data then slave the old drive in your new computer and extract it.

Then put it back into its' original computer and try a Clean Install.

If the problem persists get the manufacturer's diagnostic and test the hard drive with it.

Hey Jeph, Ok I have the CD in and want to do a clean install, The original pertition, should I delete that or make a new one? Thanks.
Dan

This is a very good guide:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps

10. Choose the location to install.

10a If this is a clean hard drive, you can choose to create a partition in the un-partitioned space. At this point, you can allow Setup to use all the space or set a size for the partition.

10b If the hard drive or partition has a previous installation of XP you want to remove, choose to delete the partition by pressing "D". You will then be prompted to create a new partition in the empty space. This will remove all data from the deleted space.

Okay I'll give that a go in a min, if I delete that Partition, does that mean I'll lose everything on my HD? My Docs ect. Thanks
Dan

You will lose everything on that partition: yes.

If your hard drive has other partitions they will not be affected.

But unless you moved your XP files such as My Documents onto another partition (other than C: ) they will be erased: yes.

If you want these files you would first need to slave this drive in your other computer and extract them.

Hey Sorry about the delay. So I take the old HD and set the little pins to be a slave, and the PC will recognize the new HD as a slave and not try to boot off it. Then just cut and past into the HD I'm not going to Format, right? thanks.
Dan

That is correct.


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