Resolved Boot.ini not able to start computer

I guess it is time for a fresh install of my 30GB OS. I got it to start loading, but ended up with a BSOD:
A problem has been detected and windows has shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
*** STOP, 0x0000006B (0xc000007A, 0x00000008, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I got the same BSOD when I attempted to start it in Safe Mode.

 

It is quite possible that you have a bad data cable or it isn't seated properly. Generally swapping those cables around is traumatic for them at best. I'd look in to that first, a new cable is cheap. Nothing else that you have done would render it unbootable by the quick boot disk. Of course there is always the chance that the drive has developed further troubles and will not be usable but that's not likely. Too big of a coincidence, I'd say. Possible though....

 

If/when you do decide to reinstall, I suppose I don't need to tell you to eliminate that fat32 partition do I? I wish it was gone from the other drive as well but that's your choice.

 

I've actually found that FAT32 partition to come in handy at times, so I'll leave it in. I'll check out the cables and see if that might be the issue, though I haven't touched anything inside the computer since the problems started.

 

Let's review your system as it is being reported so that everyone understands what's going on, if that's possible. I know I'm easily confused. You said when booted to the 30 GB drive, it looked like this:

And when booted to the 160 GB drive, it looked like this:

That says you have three partitions on the 30 GB drive and four on the 160 gig. (The size info you posted for each partition may be incorrect and misleading so I'll ignore it??? or maybe you do have a 90 GB and a 640 GB drive??)

That means when you boot the 1st physical drive, the small drive(rdisk 0), you have a Cfat32), Dxp active OS boot), Estorage) on the small drive and an Ffat32), Hxp os dormant), Istorage), Kghost) on the big drive (rdisk 1).

And if you boot the 2nd physical drive (rdisk 1), you have a Cfat32), Dxp active os boot), Gstorage), Kghost) on the big drive and an Hsystem), Ixp os dormant), Jstorage) on the small drive (rdisk 0).

That means when you had them both connected and dual-booting, the OS located on the big drive had its Registry altered so that the Mounted Drive letters were swapped between H: and D: when it was booted. That allowed the OS to always be on the D: drive, regardless of which partition you booted.

That also means that to dual-boot without using your floppy QB disk, the startup files for XP will have to be located on the root of the small drive. If they aren't there, you'll have to use the QB floppy to boot, as you have been doing in the past.

Since you disconnected the small drive for a test and found that the big drive was self bootable, that means the XP startup files are in good shape on the root of the big drive. They are dormant and not used when you have the small drive connected.

Assuming you get a drive cable and it makes the small drive usable again, you should boot to the big drive and copy the startup files (ntldr - ntdetect.com - boot.ini) from its root to the root of the small drive. Then edit the boot.ini file you placed on small root to make sure it conforms to what I posted earlier. Do not edit the boot.ini file on the root of the big drive.

That's won't be the end of this saga though. Since you have booted the big drive without the small being present, I suspect the Mounted Drive letter assignment will have been changed in the Registry key. That means the drive letter swap may not be performed properly and you'll end up with the clone system not operating properly. That would be the OS on the big drive.

Fixing that will require some Registry key editing. I'll not expand on that until I find out if the small drive is going to work again.

Post back if I have misunderstood your system configuration or if you have any questions. I'll check occassionally.

 

"or maybe you do have a 90 GB and a 640 GB drive??" No, the 30 & 160 are the size of the drive, not the partition.

"That means when you had them both connected and dual-booting, the OS located on the big drive had its Registry altered so that the Mounted Drive letters were swapped between H: and D: when it was booted. That allowed the OS to always be on the H: drive, regardless of which partition you booted." I believe that you meant that the active OS always remains on the D partition.

"you should boot to the big drive and copy the startup files (ntldr - ntdetect.com - boot.ini) from its root to the root of the small drive." I guess you are telling me to just go with what is working on the 160 FAT32 partition, not paying any attention to the date or size differences.

"Since you have booted the big drive without the small being present, I suspect the Mounted Drive letter assignment will have been changed in the Registry key. That means the drive letter swap may not be performed properly and you'll end up with the clone system not operating properly. That would be the OS on the big drive." Are you saying that the 160 drive OS will be messed up, even though it is the one that is working fine?

I have to get some work done outside today, so I'll get to the cable change when I come inside.

 

OK, then the individual partition sizes you posted is a little misleading but that's not important.

Yes , I meant H: and D: were swapping. I'll go edit that.

Yes, they work so use them. (but edit the boot.ini after you relocate it)

That would apply only when the small drive is connected and you are dual booting. It may or may not occur but I wanted you to be aware of the possibility.

 

OK, now I really messed up. I switched the cable, though, afterward I realized that the end pair of pins were exposed, so I plugged it in incorrectly. Now, I have no access to the 30GB drive. It now shows up in Disk Manager as 677.83GB unallocated. It doesn't show up when I go Start -- Explore or open My Computer. It appears that I may have fried this hard drive. Any suggestions?

 

Barry, I think you should quickly apply for a patent on that procedure. Changing a 30 GB drive to a 677.83 GB drive is sheer magic.

Not funny. Cross your fingers and run the manufacturers diagnostic software to test it. If it passes, partition it the way you like and format the partitions.

 

OK.... more problems. My computer froze, and all I could do was to shut off the power to the computer. Afterwards, when I restarted it, I was told that the BIOS was bad and I checked to reset defaults. Next, I was told that the CMOS was bad and needed to be reset to the defaults. It also said that the CMOS battery is low. Nothing allowed me to start my computer. The desktop would start loading and then the computer would restart. I reset the BIOS to what I was using, and now I can't even get to the desktop before it restarts. I tried safe mode, but that didn't work. I tried to load last good configuration, but that didn't work. I put my 160GB drive into my son's computer and I still couldn't start his computer with it. It just kept restarting before the desktop came up. Safe mode and last good configuration didn't work on his computer, either. I added one of his drives, and I could open that drive and have access to everything on the 160GB drive.
Obviously, I messed up. Where do I start to fix this?

 

Wow, you're having some bad luck. It sounds like the mobo may have failed. Obviously the 160 GB drive is ok since you can view it in another computer. As for it not booting in another computer, that's quite normal, I wouldn't expect it to boot in any computer except the one it was taken from since the hardware drivers would be completely different.

Testing a motherboard is not possible without sophisticated equipment.

I suggest you install the 160 GB drive back in your computer, get a new BIOS battery installed and try to set the cmos up as it was when you had it working. If those setting hold, put your quick boot floppy in and try to boot the 160 GB drive. Leave the 30 GB drive disconnected for now. You will need to select to boot Physical Disk 1 (rdisk 0) Boot Partition 2 on your boot floppy menu.

If you can't get the 160 GB drive booted, the bad news is that your mobo is likely fried.

 

I guess I need to use the Clear CMOS Jumper. I assume that will reset the CMOS to default settings. After that, I guess I need to flash the BIOS. Since I can't access my C-drive (FAT32), I guess I'll need to set up a boot floppy to flash the BIOS. I already have the amifl827 BIOS flash, so I need to know how to create a boot floppy to flash the BIOS. Care to walk me through this? Thanks for the help.

 

You create a boot floppy in an XP Windows session by putting a disk in the floppy drive, right-clicking the drive icon, choosing Format, tagging the box "Create an MS-DOS start up disk ", and clicking the Start button.

 

I installed a new battery, cleared the CMOS using the jumper and then reset the BIOS. I disconnected the 30GB drive and only had the 160GB drive installed. I attempted to start up the computer, using last known good configuration. I got to the Windows flash screen, where the blue dots run across. When that finished, I got a brief flash of some light and a noise from my computer, and then the computer restarted. I attempted to start up in safe mode, but that gave me the same results. I didn't flash the BIOS, as it shows that the latest BIOS is being used, unless somehow it got corrupted. What steps do I take now? I'm sensing that I may need a new mother board. Are there ways I can test the mobo?

 

I would try to run a Repair Install by booting to the XP setup CD. If you can complete it, that will tell you the mobo is ok. If you can't complete it, the mobo would still be suspect.

If you can complete it and the computer still will not boot, backup any valued data as necessary and perform a clean install.

That's probably the only way you can test it without taking it to a shop for bench testing, which would likely cost more than it's worth.

 

It looks like bad news. I attempted this with both drives, and neither allowed me the option to repair the OS. The 160GB drive was listed as C: Partition 1 (unknown) 131072MB <131071MB Free>, while the 30GB drive was listed as C: Partition 1 (unknown) 7938MB <7937MB Free>. I put both drives into my son's computer. The 30GB drive doesn't even show, other than in Disk Manager, where it says it has 7.75GB. The 160GB drive is fully accessible on his computer, though, as you previously stated, the drivers are different, due to the different mobo, and it doesn't start the computer. I guess I need to research new mobos for this computer. Do you have any recommendations around $100? I figure it will add up with new RAM and CPU. Maybe I can reuse my Gainward GeForce3 Ti/450 TV Golden Sample graphics card. What are your thoughts?

 

I won't be satisfied that it's the mobo if you haven't tried wiping the drive and installing a clean copy of XP.

You must cover all bases before condemning the board. That means getting the hard drive manufacturer's software and treating the drive as if you are installing it for the first time. Allow the software to partition and format the drive for you. Then install XP to it. If any of that fails along the way, then you can be 90% sure that your mobo is bad. The remaining 10% would be the power supply, cables, connectors, CD drive, or the XP setup CD.

There is never a sure thing diagnosis but you can narrow it down by doing the procedures outlined.

I couldn't recommend a replacement board. When I have a board failure on any system over 5 years old, I just part it out and get a complete new computer to start over with.

 

I'm sensing that it is getting close to the time when I'll need to start all over from scratch. I put a new hard drive into the computer and it didn't read it. I then shut it down and checked all the cables. When I started it up again, I discovered that my screen is totally black. I changed the PSU, and nothing changes. I changed the IDE cables and nothing changes. Maybe I'll need to change the graphics card this evening after I return from work. It's appearing more hopeless as time goes on. Anything else I can check, other than the graphics card?

 

If you didn't get any splash screen during POST, either the mobo, monitor cable or monitor is defective.

I think it's time to head on down to La Palma Ave. and visit Fry's.

 

I'm sensing the same thing. Time to research a new system. Thanks for giving it a good try. I'm sure I'll be back with new issues in the future. It's nice to know that us little guys aren't all alone. Thanks for being there. I guess it is time to label this solved, as I don't think anyone can pull a rabbit out of this hat.