Windows fails to boot (BIOS loops ad-infinitem)

I'm not an expert at this, but I suggest looking at the BIOS (I think by
holding down Delete as the computer start up)
When you access the BIOS, I think you should check and make sure that the
BIOS boots from the primary hard disk.

On Mon, 28 May 2007 13:00:01 -0700, thegammingperson1994
<glennieboy.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:

>I'm not an expert at this, but I suggest looking at the BIOS (I think by
>holding down Delete as the computer start up)


How to get into your BIOS depends, not on Windows, but on what
motherboard/BIOS you have. As a matter of fact, you have to access the
BIOS before Windows even starts to boot. One common way is to press
the Del key when you first power on, but that's not necessarily right
for your computer. Watch the screen carefully when you first boot;
there's often a message there telling you what to do. If not, check
your system documentation or check with your vendor.

Also look here: http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm Or
just try the Del key. There's a good chance that's correct for you.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

As Anna suggests try repair. Boot from the XP CD - do not select the first
repair option (Recovery Console) - continue and you should get a dialogue
indicating that setup has found a Windows installation and ask if you want
to repair - select yes. Setup will continue, actually the :repair is an
upgrade Windows installation.

"Jack" <Jack.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2688147A-2046-4B1E-8240-3494A2E0B8F7@microsoft.com...
> Can anyone help before Dell charges me £60?!!!
>
> A few days ago my Windows XP OS began to fail to boot following the
> execution of the Dell BIOS screen. The BIOS ends (when the progress bar
> reaches the end) and, when/where Windows used to start, starts all over
> again. This BIOS loop continues ad-infinitem.
>
> I have two IDE HDDs running, I think, in 'Cable Select'. The primary is a
> post-factory add-on 160GB SAMSUNG and the second is the Dell factory
> fitted
> 40GB, possibly an IBM or maybe a SEAGATE.
>
> When I installed the 160GB drive I used Casper XP to clone the OS and all
> data from the 40GB to the 160GB and all was well. Everything worked fine
> for
> around a year.
>
> This problem, however, has happened before. The last time it happened, I
> copied all data and settings onto DVDs (by changing the BIOS and using the
> old XP OS I hadn't yet deleted from the 40GB), formatted the 160GB,
> re-installed the OS and put all the data and settings back on. It took
> about
> a week.
> Is there a way to fix the problem without doing all that again? And, of
> course, not risking any of the data on the 160GB drive?
>
> I have tried the fixboot.exe command, having booted from the XP CD, but,
> as
> I don't really know what I'm doing, haven't tried anything else. The
> hardware
> is all good and sound, although the full bit check did take around 12
> hours!!!!
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Jack
>
> P.S. Dell are proposing formatting and reinstalling the OS 'clean' onto
> the
> 40GB, making it the primary, making an untold number of partitions here
> there
> and everywhere and then making the 160GB the data storage drive. Whilst I
> realise that this is probably the "Rolls Royce" solution - it seems
> complicated, will cost me £60 and is unlikely to be able to be fixed by me
> in
> the future without the further outlay of another £60.
>

Are we even still sure that this is actually windows based? If we tried
checking the
BIOS first, that could save some time.

Dear All,

thank you for your replies;

Anna, AJR:
- The repair didn't work. It was one of the avenues I hadn't tried (or even
knew about) but it didn't work. The BIOS now completes and a new screen
appears, but it only has a blinking cursor in the top left hand corner,
which remains, yep you've guessed it, - ad-infinitem. Luckily, when booting
from the other drive I can still see the corrupt drive data so I can still
rescue it, even if it will take me a week or so!!
Luckily I have 10mb broadband, courtsey of a Pharma giant, so a system full
of Drivers and Upgrades takes only a few minutes.

Thanks again,

Jack

Fella,

Thanks for your posts but I'm way ahead of you on the BIOS front. It's
definitely not the BIOS as I have been altering the Boot order in the BIOS
all day, back and forth between the 160GB, 40GB and CD/DVD in order to try
different things. It's definitely the 160GB HDD's Boot sector that's the
problem and the repair suggested by the other guys hasn't worked either.
So.........my way or Dell's way.........I'm flipping
now..........heads.............damn......!!!!!

"thegammingperson1994" wrote:

> Are we even still sure that this is actually windows based? If we tried
> checking the
> BIOS first, that could save some time.

"Jack" <Jack.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:770068F7-1A01-46B1-A01D-6D868CAD01DF@microsoft.com...
> Dear All,
>
> thank you for your replies;
>
> Anna, AJR:
> - The repair didn't work. It was one of the avenues I hadn't tried (or
> even
> knew about) but it didn't work. The BIOS now completes and a new screen
> appears, but it only has a blinking cursor in the top left hand corner,
> which remains, yep you've guessed it, - ad-infinitem. Luckily, when
> booting
> from the other drive I can still see the corrupt drive data so I can still
> rescue it, even if it will take me a week or so!!
> Luckily I have 10mb broadband, courtsey of a Pharma giant, so a system
> full
> of Drivers and Upgrades takes only a few minutes.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Jack


Jack::
Did you check out the drive with the Samsung HDD diagnostic utility as
previously suggested? If you haven't, you really should just to assure
yourself that the disk is non-defective.
Anna

I know these are old posts about old computers but it seems to happen a
lot with both Dell laptops and desktops in particular when a large disk
upgrade is attempted.

Bottom line:

If like me you have an old computer that works just fine for basic home
stuff like browsing, e-mail and photo storage and you want to extend
it's life by fitting a large (>137gb) internal hard disk, check that
operating system (you will need XP SP1 or higher) and BIOS are 48-Bit
LBA compliant.

There is a free HDINFO tool in 48bitlba.com that will do this for you.


For the potentail benefit of other old timers out there, here is my
long-winded story:

I had a similar issue when upgrading the hard disk on my Dell Optiplex
GX260 (running XP Pro SP2) from the old original 40GB IBM Deskstar to a
new 500GB Western Digital – both are IDE type drives. I cloned from the
old disk (master) to the new disk (slave) using Acronis TI Home 2009 and
then put the new clone as master leaving the old disk disconnected. The
new clone booted initially but stopped booting some days later – just a
flashing/blinking cursor on the top left of the screen. I then returned
the old disk as master and repeated the cloning process this time using
Casper 5.0. Two weeks later the new disk stopped booting again with the
same blinking cursor.

When I cloned the old 40GB disk onto the new (the whole disk - not just
the C: drive), both Acronis and Casper saw the Dell hidden FAT 16
partition and both cloned it correctly onto the new disk and everything
worked for a while. Booting seemed to fail after between 20 and 40 cold
boots when there was a non-routine restart such as after running
msconfig. If I was not in the habit of switching off the PC after each
session, I may not have encountered the issue for a year.

I contacted Casper Technical Support. As the clone booted fine for
several days, they pointed me to look for something outside the cloning
process such as the BIOS. I had thought my BIOS was OK for the new
larger disk for three reasons:

1. When I entered the BIOS, it saw the new drive and reported the
correct capacity of 500GB.

2. There were Optiplex GX260 units out there with upgrades to 500GB
drives and more – one website offers refurbished units up to 750GB.

3. When I reviewed the BIOS versions on the Dell website going from the
A02 version on my PC to the latest A09 version, there was no talk of
drive size in any of the Fixes and Enhancements for any of the
versions.

Then I came on this article on drive size limitations and barriers

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/hard_drive_size_barriers.htm

and reading the section on BIOS ignorance, I looked at the Dell Website
again very carefully. Lo and behold – in BIOS version A05 – not under
the Fixes and Enhancements heading but under a heading unique to that
version called Additional Information was some blurb that said version
A05 now supported 48-Bit LBA for drives >137GB and also now incidentally
supported booting from USB devices. Bingo – I needed BIOS version A05 or
higher to support my new 500GB disk.

I downloaded the latest BIOS version A09 for the Optiplex GX260 from
Dell. The Dell website provides very clear instruction on how to flash
your BIOS. If you want to do this, read the instructions very carefully,
then read them again and then again once more. Ensure you have no
disruptions from kids, pets, parents, partners, ensure the mouse and
keyboard are completely untouched by you hands or anything else during
flashing and that the chances of you having a power cut are negligible.
Get this wrong and you may well have a dead motherboard on your hands!
In my case, this meant ensuring the BIOS was for the correct model of
PC, I downloaded to a floppy as that was the Dell recommendation for my
PC, followed the instruction to the letter including withdrawing the
floppy at the end the flash process before booting with the new BIOS.
All went well.

Now I installed my Casper clone (that had stopped booting) as master
again and without any further repair or modification of any kind, it
sprung to life, booted just fine and has stayed booting ever since ( 9
months and counting). Problem solved.

I have since fitted a second Western Digital 500GB drive as slave for
backup and I am using Casper 5.0 to create incremental clones on it from
the master. I have also kept my old original drive intact and stored in
a safe and different place just in case!

For the Inspiron 9300, it looks like the BIOS does not support 48-Bit
LBA for drives >137GB. There are other options in this case. The drive
can be partitioned with partitions formatted or resized so that the
operating system partition is < 137GB. Take a look at:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/237351-45-boot-large-hard-drive


--
dellhell
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