Compaq boot quandry and Ghost usage

[Buz2b]

I have a friend with a Compaq desktop that's a few years old. I didn't write down the model number but it's got an AMD 2000+ cpu 512 RAM, built in graphics, etc.
It came with a 40 GB Hdd that had two partitions: C (which is 3.6 GB "Restore" partition) and D (which is the partition it boots from. It has a totalcpacity of 40 GB. I installed a second HDD a few weeks ago for him that is a 120 GB, drive F (if I remember correctly). He wanted to replace the original boot drive with an 80 GB drive. I formatted the new drive while it was in a USB external drive enclosure. I ran a backup of his D partition (the one he boots from) with Ghost and then ran the Ghost restore function and placed the image onto the 80 GB drive and selected to make it active. I then put it into his case, on the same cable connecter as his original drive and set the jumpers to CS, as his original drive was. However, it will not boot. I also tried setting the drive to Master. When trying to boot it shows the original Compaq splash screen (with F1 to access setup and F10 to access restore options) for a couple of seconds and then goes black with "Unable to read-Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot" error message. I then tried reloading the image (it was stored on drive F) with Ghost restore procedure, again making the drive active. No joy. I can access the Bios and the drive shows as primary master and no problems seem to exist. I also checked the boot order and no problem.
So, either the Ghost image is crap (I did have Ghost "verify" image integrity) or I'm thinking it's something to do with that restore partition. Maybe I'm crazy but is it possible that somewhere in the Bios or whatever that the Compaq must be able to "see" that C restore partition in order to boot? Help!! (Sorry so long).
BTW, the 80 GB drive we are trying to use was in his USB external enclosure and in use up to the point we started this, so it was working fine. We replaced that with a 200 GB drive and there was no problem with that. I put the original 40 GB drive back into his computer and it booted just fine.

 

[SuperFreaky]

Connect only the one drive you want the PC to boot from, then check that the drive is reconegnized in the BIOS, then make sure the BIOS is set to boot off the HD 1st. What message do you get now?

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: SuperFreaky
Connect only the one drive you want the PC to boot from, then check that the drive is reconegnized in the BIOS, then make sure the BIOS is set to boot off the HD 1st. What message do you get now?

I'll have to try that when I go back there Thursday. The drive was recognized in the BIOS before as the Primary Master but I also had the larger 120 GB attached. It showed as Secondary Master I believe. The boot order was set to Floppy first, HDD second, CDROM third. I double and triple checked that but I didn't try it with the HDD set as first. There was no floppy in the drive.

 

[Buz2b]

Bump for any other suggestions?!? This has got me stumped. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Buz2b]

Bumping desperately for any suggestions!

 

[Bozo Galora]

It never ceases to amaze me about peeps who use a prebuilt OEM PC with all its built in O/S creating, reinstall/recover automated scripted partitions, drivers cache, hidden images/partitions and FAT 12 and FAT 16 partitions, who then add a new HDD and wonder why it doesnt work. Or even worse - GHOST the OEM HDD boot partition onto ANOTHER HDD that was never part of the original system.

Along the same lines - a frequent post is the guy who moves things or adds/subtracts things all around - drive letters, HDD, cable positions, boot orders etc., and assumes the boot.ini file (and HAL and ntdetect etc.) has some sort of magical way to resort all that change to reflect the current configuration.

For GOD's sake man, put in the 120GB or 80GB HDD by itself, partition and format with harddrive manuf utility, and START FROM SCRATCH!!!! Then add the second drive. If you need an auto restore partition as part of your PC life - then dont mess with the insides.

 

[Jiggz]

Last week I upgraded my son's hdd to a 200GB using MaxBlast. All I did was placed the new hdd as slave to the old hdd and then had maxblast partition and format the new hdd. Then copied the old hdd to the new hdd. Removed the old hdd and then installed the new hdd and voila it works perfectly like the old hdd except it's faster and bigger. I believe there is an option in Ghost to just directly copy an entire disk or drive instead of making an image. Although image is good it takes too much processes and time. I always go with direct copy like Maxblast or even better yet Casper XP.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Well, your wonderful experience with your simple slam bang update of your son's PC with new HDD has absolutely no revelance the the original posters problem.
What you dont seem to realize is that this is a FEW YEARS OLD Compaq prebuilt with all manner of tricky stuff done to it.

Like, for example, the Dell tricky stuff:
http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/recreate.htm

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm
Recent Dell computers are shipped with three partitions: a hidden Dell Utility partition, the main (Windows) operating system partition, and a hidden Dell PC Restore partition. DSR ("Dell System Restore") is a feature that returns a computer to its "as shipped" state through the use of the two specialized Dell partitions.

(Note to reader: DSR is different from the OS Reinstallation CD that used to be shipped with Dell computers or the OS Recovery CD that can be created with a CD writer on newer systems. Those CDs will install a basic XP operating system without the additional software Dell may have included on the originally shipped system. In contrast, DSR will restore XP with the additional software--just like the computer was when originally shipped.)

Pressing the right keys when the computer is starting up will launch the PC Restore partition. I have explored the PC Restore partition on several new Dell desktops and laptops. Here's some notes of what I found........

*********
http://radified.com/blog/archives/000141.html

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Get it now??

 

[Jiggz]

I'm aware with the hidden partitions you are referring to since Sony does the same with their desktops. But the point I'm getting into is if you want to upgrade a hdd, you can just copy or clone the existing hdd instead of making a Ghost which involves more than just direct copying. You don't have to get rid of the old or original hdd. Just disconnect it for safe keeping for future use just in case you want to use the restore option. Now if you don't want to remove the original hdd, then you might not as well replace the os hdd and just use the new hdd as a storage hdd. But the original post is asking "if the Ghost image is crap or that the bios has to see the restore partition to boot. . ." . The first question could be a possibility but I doubt the second one is. So his best course of action is to configure the system back to its original hdd and boot again. If the system works, connect the new hdd as slave and then clone the "D" drive partition (os partition) and then disconnect the old hdd and configure the new hdd as the os drive. If it works, then keep the old hdd as a restore drive. Just connect it back when you want to do a restore. This is the relevance of my first post.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
For GOD's sake man, put in the 120GB or 80GB HDD by itself, partition and format with harddrive manuf utility, and START FROM SCRATCH!!!! Then add the second drive. If you need an auto restore partition as part of your PC life - then dont mess with the insides.

That would have been my preference but it's not that simple. You see, because he got an OEM system with the restore partition and a back up set of CD's, he DID NOT get a Windows OS CD. So, even though I have no problem (and plenty of experience) formatting and partitioning HDD's, he'd have to invest in an XP OS and some of the software he was using that came with the system. I looked through his manuals and there's no way to separate out the OS itself from the restore disks.
I was going to try the maxblast software but was unsure if it would pick up both partitions and clone that entire package over to the new drive. I suppose I could try that and, if it doesn't work, go through and partition the drive, then load the restore image to the first partition and the OS image to the second and hope! I still don't understand how or why it won't boot (it seems) without the restore partition.