Hi guys, I so wish you guys can help me. I consider myself pretty good in troubleshooting computers but this problem has gotten me really stumped and I haven't been able to use my desktop for the last 2 days.
**Here's a single statement of my problem before I get into the details: I can't install Windows XP or Windows Vista on my IDE HDD.
**Here are the details (the story):
First, here's my system spec:
-ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo, based on the VIA PT880Pro NB chipset, BIOS: v3.00 (latest official)
-Intel E6600, 2.4GHz
-2x1GB G.Skill DDR2-800
-ATI 1900XT 512MB, PCIE x16
-Creative Audigy 2 ZS, PCI
-4 HDD's and 2 opticals:
(1) IDE, channel 1, Master: Western Digital 80GB, 7200 RPM (Boot drive)
(2) IDE, channel 1, Slave: Maxtor 200GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
(3) IDE, channel 2, Master: NEC DVD drive
(4) IDE, channel 2, Slave: Lite-On CD-RW
(5) SATA-1, channel 1: Western Digital 120GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
(6) SATA-1, channel 2: Western Digital 320GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
Before my PC troubles started, everything was stable. My WD 80GB HDD acted as the Windows drive, holding Vista Ultimate 32-bit. The WD 80GB HDD was split into 2 partitions: one partition was 40GB and it housed the operating system. The 2nd partition was formatted as NTFS but not being used.
The Maxtor 200GB HDD was split into 3 partitions and each partition held different types of data--music, movies, miscellaneous files, etc.
The WD 120GB was split into 2 partitions and holding different types of data.
The WD 320GB was installed as a Dynamic Drive automatically in Vista Ultimate and it was not partitioned. I was using this HDD as a repository of most of my multimedia files.
On my Vista partition (on the WD 80GB HDD), I had installed 3 games--Bioshock, Stalker, and The Witcher. I was beginning to run low on free space and Vista notified me that I was running out of space. So, I decided to use a partitioning program to increase the Vista partition size by taking some space from the unused 2nd partition on the 80GB HDD. I decided to do this by running the Acronis Disk Director program.
So, I booted my PC using the Disk Director boot cd. But, I wasn't able to enter the program no matter how many times I rebooted (whether soft reset or hard reset). For some reason, the program would initialize but it would freeze then restart my PC automatically while it was "analyzing my partitions."
Frustrated, I decided to try a different approach. I have an old copy of ERD Commander 2005 and I thought it contained a partitioning program as part of its recovery suite. So, I booted my PC with the ERD Commander 2005 CD and entered its Windows Explorer. To my dismay, it didn't have any built-in partitioning programs. So, I took the CD out and rebooted my PC. My plan was to just return to the Vista desktop and search for other programs I could try using to resize my partition since Acronis Disk Director wasn't working for me.
To my surprise, my computer failed to boot into Vista. Instead, I got a black-screen error stating that 'NTLDR is not found' (that's not the exact phrase but that's the closest I can remember). I decided to solve this problem by using the Acronis TrueImage program and restore my boot partition with a backup image I had saved previously. This method had always worked for me in the past and it saved me the time and trouble of repairing the MBR or getting into file repair details. I knew I was going to lose my game installations but I didn't mind b/c I had already backed up my save games for those 3 games and I didn't mind going back to a pristine image.
So, I booted my PC using the TrueImage CD and restored my pristine image onto the Vista boot partition on the WD 80GB HDD. I rebooted thinking I was now going to enter the Vista desktop. To my dismay, I got a different black-screen error message stating: Error loading operating system.
I have never seen this error before. In the past, I had used this TrueImage restore option when I got that NTLDR message and it restored my Vista or WinXP installation right away under 10 minutes.
I thought, "Crap, maybe I got do it the long way and do a reformat and start over." So, I installed the Vista DVD disc and booted. After clicking through Vista's licensing and terms of agreement screens, I finally reached the screen where I was supposed to point Vista to a partition where I wanted to install my operating system. I chose partition 1 on the WD 80GB HDD and formatted it first to a NTFS drive. Then I clicked "Next" to begin the installation of Vista. Vista gave me an error message saying: None of your HDD partitions are compatible for installing the Vista OS. What???
So, I tried booting my PC with the WinXP Pro boot CD. I clicked through the licensing and agreement menus and pointed the installation to partition 1 on the WD 80GB HDD. Setup files began to be copied and installation proceeded. Then, the same thing happened as with my previous Vista installation. The OS simply couldn't be installed on ANY of my hard drives, whether I did a complete reformat on a partition or not.
At this point, I have no idea how to solve this problem. The only thing or step I did differently from previous Windows troubleshooting was that I booted with the ERD Commander 2005 CD once. I don't know what else I can try now to try to install an OS on my HDD. I know my data on the other HDD's and their partitions are intact. But I just can't install the OS--either Windows XP or Vista.
Can anyone out there help me? This is driving me nuts. Good thing I have my laptop backup PC to use in the meanwhile but my desktop is my gaming machine and I need it for playing Crysis when it comes out!!
Help~~~~Plz~~~
-Optimummind
**Here's a single statement of my problem before I get into the details: I can't install Windows XP or Windows Vista on my IDE HDD.
**Here are the details (the story):
First, here's my system spec:
-ASRock 775Dual-VSTA mobo, based on the VIA PT880Pro NB chipset, BIOS: v3.00 (latest official)
-Intel E6600, 2.4GHz
-2x1GB G.Skill DDR2-800
-ATI 1900XT 512MB, PCIE x16
-Creative Audigy 2 ZS, PCI
-4 HDD's and 2 opticals:
(1) IDE, channel 1, Master: Western Digital 80GB, 7200 RPM (Boot drive)
(2) IDE, channel 1, Slave: Maxtor 200GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
(3) IDE, channel 2, Master: NEC DVD drive
(4) IDE, channel 2, Slave: Lite-On CD-RW
(5) SATA-1, channel 1: Western Digital 120GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
(6) SATA-1, channel 2: Western Digital 320GB, 7200 RPM (logical drive)
Before my PC troubles started, everything was stable. My WD 80GB HDD acted as the Windows drive, holding Vista Ultimate 32-bit. The WD 80GB HDD was split into 2 partitions: one partition was 40GB and it housed the operating system. The 2nd partition was formatted as NTFS but not being used.
The Maxtor 200GB HDD was split into 3 partitions and each partition held different types of data--music, movies, miscellaneous files, etc.
The WD 120GB was split into 2 partitions and holding different types of data.
The WD 320GB was installed as a Dynamic Drive automatically in Vista Ultimate and it was not partitioned. I was using this HDD as a repository of most of my multimedia files.
On my Vista partition (on the WD 80GB HDD), I had installed 3 games--Bioshock, Stalker, and The Witcher. I was beginning to run low on free space and Vista notified me that I was running out of space. So, I decided to use a partitioning program to increase the Vista partition size by taking some space from the unused 2nd partition on the 80GB HDD. I decided to do this by running the Acronis Disk Director program.
So, I booted my PC using the Disk Director boot cd. But, I wasn't able to enter the program no matter how many times I rebooted (whether soft reset or hard reset). For some reason, the program would initialize but it would freeze then restart my PC automatically while it was "analyzing my partitions."
Frustrated, I decided to try a different approach. I have an old copy of ERD Commander 2005 and I thought it contained a partitioning program as part of its recovery suite. So, I booted my PC with the ERD Commander 2005 CD and entered its Windows Explorer. To my dismay, it didn't have any built-in partitioning programs. So, I took the CD out and rebooted my PC. My plan was to just return to the Vista desktop and search for other programs I could try using to resize my partition since Acronis Disk Director wasn't working for me.
To my surprise, my computer failed to boot into Vista. Instead, I got a black-screen error stating that 'NTLDR is not found' (that's not the exact phrase but that's the closest I can remember). I decided to solve this problem by using the Acronis TrueImage program and restore my boot partition with a backup image I had saved previously. This method had always worked for me in the past and it saved me the time and trouble of repairing the MBR or getting into file repair details. I knew I was going to lose my game installations but I didn't mind b/c I had already backed up my save games for those 3 games and I didn't mind going back to a pristine image.
So, I booted my PC using the TrueImage CD and restored my pristine image onto the Vista boot partition on the WD 80GB HDD. I rebooted thinking I was now going to enter the Vista desktop. To my dismay, I got a different black-screen error message stating: Error loading operating system.
I have never seen this error before. In the past, I had used this TrueImage restore option when I got that NTLDR message and it restored my Vista or WinXP installation right away under 10 minutes.
I thought, "Crap, maybe I got do it the long way and do a reformat and start over." So, I installed the Vista DVD disc and booted. After clicking through Vista's licensing and terms of agreement screens, I finally reached the screen where I was supposed to point Vista to a partition where I wanted to install my operating system. I chose partition 1 on the WD 80GB HDD and formatted it first to a NTFS drive. Then I clicked "Next" to begin the installation of Vista. Vista gave me an error message saying: None of your HDD partitions are compatible for installing the Vista OS. What???
So, I tried booting my PC with the WinXP Pro boot CD. I clicked through the licensing and agreement menus and pointed the installation to partition 1 on the WD 80GB HDD. Setup files began to be copied and installation proceeded. Then, the same thing happened as with my previous Vista installation. The OS simply couldn't be installed on ANY of my hard drives, whether I did a complete reformat on a partition or not.
At this point, I have no idea how to solve this problem. The only thing or step I did differently from previous Windows troubleshooting was that I booted with the ERD Commander 2005 CD once. I don't know what else I can try now to try to install an OS on my HDD. I know my data on the other HDD's and their partitions are intact. But I just can't install the OS--either Windows XP or Vista.
Can anyone out there help me? This is driving me nuts. Good thing I have my laptop backup PC to use in the meanwhile but my desktop is my gaming machine and I need it for playing Crysis when it comes out!!
Help~~~~Plz~~~
-Optimummind