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I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system. I
attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
it. Xp tries to do the install but it keeps on looping when it restarts.
I select the drive and it format it then it attempts to load some
drivers and and once it does that it reboots and starts the process all
over from the beginning. I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
see a hard drive. I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
drive. The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
that keeps on looping.

Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.
Any guess as to whats the problem? Any help would be greatly
appreciated. TIA

Hated wrote:
> I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
> soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system.

That's when you look at the BIOS and see if it sees the hdd.

> I
> attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
> it.

Before you start trying to install an OS on a system with a questionable
hdd condition, you need to analyze what's up with that.

> I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
> see a hard drive.

Well, now, there's a big problem. SpinRite can see/ should be able to
see/ even an unformatted drive.

> I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
> drive.

Bad. In all probability, your drive's manufacturer makes diagnostic
tools for the drive. You need to be using those tools to look at the drive.

> The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
> that keeps on looping.

That troubleshooting information from XP's whatever is not helpful to me.

> Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.

Your 'exact same thing' is ambiguous. You seem to be set on using the XP
disk - you need to put that aside for now.

What about the BIOS seeing the new drive? Is this a SATA or IDE drive?
What happens when you move the data connection? If it is IDE there are
cable questions.


--
Mike Easter

On Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:13:21 -0400, Hated <>
wrote:

>I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
>soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system. I
>attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
>it. Xp tries to do the install but it keeps on looping when it restarts.
>I select the drive and it format it then it attempts to load some
>drivers and and once it does that it reboots and starts the process all
>over from the beginning. I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
>see a hard drive. I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
>drive. The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
>that keeps on looping.
>
>Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.
>Any guess as to whats the problem? Any help would be greatly
>appreciated. TIA

If this is an old machine, chances are excellent that the CMOS battery
went dead and the bios settings have been lost. Boot into BIOS setup
and try the choice to reset everything to the defaults. That will
usually get you going. You may find there is still an OS installed
and working, once the computer can once again recognize that the drive
is there.



If the battery is indeed dead, then you will have to go through this
reset everytime you boot the machine, until you replace the battery.

On 10/7/2010 6:13 PM, Hated wrote:
> I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
> soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system. I
> attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
> it. Xp tries to do the install but it keeps on looping when it restarts.
> I select the drive and it format it then it attempts to load some
> drivers and and once it does that it reboots and starts the process all
> over from the beginning. I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
> see a hard drive. I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
> drive. The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
> that keeps on looping.
>
> Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.
> Any guess as to whats the problem? Any help would be greatly
> appreciated. TIA


Thanks for the input guys. I booted into the BIOS yest and did a reset
but it did nothing. How would I do a RAM test? The new drive is also not
showing up in the BIOS. It's an IDE drive.

Hated wrote:

> Thanks for the input guys. I booted into the BIOS yest and did a reset
> but it did nothing. How would I do a RAM test? The new drive is also not
> showing up in the BIOS. It's an IDE drive.

You need to boot up with something that has a lot more tools than the XP
disk. Also you should be noting and comparing the ram quantity and
presence which is physically present in the slots with the ram which the
BIOS is reporting. Sometimes ram just needs to be reseated.

There are a lot of different hardware possibilities for this missing hdd
problem, so you have several avenues to explore. The mobo has 2 IDE data
connectors. You can check the other data connector. Depending on how the
CD is connected and how the cabling is rigged, you also need to be aware
of the jumpers on the hdd for master slave and cable select.

When you 'pick up' an old computer to troubleshoot, you tend to assume
that it was previously working in its current 'configuration' or
connections - but you don't actually know if that is true.

Can you tell if the hdd is spinning up? Are the power cables connected well?




--
Mike Easter

Hated <> wrote:

>
>I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
>soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system. I
>attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
>it. Xp tries to do the install but it keeps on looping when it restarts.
>I select the drive and it format it then it attempts to load some
>drivers and and once it does that it reboots and starts the process all
>over from the beginning. I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
>see a hard drive. I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
>drive. The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
>that keeps on looping.
>
>Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.
>Any guess as to whats the problem? Any help would be greatly
>appreciated. TIA



Are you using and old XP CD with SATA hard disks? Get or make one with the SATA
drivers in it (SP2 or SP3), Google "Slipstreaming service packs".

That's probably not the correct solution though. You should be able to see the
drives in BIOS. Did you try the 2nd IDE controller if it's PATA HDD's?

Check the manufacturer web site for a BIOS update.

Hated <> wrote:

>
>Thanks for the input guys. I booted into the BIOS yest and did a reset
>but it did nothing. How would I do a RAM test? The new drive is also not
>showing up in the BIOS. It's an IDE drive.


http://www.memtest.org/ -- make a bootable CD

I think you have a bad IDE controller, is there a second one on the MoBo to try?
Attach just ONE drive to the controller and set the jumpers to CS (cable
select).

Obviously one of the IDE controllers work, otherwise you could not boot the XP
CD.

G. Morgan wrote:
> Hated <> wrote:
>
>> I'm working on a friends old machine that he said wasn't working. As
>> soon as I booted it up it said there was no operating system. I
>> attempted to to a reinstall and I noticed the drive it had nothing on
>> it. Xp tries to do the install but it keeps on looping when it restarts.
>> I select the drive and it format it then it attempts to load some
>> drivers and and once it does that it reboots and starts the process all
>> over from the beginning. I went to run Spinrite on it and it didn't even
>> see a hard drive. I also checked the bios and it didn't show any hard
>> drive. The only time I see a drive and when I try and install XP but
>> that keeps on looping.
>>
>> Note I popped a new hard drive in and it's doing the exact same thing.
>> Any guess as to whats the problem? Any help would be greatly
>> appreciated. TIA
>
>
>
> Are you using and old XP CD with SATA hard disks? Get or make one with the SATA
> drivers in it (SP2 or SP3), Google "Slipstreaming service packs".
>
OP said its IDE.

> That's probably not the correct solution though. You should be able to see the
> drives in BIOS. Did you try the 2nd IDE controller if it's PATA HDD's?
>
Unless its only got the one IDE plug on the mobo and the CDR is set as
slave.

> Check the manufacturer web site for a BIOS update.
>
He said *old* computer. Might be a doorstop. I'd throw linux live cds at
it and see what that might reveal.

Jus Sayin[tm]

--
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§ñühw¤£f <> wrote:

>> Are you using and old XP CD with SATA hard disks? Get or make one with the SATA
>> drivers in it (SP2 or SP3), Google "Slipstreaming service packs".
>>
>OP said its IDE.

Yeah, read that after I posted this.

>> That's probably not the correct solution though. You should be able to see the
>> drives in BIOS. Did you try the 2nd IDE controller if it's PATA HDD's?
>>
>Unless its only got the one IDE plug on the mobo and the CDR is set as
>slave.

Then I would use that one, with CS selected on the optical and HDD. He can boot
from the CD, so we know one controller works.

>> Check the manufacturer web site for a BIOS update.
>>
>He said *old* computer. Might be a doorstop. I'd throw linux live cds at
>it and see what that might reveal.

Yeah, that would be my next step too. I also have a pretty good Win PE image
with good tools.