raylopez99

Hi all, including you nuts at C.O.L.A--laugh all you want.

System in question: Core 2 Duo (E65xx, 2.33 GHz), ConRoe 1333-D667
Mobo, 2 GB PC 667 RAM, one 233 SATAII HD. OS that will not boot up
into the HD (but installs): Vista Ultimate

I need some encouragement along the lines of "seen that", rather than
specific advice.

Vista Ultimate OS seems to load and install (i.e. I can tell using
various CD-ROM utilities that it seems to be sitting on the NTFS
formated HD) but the system, once past the POST stage, won't boot into
the HD but hangs (though it does work off the CD/DVD). Tried playing
with various boot sequences, but nothing seems to work.

Installing Vista: when Vista gets to the menu window: Copy Windows |
Expand files | Install feature | Complete Install | and then reboot
(after 10 seconds countdown) the system hangs after POST (blinking
underscore cursor). You can only boot into the CD-ROM (with a
bootable CD). Tried reformatting (using Acronis Disc manager CD) and
stripping down the system to no add-on graphics card (using the system
graphics port only) and no other cards, and still I get the same
problem.

Bought the above hardware very very cheap (Asia)--about 20% of the US
price. The seller managed to make it work, using a legal copy of
Windows Vista Ultimate. But he had problems doing so. I am pretty
experienced (about a half dozen systems built from scratch), so I
figured no problem. But the first hint of a problem was when trying
to load Windows 2000 from the reformatted (clean) HD--won't work
(supposed "invalid key" problem, not true). Then Windows XP, using
legal copies of the same, the same message "Invalid Key" (or along
those lines). But the keys are not invalid. So something on the boot
sector of the HD is corrupt I surmise.

Checked for viruses on the CD--but none. However, here is a
possibility: the Windows Ultimate DVD I'm using is a pirate version
(cost $3!), and often these have viruses (relax, I intend to register
with Microsoft, as I've done in the past--the pirate DVD was simply to
get the ball rolling rather than download or wait for a legal copy).
Though this pirate DVD passed all antivirus tests by Kaspersky and
others, there's a chance that an encrypted virus was on the disk that
was decrypted/unpacked during installation and now sits on my boot
sector, and somehow survives reformatting by the Acronis utility (also
I've been warm rebooting most of the time, which doesn't help).
However, to be frank, I doubt this is the reason. All contrary
opinions welcome.

Crappy MoBo BIOS settings might be the reason--but I did set the
defaults, set everything as plain as I could, and still no response.
However, system does work from the CD. Weird--anybody seen this
before?

Question: I just want to load an OS on this system--not Vista
necessarily. I'll even settle for Linux (I tried Linux Mandriva just
now, but the CD-ROM was not bootable--can anybody point me to a .ISO
format image file of a bootable Linux OS for a clean system like
mine?) [I also will reformat the HD to FAT32 once I get a bootable
LInux OS DVD/CD since I realize Linux doesn't recognize NTFS format]

Really what I'm looking for in this post is a reply by an experienced
installer who says: "been there, done that, it could be X,Y,Z...and
good luck". Morale support more than anything.

I'm going to bed now...four hours of battling this problem is enough
for one day. Luckily this system I'm going to give to a friend and
it's not needed to do my work, otherwise I'd be going frantic!

Thanks,

RL

raylopez99

On Nov 23, 4:19 pm, raylopez99 <raylope...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Bought the above hardware very very cheap (Asia)--about 20% of the US
> price. The seller managed to make it work, using a legal copy of
> Windows Vista Ultimate. But he had problems doing so. I am pretty
> experienced (about a half dozen systems built from scratch), so I
> figured no problem. But the first hint of a problem was when trying
> to load Windows 2000 from the reformatted (clean) HD--won't work
> (supposed "invalid key" problem, not true). Then Windows XP, using
> legal copies of the same, the same message "Invalid Key" (or along
> those lines). But the keys are not invalid. So something on the boot
> sector of the HD is corrupt I surmise.

I meant "load Windows 2000 onto the clean HD", using a CD of the same,
not "from" the HD.

Also what's weird is that I know this system can work, since the
seller had a legal copy of Windows Ultimate and made it work (after a
lot of reboots and fiddling to be sure).

But the main question is: not how to make Vista Ultimate work on this
particular system necessarily, but how to get *ANY OS* to load onto
this system (even Linux!). Tommorrow I will play around with Windows
98 and even DOS in an attempt to achieve this goal. And yes, Linux-
nuts, please do tell me of a distro to try...like I said I do have a
non-bootable (!) CD of Mandriva 2007, and "TinyLinux" (or somesuch
name) somewhere as well. I need a nice step by step HowTo (but no
need to be too specific since I'm not a rank beginner).

Please advise.

RL

Linonut

* raylopez99 fired off this tart reply:

> But the main question is: not how to make Vista Ultimate work on this
> particular system necessarily, but how to get *ANY OS* to load onto
> this system (even Linux!). Tommorrow I will play around with Windows
> 98 and even DOS in an attempt to achieve this goal. And yes, Linux-
> nuts, please do tell me of a distro to try...like I said I do have a
> non-bootable (!) CD of Mandriva 2007, and "TinyLinux" (or somesuch
> name) somewhere as well. I need a nice step by step HowTo (but no
> need to be too specific since I'm not a rank beginner).
>
> Please advise.

http://www.geeksquad.com/

--
Tux rox!

Erik Funkenbusch

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:19:00 -0800 (PST), raylopez99 wrote:

> Really what I'm looking for in this post is a reply by an experienced
> installer who says: "been there, done that, it could be X,Y,Z...and
> good luck". Morale support more than anything.

I have seen the problem before. Things to check:

Do you have any USB devices attached? I know, stupid question, you've
already whittled it down, just double check. Some BIOS's can have goofy
results with certain USB devices attached.

Is the drive configured to be a primary master? Some bios's won't boot off
secondary or slave drives. Also, set it to Master explicitly, don't rely
on cable-select.

Try removing the CD-Rom after the OS is installed. Just for kicks.

Try "resetting" the BIOS to defaults. I've seen corrupted CMOS do that.
Also try clearing the CMOS via jumper.

Try something stupid, like download a DOS boot disk from bootdisk.com.

Swap out the IDE cable, i've seen bad cables cause all kinds of weird
issues. You may have to re-install because a bad pin on the cable could
mean it never wrote the data to the right sector.

If you have an older drive, even if it's ancient, try that.. just to see if
it's the drive itself causing problems.

If you have the ability to flash the BIOS to a later revision, try that
too.

Jack R

"raylopez99" <raylopez99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5422cc26-eb69-4b3c-abfa-c2791acb4452@o6g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all, including you nuts at C.O.L.A--laugh all you want.
>
> System in question: Core 2 Duo (E65xx, 2.33 GHz), ConRoe 1333-D667
> Mobo, 2 GB PC 667 RAM, one 233 SATAII HD. OS that will not boot up
> into the HD (but installs): Vista Ultimate
>
> I need some encouragement along the lines of "seen that", rather than
> specific advice.
>
> Vista Ultimate OS seems to load and install (i.e. I can tell using
> various CD-ROM utilities that it seems to be sitting on the NTFS
> formated HD) but the system, once past the POST stage, won't boot into
> the HD but hangs (though it does work off the CD/DVD). Tried playing
> with various boot sequences, but nothing seems to work.
>
> Installing Vista: when Vista gets to the menu window: Copy Windows |
> Expand files | Install feature | Complete Install | and then reboot
> (after 10 seconds countdown) the system hangs after POST (blinking
> underscore cursor). You can only boot into the CD-ROM (with a
> bootable CD). Tried reformatting (using Acronis Disc manager CD) and
> stripping down the system to no add-on graphics card (using the system
> graphics port only) and no other cards, and still I get the same
> problem.
>
> Bought the above hardware very very cheap (Asia)--about 20% of the US
> price. The seller managed to make it work, using a legal copy of
> Windows Vista Ultimate. But he had problems doing so. I am pretty
> experienced (about a half dozen systems built from scratch), so I
> figured no problem. But the first hint of a problem was when trying
> to load Windows 2000 from the reformatted (clean) HD--won't work
> (supposed "invalid key" problem, not true). Then Windows XP, using
> legal copies of the same, the same message "Invalid Key" (or along
> those lines). But the keys are not invalid. So something on the boot
> sector of the HD is corrupt I surmise.
>
> Checked for viruses on the CD--but none. However, here is a
> possibility: the Windows Ultimate DVD I'm using is a pirate version
> (cost $3!), and often these have viruses (relax, I intend to register
> with Microsoft, as I've done in the past--the pirate DVD was simply to
> get the ball rolling rather than download or wait for a legal copy).
> Though this pirate DVD passed all antivirus tests by Kaspersky and
> others, there's a chance that an encrypted virus was on the disk that
> was decrypted/unpacked during installation and now sits on my boot
> sector, and somehow survives reformatting by the Acronis utility (also
> I've been warm rebooting most of the time, which doesn't help).
> However, to be frank, I doubt this is the reason. All contrary
> opinions welcome.
>
> Crappy MoBo BIOS settings might be the reason--but I did set the
> defaults, set everything as plain as I could, and still no response.
> However, system does work from the CD. Weird--anybody seen this
> before?
>
> Question: I just want to load an OS on this system--not Vista
> necessarily. I'll even settle for Linux (I tried Linux Mandriva just
> now, but the CD-ROM was not bootable--can anybody point me to a .ISO
> format image file of a bootable Linux OS for a clean system like
> mine?) [I also will reformat the HD to FAT32 once I get a bootable
> LInux OS DVD/CD since I realize Linux doesn't recognize NTFS format]
>
> Really what I'm looking for in this post is a reply by an experienced
> installer who says: "been there, done that, it could be X,Y,Z...and
> good luck". Morale support more than anything.
>
> I'm going to bed now...four hours of battling this problem is enough
> for one day. Luckily this system I'm going to give to a friend and
> it's not needed to do my work, otherwise I'd be going frantic!
>
> Thanks,
>
> RL
>

Two things...
Are you hitting 'F6' during the install and loading the SATA drivers?
If not, this may be why Vista doesn't see your drive.
2nd, try Ubuntu for a downloadable, bootable Linux distro:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
You can run it from the CD, or install.
IHTH,
Jack R

ray

Seeing as how this is posted to Linux groups, I guess you're looking for
advice along the lines of:

install a recent Linux distro on the same disk and let it sort out the
dual boot for you.

raylopez99

On Nov 23, 5:13 pm, "Jack R" <jackr_nos...@msn.com> wrote:
> > Really what I'm looking for in this post is a reply by an experienced
> > installer who says: "been there, done that, it could be X,Y,Z...and
> > good luck". Morale support more than anything.
>
>
>
> Two things...
> Are you hitting 'F6' during the install and loading the SATA drivers?
> If not, this may be why Vista doesn't see your drive.
> 2nd, try Ubuntu for a downloadable, bootable Linux distro:http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
> You can run it from the CD, or install.
> IHTH,
> Jack R


Jack,
Tx. I'm downloading Ubuntu now, but it's gonna take 2 hours.

THis problem is, as I researched your suggestion more, a problem with
SATA drives. See a suggestion here: http://weblogs.asp.net/jkey/archive/...28/423901.aspx

But it 's gonna cost me at least a day...I'll report back any progress
made.

My latest thinking: try installing Windows2000 again but load the
driver for SATA Hitachi HD (if I can find it--it wasn't on the CD the
seller gave me).

See below.

Actually my latest thinking is that I have a spare IDE drive, and
since this is just a gift, I'll unload the SATA drives, which causes
real pain, and install an IDE drive. Maybe I'll use the Hitachi SATA
drive for another system.

RL

WikiAnswers:
First answer by 70.241.88.69. Last edit by 70.241.88.69. Question
popularity: 1 [recommend question]


INSTALLING WIN XP ON SATA DRIVE

YOU NEED TO LOAD 3RD PARTY DRIVERS WHEN INSTALLING XP FROM CD WATCH
CLOSE WHEN INSTALL START FOR "PRESS F6 FOR 3RD PARY DRIVERS" IT WILL
THEN KEEP LOADING WINDOWS AWHILE THEN STOP AND ASK FOR A FLOPPY WITH
YOU SATA/SCSI DRIVERS ON IT. YOU MAY HAVE TO SLAVE A FLOPPY IN JUST
FOR THIS OPERATION. YOU CAN USUALLY GET THESE DRIVERS OFF YOU
MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS CD OR THE MOTHERBOARD MANUFACTURES WEBSITE. I RUN
INTO THIS PROBLEM ON ABOUT 20-40% OF SATA DRIVES WHEN I NEED TO
INSTALL XP. GOOD LUCK

raylopez99

On Nov 23, 4:48 pm, Erik Funkenbusch <e...@despam-funkenbusch.com>
wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:19:00 -0800 (PST), raylopez99 wrote:
> > Really what I'm looking for in this post is a reply by an experienced
> > installer who says: "been there, done that, it could be X,Y,Z...and
> > good luck". Morale support more than anything.
>
> I have seen the problem before. Things to check:
>
> Do you have any USB devices attached? I know, stupid question, you've
> already whittled it down, just double check. Some BIOS's can have goofy
> results with certain USB devices attached.

USB available but nothing in fact attached.

>
> Is the drive configured to be a primary master? Some bios's won't boot off
> secondary or slave drives. Also, set it to Master explicitly, don't rely
> on cable-select.

Yes. set in BIOS.

>
> Try removing the CD-Rom after the OS is installed. Just for kicks.
>

Too much bother. Jack in this thread is onto the real problem: SATA
drives cannot be used to load Windows unless you load external drivers
during the installation--you have six seconds to do so, and WIndows
before Vista does not recognize non-floppy drives! And this system
doesn't have a floppy (only a CD)! Screwed (unless you use a third
party 'slipstream' utility, see below).

> Try "resetting" the BIOS to defaults. I've seen corrupted CMOS do that.
> Also try clearing the CMOS via jumper.

Too much bother. But thanks.

>
> Try something stupid, like download a DOS boot disk from bootdisk.com.
>

I will, but this will not fix anything (perhaps). I'm almost sure of
it. You will get DOS to install, but unless you want to use DOS,
you're soon back to square one (perhaps). Recall: I do get Vista to
install, though the system hangs on reboot (I'm using Bart's PE CD to
spy on the Sata HD once the installation of Vista "hangs", and I can
see that stuff exists on the HD from Vista, including game folders
like Chess and Minesweeper, so Vista is seeing the HD and doing stuff
to it).

> Swap out the IDE cable, i've seen bad cables cause all kinds of weird
> issues. You may have to re-install because a bad pin on the cable could
> mean it never wrote the data to the right sector.
>
> If you have an older drive, even if it's ancient, try that.. just to see if
> it's the drive itself causing problems.
>

Yes, good point, I will install IDE not SATA. This is my latest
workaround. Otherwise I'd have to do all kinds of tricks including
using a third party utility to 'slipstream' the installation using a
CD with SATA drivers (which for Hitachi I'm having a hard time
finding) burned in: see: http://weblogs.asp.net/jkey/archive/...28/423901.aspx

Verdict: installation of OSes suck, and I doubt Linux is any
better.

> If you have the ability to flash the BIOS to a later revision, try that
> too.

This bios is from this year. Not the problem.

Oh well, I didn't spend that much money so I can't complain (one-fifth
of US prices). I'll simply use the SATA HD as a secondary HD, use an
older IDE as the primary HD, and see if that works. I'll report back
my results. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

RL

Kier

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:26:30 -0800, raylopez99 wrote:

> Verdict: installation of OSes suck, and I doubt Linux is any
> better.

Well, actually, in that you would be quite wrong. Linux is, for the most
part, amazingly easy to install. I should know, since I've installed a
great many distros on various machines, both laptop and desktop, over the
past few years. At first it was a modest challenge, but nowadays it's a
breeze.

For one thing, the modern distros all have built in partioning tools
(Mandriva is one of the best in this regard, their GUI partitioner is
absolutely excellent and very straight-forward and simple to use and
understand). Also, most a the required drivers for hardware and present
upion installation. YOu can also choose what software you want to install,
or just go for the defaults.

Most distros will also pick up any Windows installation and add it to the
sequence so it can be chosen at boot time.

So basically, unless you are very unlucky with your hardware - which tends
to happen less and less these days - installing Linux doesn't suck at all.

--
Kier

Linonut

* raylopez99 fired off this tart reply:

> INSTALLING WIN XP ON SATA DRIVE
>
> YOU NEED TO LOAD 3RD PARTY DRIVERS WHEN INSTALLING XP FROM CD WATCH
> CLOSE WHEN INSTALL START FOR "PRESS F6 FOR 3RD PARY DRIVERS" IT WILL
> THEN KEEP LOADING WINDOWS AWHILE THEN STOP AND ASK FOR A FLOPPY WITH
> YOU SATA/SCSI DRIVERS ON IT. YOU MAY HAVE TO SLAVE A FLOPPY IN JUST
> FOR THIS OPERATION. YOU CAN USUALLY GET THESE DRIVERS OFF YOU
> MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS CD OR THE MOTHERBOARD MANUFACTURES WEBSITE. I RUN
> INTO THIS PROBLEM ON ABOUT 20-40% OF SATA DRIVES WHEN I NEED TO
> INSTALL XP. GOOD LUCK

SATA used to be a problem when installed Debian. The install would fail
if you were installing the 2.6 kernel. You had to install the 2.4
kernel, and then later figure out how to install the 2.6 kernel yourself
and switch all your partitions from the /dev/hdN naming to /dev/sdN
naming.

These days, the only problem I run into is when building a new kernel
from the install .config -- for some reason sata_nv (Nvidia chipset)
isn't picked up by mkinitrd. The workaround is easy, just compile it
into the kernel.

--
Tux rox!