Craazy HDD problem

[ubermedia]

Hello,

Well, where to start - this has really got me baffled, if anyone has got any ideas please post back.

Im running XP Pro with 2 80gb WD drives, one has the OS and all my apps on and the other is just used for storage. I was burning a DVD last night when Nero seemed to freeze, and without being able to eject the disc I restarted the comp. BIOS came up all ok, then the XP "Welcome" screen with the loading bar but then instead of going to the usual login screen it just went black and sat there. No HDD activity or noise it literally just sat there (left it for 30mins and still nothing). So basically I cant get in to Windows anymore. Theres no error message or anything it just gets to that Welcome screen and then goes blank.

• I have tried booting into safe mode but the same thing happens.
• I have tried booting into safe mode (dos support) but as its scanning through all the files it stops at agp440.sys
• I have tried using the recovery option by booting from the XP installation CD but as its "Examining disk..." it just sits there, no "freeze" as such (although its hard to tell) it just doesnt appear to go any further
• Set it to slave, changed IDE channels, changed the cable
• Have taken every other device out of the computer except the essentials

I have also, and this is where it gets particularly baffling, installed a fresh copy of XP on a spare drive with the intention of connecting the old drive as a slave so I could at least recover the data off it. Quite straight forward I thought, but I still cant access that second drive. In fact I can no longer boot up the new install of XP as soon as the old one is connected!! If the spare drive is plugged in on its own, its fine. XP boots up and im able to go on the internet and post huge long winded desperate posts on a popular tech support forum

But If I plug in the old drive as a slave along with it I get exactly the same problem as before - Welcome screen comes up and then black screen. Both drives are detected in the BIOS fine though.

Why would the second drive stop the working one from loading Windows? The second drive does obviously have another copy of XP installed on it (would that cause a problem?), but its the copy of XP on the spare (working) drive that im trying to boot from! Why, or more to the point how, can that second drive be stopping it?!?!?!

The drive physically seems ok. Like I mention the BIOS detects it fine. It spins up and doesnt make any abnormal noises. It just seems as though as soon as its connected to the computer, as a master or a slave, on its own or with another working HDD, it stops everything from loading!

Any ideas? Crazy eh?

[Ruggerbugger]

Have you set the second drive as slave when you try to put it back in? The BIOS might be getting confused with two masters.

edit Just seen your last line. Weird, sorry for being useless

[Curly]

maybe try the drive as a master on it's own channel, or try with both drives set to cable select or you could try d/loading and running the drive manufacturers diagnostic tools/proggy, normally runs from a floppy, boot from it and run the proggy see if it comes up with any errors.

Curly

[Ruggerbugger]

Could the controller circuitry on the errant drive be blown? Hopefully Curly's suggestion would show that up, it's not really my area tbh.

edit Welcome to the forums, by the way

[ultimate]

Just a poke in the dark, try reseating the cpu heat sink with fresh thermal paste and also reseat the ram chips and if you have two sticks of ram just try one and also swap them about