"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in news:h1tspp$j1j$1@news.eternal-
september.org:

> As for why the internal HDD (hard drive) isn't working and that error.
> That error sounds like the MBR (main boot record) is corrupt. They are
> many ways to build a new one. There are some free utilities out there
> that can do this. Also a real Windows install disk or even a Windows 9x
> Startup floppy.
>
> If that fixes it, something is corrupting the MBR. If it doesn't, the
> IDE controller is likely shot. Or something in the BIOS setup is set
> wrong. I would create a new MBR first. There are no boot managers or
> other OS installed right? Or any of those programs that hooks in that
> allows the computer to see larger HDD, right? If not to either, you are
> okay to recreate a new MBR.

I thought about the MBR, but a clean install of WinXP would take care of
that (dring the installation process I created a new partition and
formatted it), as well as restoring the disk image from the original CDs.

I reset the BIOS to its defaults at one point to make sure that wasn't
the problem, but it made no difference.

Considering that two drives (one old, one brand new) both behaved the
same way, I too tend to suspect the IDE controller.


jaybee