won't boot.

[The Black Pumpkin]

Yeah, it's most likely corrupted Windows. I did the same kind of thing to mine, accidentally. I had to reinstall, but try Cannibal's stuff first.

[Cannibal23]

if my previous solution dosent work, there are still some options that you can do using the windows xp or 2000 cd depending on wich one is installed (im assuming this is xp) try the previous fix and if it dosent work let me know and i will step you through the other solutions.

[.Maleficus.]

Let me be the first to say that you should NOT go for the max FSB, even if it is just for laughs. That, is a very bad idea.

[Spawn-Inc]

well i can't bring the hdd to another computer becuase my only other working computer is sata. but i do have another black ide so i will install windows xp on that then do a scan disk on the one thats not working.

[Cannibal23]

the other pc your talking about that has sata. does it have a cd / dvd drive? if so you should be able to use that cable for your hard drive. just unplug the cd /dvd drive (WHILE THE PC IS OFF) and plug your problem hard drive in there.

another option is to try booting from the cd and going into the recovery console. it will ask you wich install of windows to enter just take the default as you probably only have one. it will then try to load anything it cant from the system. if it drops you to a command line try typeing fixboot and then hit enter. once its done try booting up your pc.

if when you choose wich install to use your pc reboots or blue screens on you then your only option is to do that scan disk like i said. failing that then its time to reinstall windows. hope this works out for you dude. this is basicly the crap that i deal with at work on a day to day baisis and some times you get lucky and can recover with a little leg work but some times your not so lucky.

[Spawn-Inc]

oh ya the dvd drives, ohwell to late i've installed windows xp on a old hdd and am in the process of the scan disk. so +rep for the idea and if it doesn't work then its for dealing with this crap all the time. i don't know why but on this new hdd its really really slow. can a hdd make that much of a difference? if so then i might have to consider a raptor for my new computer when i build it.

[Spawn-Inc]

well after all this installing (for some reason took 2 hours) and scan disking its fixed and i'm even writing this on the now working hdd. so thanks for the help all. and what the heck a round of +reps for ALLLLLLLLLLL

[Cannibal23]

awesome! im glad its fixed for you dude. nothing more annoying then haveing to reinstall windows and then all your programs and then all your settings and then figure out what data your missing ... the horror!!

to answer your question about if a drive can make a speed diffrence. it can make a huge diffrence. basicly its the choke point on your pc. so everything to do with it can make a diffrence. how fast the platters spin, the ammount of cache it has. what kind of cable is plugged into it. all these things can have a serious effect on the performance of your machine.

ps whats the deal with +1 rep i keep seeing arround. that wasnt going on when i used to be here all the time.

[Spawn-Inc]

its a rep system see how i have 4 green boxes, and i you have 1. its just a way to let people know whos helpfull and whos not. if you hit user cp it tells you how much you have and where you got the rep from.

here is a better explanation

[moon111]

I've come across this dozens of times. Usually it's a messed up file system or BOOT.INI file. I google'd to find a good step by step to follow. The following is copied from pchell.com.

Follow the steps below to correct these file system issues:

1) Start your computer with your Windows XP CD-ROM, or with Windows XP boot disks
2) When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R to Repair the installation using the Recovery Console
3) If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the Windows installation you want to access
4) Type the administrator password when you are prompted, if no administrator password is set then just press Enter
5) At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /R and then press Enter
6) Once CHKDSK has finished checking and repairing the hard drive, type EXIT and press Enter to restart your computer

http://www.pchell.com/support/unmoun...otvolume.shtml

Hopefully this solves your problem.