Can't boot anymore

By nokiaxion
in Microsoft (Windows)

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nokiaxion

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Hey

I was messing around with partitions and it seems Ive messed something up and now the PC doesnt boot. It tries scanning the HDD but doesnt do anything and stays at a black screen with a blinking _

How can I fix it? I know all the data is still there because I used a bootcd to try to troubleshoot and I can still see the data and it still knows the partition's size and FS.

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/845952-cant-boot-anymore/
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MeddleMan

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I had a similar problem where my computer would not boot any more, except where you usually see the blinking _ (when it checks for a boot cd if any), there wasn't one. I later formatted my hard-drive and re-installed xp but it didn't work (thinking it was an ntldr error), and finally when tinkering around, I for some reason decided to swap around the slave and master SATA2 cables connected to my hard drives.

Now 'm not assuming you have two hard-drives but the first thing is to check all the basics. Check the cables and see whether they are plugged in properly. Even though you can "see" the data, you may not be able to change anything about it.

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nokiaxion

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Now 'm not assuming you have two hard-drives but the first thing is to check all the basics. Check the cables and see whether they are plugged in properly. Even though you can "see" the data, you may not be able to change anything about it.

:blink: Why do I have to check the cables when using a BootCD I can see all the data and open simple format files such as MP3s, JPGs, TXTs, etc....

This is a IDE drive in a laptop. It hasnt been opened since....

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soldier1st

Posted
Posted

try a windows repair. also it wouldn't be the cables that would cause that if you messed up the partitions as that is a software error not a hardware error. say it was working fine and you didnt mess with anything then all of a sudden it gives an error on startup then i could see it being a lose cable.

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MeddleMan

Posted
Posted

Point taken, but I'm just saying what happened with me thats all. I do know the difference between a hardware and software error and what can (possibly) cause them. I mean I could still SEE the files, but just couldn't change anything about them. IDE or SATA or SATAII, makes no difference, sometimes the most basic problem is the one that is always overlooked. Happens to the best of us.

Oh well, hope things work out for you. As much as I'd like to help, this is all a learning experience myself.....Computers are such finicky machines.

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