Drive Won't Boot - But It's Fine!
I am running XP, SP3.
I cloned an IDE drive to SATA.
The SATA drive does boot on another PC but will not boot on the PC it was cloned in.
I can see all the files are there when using the Acronis boot disc. Everything is there - but it won't boot on the original host PC.
What to do to get the SATA hard drive talking to the original Motherboard again?
Hi Mudcrab.
Yes I have checked the BIOS and it's reognised as being there but it won't boot. It goes back to the start of the boot process from the beginning with the screen telling me to start Windows with the Last Good Configuration etc.
And it goes round 'n round in circles from there.
Is the IDE drive still in the computer or has it been removed/disconnected?
Were the SATA controller drivers installed in the Windows on the IDE drive?
Mudcrab I think this is the issue but I'm too green to know where to look.
The stalled PC is now back to where it started with the SATA HDD in there on its own.
Let's assume for now, that this SATA driver issue is the problem - what do I do to rectify it?
Usually, I try to install the drivers before doing the backup/restore or cloning. For example, boot back to the IDE drive, install the necessary driver(s), clone back to the SATA drive.
First though, does the SATA drive boot into Windows Safe Mode? You may be able to install the driver(s) from there.
Also, are you getting a BSOD error? Note that this may flash by very fast since the default is to do an automatic reboot.
I think the answer is yes to boot from Safe mode.
It simply boots up on an HP Pavillion which is where the original source HDD came from.
Unsure on BSOD.
What I am thinking is - get the SATA HDD up and running on the HP again and download whatever SATA drivers I need, then reload into stalled PC and see if it kicks in..possible?
Where do the SATA drivers live for download?
You could also try changing the SATA Controller's mode in the BIOS to IDE Compatible (if it has that option).
For drivers, you may have to look on the HP support site or even on the chipset or board manufacturer's site. You may be able to download them from Microsoft via an update or from the Device Manager.
"Is the IDE drive still in the computer or has it been removed/disconnected? Were the SATA controller drivers installed in the Windows on the IDE drive?"
Could that be why I can't boot XP from the SATA drive unless the old IDE is in the machine as drive F:? I doubt it because I cloned the IDE after installing the drivers and, furthermore, when I boot the Acronis restore CD, I can tell it to boot Windows and it does that OK.
The same SATA controller booted a WD drive fine in this machine, but I could not align the sectors (it was an AF drive) so I replaced it with an Hitachi 2 TB formatted w/512 byte sectors. It's the Hitachi that acts like there's no MBR - except the Acronis disk can find the MBR.
The SATA has never shown up in the boot sequence, but this is an old Dell and the SATA controller is clearly capable of making the new drive primary. At least it was with the WD drive.
What am I missing?