i reinstalled windows xp onto my other computer after not being able to fix a problem. when i try and boot up with the slave now installed it always runs the xp install screen. i dont want to install it on that hard drive because it is just a storage drive where i keep all my documents. I use that drive to store for my business and keep all my graphics files -customer files ect. i just want windows to boot normally and it will do so if the slave is not connected. it was working fine before i reinstalled it. is there any way to stop this from loading or a way to delete the start up files before it goes to into that mode. Please and thankyou the cd is not in the tray! the slave drive is setup for slave. please help.

Sounds like you may need to take a look at your BiOS boot options. You need to set up which hard drive you want booted first. Something I've tried (use at your own risk) is booting up the system with the slave drive IDE or Sata cable unplugged. The power cable is connected only. Then when Windows boots and is stable, plug in the IDE cable or Sata. I've done this several times and never had an issue. *DO NOT TRY TO PLUG THE POWER CABLE AFTER YOUR SYSTEM IS RUNNING* "The great mass of people ... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one" A.H

No that did not work at all. NOW the hard drive just clicks and the computer will not recognize that it is even plugged in. if you feel the drive you can tell that it is not spinning inside and vibrating like the other drive does. is there any possible way to get off the information. it is like life or death. i even tryed hooking the drive up to my personal computer and to another computer of my brothers right after the problems started and i tryed what the last user posted. it just kept telling me it needed to format the disk. PLEASE! I'M IN OVER MY HEAD NOW!

What exactly did you try? Did you go into your systems BiOS and make sure the slave drive boots second? "The great mass of people ... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one" A.H