Hello,

My friend's computer has had a heart attack. The Keyboard was locked up, the front panel LEDs indicated that the power supply was bad, it would not boot up, etc.

I updated to the latest BIOS and this cured the above problems, but it will not boot beyond the IBM logos screen.

The error message displayed is as follows: 1962: No Operating System Found.

When looking into the System utility, the indication is that the Intel IDE (PCI device) is not detected.

The Chipsets are:
• Intel 845 chip set
• Intel 82845 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)

I am able to access the Hard Drive (IBM Deskstar 40 GB, 7200 rpm, ATA, IDE Model: 07N9682) when I put it into another computer as a slave device.

On this other computer all the files appear to be in tact and a virus check showed no viruses.

I defragged the Hard Drive using the Windows XP Pro Defragger and there are no unmovable (green) files on it. Is this a Problem?

I ran a chkdsk and it was OK.

I put the Hard Drive back into the IBM NetVista 6792-G86 computer:

I tried both controller connectors on the Mother Board with the same results.

I tried another cable from the mother board to the hard drive with the same results.

I used a hammer on it with the same results. Need a little humor here.

I do not have the Recovery CDs.

I called IBM and they are not of much help since the computer is out of warranty.

Any suggestions please???

Thanks,

Lucas

Sorry, the Operatin System is XP Professional and the RAM is 512 MB.

Lucas

This is better posted on the XP forum. There are a couple of issues, but you may need to check with XP experts.

1. When you put a boot hard drive on another NT based PC as a slave, the OS changes the drive letter from C to D and you need to change it back.

2. There is an essential file called NTLDR (NT loader) that is needed to boot your OS. Make sure it is there. I've lost mine in win2k a couple of times and had to replace it.

"I used a hammer on it with the same results. Need a little humor here.

Your humor was a success.

This is not an XP nor "drive letter" issue.

It sounds like the IDE controller has croaked.

If that's the case, you can perhaps avoit the expense and hassle of a mobo replacement by getting a PCI IDE controller card.

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

Windows98 loads on to the hard disc loads of IDE drivers so when the hard disc is moved to another machine it will still work (although it goes thru a process of detecting the new hardware and loading from drivers).
I know that it goes thru that process when you update BIOS also, as Windows 98 sees it as a different computer when the BIOS is updated.

BUT windows XP does not load lots of different IDE drivers on to the hard disc so it does not work when the disc is put in another computer.
I suspect the BIOS update has maybe made windowsXP fail to work the IDE drivers as it thinks it is a different computer.
If this was me in this situation this is what i would do -***AT YOUR OWN RISK***.
Boot from windows CD, tell it you want to intal windows XP (like its a new instal of it). Accept the license agreement - then just before it proceeds with a new instal it should say something like 'a version of windows has been found on this disc - do you want to try to REPAIR it instead of reinstalling '? - answer YES to this, it then 'repairs' the existing one by loading some drivers from the CD to the hard disc that should get it working again.

>> PC as a slave, the OS changes the drive letter from C to D and you need to change it back. <<

Not quite true. If you do install the system disk as a slave in another computer the drive letter will change, but what to is dependant on what is already in the other computer. There might already be a drive D.

When it is reinstalled back in the original computer it will revert to drive C:, that is assuming that it was drive C: to begin with. The drive letter a allocated every time the computer boots the OS. Things are slightly different with Windows XP as it is possible to change drive letters, but not on the boot or system drive.

The lack of unmovable files is to be expected when installing a system drive as a slave. The active OS just sees the slave drive as another data drive and does not recognise the unmovable files as anything special.

I would say that the motherboard interface is broke.

Pedantic Note: The actual IDE controller is on the hard disk itself. The motherboard connector is just an interface.

The first thing to check is that the BIOS is actually detecting the hard drive. If the BIOS cannot detect the hard drive, then nothing is going to happen until it does.

Try connecting known good hard drive if one is available. No need to install anything on it, just see if the BIOS can detect it.

The will either confirm or eliminate the motherboard interface as being at fault.

Stuart

StuartS - a short sidebar: Once when I was cloning a win2k drive I left the destintaion drive in too long by mistake and rebooted the source with the destination still in place. Win2k promptly gave the destination drive a new letter (the next available) D. When cloned drive was installed it booted/stopped with the error that there was no swap file (it was looking for a page file on C drive!). It took me a while to figure out the problem and with M$KB help I was able to change the drive back to C. I'm glad to hear that XP does not do this!:)

mcama,

You were cloning a drive. Slightly different scenario than just taking a drive out of one computer and putting in another.

Stuart

StuartS - How so? To the source drive, the newly cloned drive mounted as slave is exactly the same as if it came from another computer. i.e., both are "C" drives before booting the OS. The slave drive letter will be changed, at least in win2k.

I have just tried cloning my boot drive using Seagate Disk Wizard. Booted up with the cloned drive and it booted as Drive F: No problems.

Disconnected the original drive and changed the jumper on the cloned drive to Master. Booted without any problem as drive C:. It does the same with Windows 98.

So I think is must be some peculiarity with Windows 2000 or the cloning software you were using.

Stuart

Very interesting! Thanks for running the experiment. As you say, must be win2k or Apricorn's EZ Gig. Here's the pain I went through.

That M$ link has the usual high fog index.

Keep in mind that there *ARE NO* drive letters before the OS loads.

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

While we're waiting for the OP to post back...

"That M$ link has the usual high fog index."

They don't make easy reading, true. Have you ever read IBM's manuals from the 60's? :)

But the M$ link was relevant to my cloning misadventure above, and did fix my problem.