I just picked up a new serial ata 200 gig drive for my computer (MAXTOR 6v200e0). I tried to install windows onto it to make it my main drive (and i wanted to do a system format anywase). When i load it strait to the windows install disk it does its building of the ntfs partition, and then tells me it errors. I switch the disk in bios to the slave drive and I use the disk that comes with it in windows and it has the power to set up the drive from there. It copies all of the information from my master to the slave (which is fine, i have acronis and can revert to the point just after windows installs). It is at this point i switch the drive to be the master again in bios and i unplug the previous master (so that i know if this drive works). This drive then, only boots to the windows darkblue and light blue opening screen and just hangs there permanently. I have tried redupping the drive - doesnt help. I tried going into the recovery console and doing a fixboot and that still doesnt help me. I tried to start it in safe mode, and here it shows me the windows desktop and i can move the mouse for a brief moment before the windows darkblue and lightblue loading screen comes up (so i know that the drive isnt total junk because the mouse works). I have also tried starting windows with command prompt, I can see from here it does load all the way past mup.sys, and then goes to that darkblue-lightblue loading screen and locks up again. It seems to me that this isnt a hardware issue, but a windows issue, which is why i posted it here. Any advice would help me a great deal. Thanks in advance, -Ronnie

"...I tried to install windows onto it to make it my main drive " If you want to boot Windows from a SATA drive, you must load the drivers for the SATA controller for the drive in the beginning of loading Setup files off of the Windows CD, when it says press Fx (key) to load SCSI (or whatever) drivers. If the mboard has the SATA controller on it the drive is connected to, you may have a floppy that came with the mboard that has the SATA controller drivers on it, and/or the CD that came with the mboard usually has the drivers for the SATA controller on it somewhere. .... "When i load it strait to the windows install disk it does its building of the ntfs partition, and then tells me it errors." You should not get any errors like that at that stage. If you're getting errors reading from the Windows CD.... Is your Windows CD clean? Does it have significant scratches on it? Did you try cleaning the laser lens(es) in the CD drive it is in with a lens cleaning CD? If you're sure the CD is clean, not too scratched, and that the laser lens(es) is (are) clean.... - how much has your CD drive been used previously? A much used CD drive may not read a Windows CD reliably enough, even if the CD and laser lens are clean. - if you have two CD drives, try the CD in the other drive. - are you using a burned CD? If you are you may have problems reading a CD-RW burned CD reliably if it was made in another CD drive, or if you have it in an old CD drive. If you're pretty sure the CD and CD drive are okay, or the messages you are getting indicate a problem with the hard drive itself..... You may have a faulty hard drive, or a faulty data cable. Check that your data cable is properly attached at both ends and can't easily loosen - it's possible to damage the latching feature at the ends of the cable so that the cable easily detaches. Test your hard drive to determine whether the drive is failing. See the first part of response 2 in this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/... .... "....copie(d) all of the information from my master to the slave "This drive then, only boots to the windows darkblue and light blue opening screen and just hangs there permanently." I'm assuming the Windows partition you copied was set up on this same computer with the same hardware - if the Windows partition you copied was set up on a computer with different hardware, it will probably not boot into Windows even if you do the following. When you have a drive connected as slave, copy an existing Windows XP partition to it, then connect the drive you copied to as master, you should run both fixboot and fixmbr on that drive. See response 2 in this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/... ...... If the Windows partition you copied was set up on a computer with different hardware, the copy you made will probably not boot - you need to run an XP Repair Setup - see the second part of response 2 in this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/... You must load the SATA controller drivers in the first part of Setup for that as well. ......... Whenever you load Windows from scratch, after Setup has finished you must load the drivers for your mboard so that Windows has the proper info about your mboard. When you run an XP Repair Setup of an existing XP installation that was set up on a computer with different hardware, you are setting Windows to the new hardware enough so that it will work, but you must still install the mboard drivers as well.

Disconnect the second hard drive for now. You are complicating the situation. Once Windows is running correctly you can reattach it.

"It is at this point i switch the drive to be the master again in bios and i unplug the previous master (so that i know if this drive works). " It sounds like he did that.