Boot problems after install

[GuitarHero]

Short Version:
I installed Vista... When it goes to boot it hangs right after the BIOS screen and hangs when the dash appears in the top left corner.

Long Version:
Basically I had my computer dual booting Vista and Ubuntu 7.04 on one hard drive. i realized that i am never going to use ubuntu so I was going to install XP. I was using GRUB as the boot loader so i installed EasyBCD and recovered the vista boot loader.
I proceeded to start installing XP in the old Ubuntu partition (after formating) and all was going good until it went to restart after install and the message "Error loading operating system" or something like that.
I then tried to install it again and the same message came up. I assumed the problem was something to so with the partition so I extend the partition back to the original size and I would just go back to Vista. I put in the vista DVD to repair the MBR and I restarted the computer. The "Error loading operating system" message didn't show up so I thought I was in the clear but it just hung right after the BIOS screen and when the dash appears in the top left corner.

I am becoming concerned that this is a hardware problem, I have tried many different methods to get it working again but non of them have worked, I was hoping that you guys could help me out. My System spec are in my Sig. If you guys need anymore info just ask.
Thanks in advance

[gvblake22]

I think the problem lies where you said you "extended the partition back to the original size". I didn't know you could just resize a partition like that without reformatting, are you sure this was the correct way to go about it? Could you explain that process in a little more detail?

I don't know for sure what happened, but I think you messed up your Vista partition and you'll probably have to delete all the partitions on the drive and wipe it clean and start over from scratch again. I'm sure it's not the answer you wanted to hear, but I think that's where you're at right now (I don't think it is a hardware problem).

[GuitarHero]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I think the problem lies where you said you "extended the partition back to the original size". I didn't know you could just resize a partition like that without reformatting, are you sure this was the correct way to go about it? Could you explain that process in a little more detail?

I don't know for sure what happened, but I think you messed up your Vista partition and you'll probably have to delete all the partitions on the drive and wipe it clean and start over from scratch again. I'm sure it's not the answer you wanted to hear, but I think that's where you're at right now (I don't think it is a hardware problem).

Thanks for the response.
When I extended the partition vista was still on my hard drive, it made it so that it was only that one partition on my C drive. I tried to restart after that but no luck so I booted up my ubuntu live cd so that i could take my important files off the C drive. I then put the Vista DVD in and reformatted the entire hard drive and did a new install of vista... upon restart the same thing happened.
I have tried formatting and reinstalling 3 times now, I have unplugged everything from the back of my computer... disconnected the power. I have checked the BIOS and set it to default settings but so far nothing has worked.

I am going to try the last thing i could possibly think of which is to try and install XP or Ubuntu... which I highly doubt will give me a different outcome. and if it does turn out to be a hardware problem I may end up buying a new motherboard and video card. Thanks again for the reply

[Pete]

I remember a while ago... I had to not only format the drive but also format the boot sector.

Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

To repair a damaged Boot Sector at the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press Enter. Then answer "Y"



Hope that works...

[GuitarHero]

Originally Posted by TTPete

I remember a while ago... I had to not only format the drive but also format the boot sector.

Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

To repair a damaged Boot Sector at the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press Enter. Then answer "Y"



Hope that works...

Well thanks for getting my hopes up but for some reason the XP CD will not boot. It goes to the "boot from CD" then I press a key and it says its inspecting the hardware and then the screen goes blank and nothing happens. The CD spins for awhile and then it stops. it was working fine last night.

Is there a way to do it with the Vista DVD because that loads fine. But when I try to use the startup repair in the Vista DVD its say that I plugged in a device recently and that I should unplug it but I have no peripherals plugged into my computer at the moment.

Thanks for the reply

[Pete]

Try ditching all your ram except for one stick. Then try booting.

[GuitarHero]

Ok... I took out all my RAM and put one 512mb back in and started the computer, no dice. So I put the rest of the RAM in and checked all the cables, made sure my video card and hard drive was seated.
The XP CD still wont boot, so I am really starting to think its something wrong with the motherboard or hard drive. I found a good deal on craigslist for a 8800 GTS so I might just upgrade this piece of crap if I can't fix this myself.
Please anymore suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[TWBalls]

I haven't tried it with vista, but I do know it works with the XP boot disk (but then, you said you're having problems booting from that so, YMMV).

Boot from disk, go to repair from console, type:
fixmbr - This will fix the master boot record

then type:
fixboot - this will fix the bootloader.

after that, you can type exit and eject the DVD. That *should* fix the problem. However, since you're having problems even booting from the disc, I'm thinking you may have another problem?
Is the drive connected to SATA or PATA? It's possible it may need the SATA driver (if the drive is SATA) since you're running an 865 (sorry, can't see sigs in the reply) which IIRC has ICH5 as the southbridge. It's been a while since I've worked with that chipset, but I think I remember having to install a driver for Win2k/XP to see it.

[GuitarHero]

Originally Posted by TWBalls

I haven't tried it with vista, but I do know it works with the XP boot disk (but then, you said you're having problems booting from that so, YMMV).

Boot from disk, go to repair from console, type:
fixmbr - This will fix the master boot record

then type:
fixboot - this will fix the bootloader.

after that, you can type exit and eject the DVD. That *should* fix the problem. However, since you're having problems even booting from the disc, I'm thinking you may have another problem?
Is the drive connected to SATA or PATA? It's possible it may need the SATA driver (if the drive is SATA) since you're running an 865 (sorry, can't see sigs in the reply) which IIRC has ICH5 as the southbridge. It's been a while since I've worked with that chipset, but I think I remember having to install a driver for Win2k/XP to see it.

The "fixmbr" and "fixboot" don't work in the Vista DVDs Command Prompt and the startup repair still does not work.

This morning while I was watching The Lab w/ Leo, they had Steve Gibson on so that gave me the idea to try and use SpinRite 6.0. I went to use a level 4 maintenance scan and....This came up right after I pressed enter:

Division Overflow Error!
=============================
A critical error occurred at: 0CFD
from which SpinRite CANNOT recover.
The system has been halted!
-------------------------------------
PLEASE record the location shown
above, and the information given
below, and report it to us so we
can find and fix the problem...
-------------------------------------
eax: 0DF93FFF esi: 00003330
ebx: 000032B0 edi: 00000CF1
ecx: 500003F0 ebp: ECB23F25
edx: 00000DF9 esp: 00003F01

ds: ECB2 es: ECB2 fs: 5000
gs: F000 ss: 3433 fl: 0A87

Thats word for word what it said and I'm guessing I'm going to need to get a new hard drive, which is not too much of a problem seeing as a 160 GB is only $60. Maybe some of you guys know something about this error and I want to know what you think.
Thanks for the reply TWballs

[Lead Head]

Division over flow error.

Sounds more to me like a CPU or a RAM problem, try dropping your CPU speeds, even if it means under clocking, and drop your RAM speeds as well. Also try bumping your vCore or vDimm a little bit. You may also want to download memtest86+ and burn it to a bootable CD/floppy and give a good testing of your ram.