Prev: DSC20.msi - archive contains infected objects?
Next: Problems Using LG Blu-Ray SATA Drive on Precision 390
From: E on 31 May 2010 01:56
E wrote:
> kony wrote:

>>
>> However, 160GB drives are fairly old by now (unless WD
>> Raptors which may not be yet), IMO when you are setting up a
>> system for another tour of duty it is prudent to get a new
>> drive so your work is not wasted by a drive failing in a
>> short period, nor the owner suffering additional expenses or
>> burden beyond the cost of the new hard drive... they are
>> already at the end of their expected lifespan even though
>> some drives continue to work years longer (but others
>> don't).
>
> I have considered that now that you mention it and am now leaning toward
> just the single new disk if the two 160GBs are not Raptors. They are
> Western Digital, but I'm not sure if they are Raptors. I need to run the
> system again, take note of the drive model numbers and do a search.
>
> The new disk and controller are SATA2. What would give the better
> performance: SATA1 RAID 0, or SATA2 standard IDE setup?
>

The two 160GB drives are WD1600JS. This is in the Caviar SE line. They
are 7200RPM, SATA II 3Gb/s transfer rate and 8M cache.

The new drive is a Seagate ST3500418AS which is also 7200RPM, SATA II
3Gb/s, but with 16MB cache.

I guess then the two WD 160GB disks in a RAID 0 array would outperform
the Seagate by itself in a standard setup.

But like you mention above the WDs are getting old and probably not
trust worthy in a RAID 0 setup.
From: E on 31 May 2010 23:34
Paul wrote:
> E wrote:
>
>>
>> Since the image is now on a single HD, and can boot in to safe mode,
>> what do you think the chances are of doing a repair install of Windows
>> XP, with the correct drivers for the new hardware, and having all the
>> installed games run without problems?
>>
>> Thanks for your suggestions
>> Eddie
>
> If you have a copy of the contents of the 500GB disk, then there
> is no loss (except your time), in trying a Repair Install.
> A Repair Install gives you an opportunity to press F6 and offer
> drivers on a floppy, if you have a storage controller on the new computer
> for which there isn't a build-in driver already in Windows.
>
> Repair install leaves the third party software alone. So the
> games and game settings are all preserved.
>

I can boot the 500GB disk into safe mode, and found out that Windows XP
Media Center Addition is the OS. I don't have a copy of this. Would they
have shipped a disk with the Dell, and would it be able to do a repair
install?

I tried to update the drivers which may have worked, to a degree. It
still just wants to boot up in safe mode. I think some of the old NV
Chipset , and RAID drivers are trying to load. I can see .sys files with
NV in the name being loaded going into safe mode. It also asks if I want
to skip loading suchandsuch.sys. I'm going to go into recovery console
and see if I can disable some of the drivers.




From: Paul on 1 Jun 2010 00:42
E wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>> E wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Since the image is now on a single HD, and can boot in to safe mode,
>>> what do you think the chances are of doing a repair install of
>>> Windows XP, with the correct drivers for the new hardware, and having
>>> all the installed games run without problems?
>>>
>>> Thanks for your suggestions
>>> Eddie
>>
>> If you have a copy of the contents of the 500GB disk, then there
>> is no loss (except your time), in trying a Repair Install.
>> A Repair Install gives you an opportunity to press F6 and offer
>> drivers on a floppy, if you have a storage controller on the new computer
>> for which there isn't a build-in driver already in Windows.
>>
>> Repair install leaves the third party software alone. So the
>> games and game settings are all preserved.
>>
>
> I can boot the 500GB disk into safe mode, and found out that Windows XP
> Media Center Addition is the OS. I don't have a copy of this. Would they
> have shipped a disk with the Dell, and would it be able to do a repair
> install?
>
> I tried to update the drivers which may have worked, to a degree. It
> still just wants to boot up in safe mode. I think some of the old NV
> Chipset , and RAID drivers are trying to load. I can see .sys files with
> NV in the name being loaded going into safe mode. It also asks if I want
> to skip loading suchandsuch.sys. I'm going to go into recovery console
> and see if I can disable some of the drivers.

But your motherboard isn't a Dell any more. The Dell recovery software
should be keyed to the hardware (basically, to prevent abuse of a
recovery CD, for operating on other computers). If the Dell software
worked anywhere, we'd all be awash in Dell CD's :-) You'd never
have to buy another copy of software from Microsoft.

You have two license keys. The Dell recovery partition, will be using
some kind of OEM key which works as long as the Dell software is
happy with the hardware it is installed on. The sticker pasted on the
computer, contains a key which could be used if you tried a
Repair Install using a regular installer CD. But you'd still
have to match the version, since the key should only work with
a particular version. I'm not even sure the original MCE, was
available as a retail software product. It might exist
as a OEM install CD (but not keyed to some hardware).

I might be tempted to work on the system as it stands right now.

The file "setupapi.log" keeps track of what Plug N' Play hardware
has installed. PNP hardware is matched against INF files, in a
folder such as C:\WINDOWS\inf . If you look in there, you'll find

oem0.inf
....
oem22.inf

and those are renamed INF files with hardware details for all the
hardware installed in the machine.

Your NV software shouldn't try to load, unless the INF matches.

Hardware installation packages, consist of more than just drivers.
They may include files which start as Services. Some of those
Services are so poorly written, they don't unload when their hardware
is not present. So if you're seeing inappropriate software start up,
it could be a Startup item or Service of some sort.

The "autoruns" program from sysinternals.com , can be used for
disabling things like that. But you'd need a working system to
attempt something like that, and it isn't even clear at this point,
that it is an issue for you.

I'd probably go back, try a regular boot, collect some symptoms,
and try and figure out what is broken that way.

You can also go back to Safe Mode, enable boot logging, and
look for the file "Ntbtlog.txt". You'd need some kind of
environment that you could boot later, to be able to look
at files like that. (Since your Safe Mode works, I suppose
that is the easiest option.) I use a Knoppix (knopper.net) or a
Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) LiveCD, as those can read FAT32 or
NTFS partitions, and allow you to open text files and
read them. The Windows Recovery Console, gives you limited
capabilities as well, but you have to know to install that
in advance, to have it ready to use. It is available on a
regular installer CD, but who knows whether Dell has an
equivalent.

For more ideas, there are articles like this, but most
of this is too complicated for me.

"How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

So what exactly happens when you do a regular boot ? What
are your symptoms ?

Paul
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2 3 4
Prev: DSC20.msi - archive contains infected objects?
Next: Problems Using LG Blu-Ray SATA Drive on Precision 390