I just got my other computer back from the shop today. I had to have a new motherboard and processor put in. When I started up my computer it takes like 5-10 mins then it will eventually say "Bootup from CD Rom" I start installing the windows cd and when I get to "starting windows" i get an error message stating something is wrong with "partmgr.sys". So i tried to wipe my drive and go that way but when I do that it is telling me "No physical drives found". I know I had a hard drive when I took it into the shop and I should have one now. Does anyone have any suggestions please?? The guy that worked on my computer won't be back in till tomorrow at 10 and it's already been a month really don't want to have to take it back up there and wait another dang month.
Thanks!
2006-07-27 11:49:43 · 10 answers · asked by KarenB913 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
I agree with the other answerer to open the side panel and look to see if there is a 40 or 80 wire grey ribbon cable attached from
the motherboard to a harddrive. The harddrive should also have a 4 wire plug Yellow, Black Black Red on one end of the back.
You could also have a SERIAL harddrive, and then there are
tiny cables going to the haddrive. Again, you can take out the
drive iff necessary, read the label, and see what make and
model it is, ( write it down ). Write down the serial number etc.
as well since the drive should be under guarantee for a year or so.
You should be able to boot your computer, and get into the BIOS ( usually " PRESS DEL TO ENTER SETUP" type of message, but it may be any one a hundred proprietary messages
( "CTRL F11 to enter BIOS" etc. ...)
Once you are in the BIOS, there is usually a page for AUTO detecting the drives or CHOOSING the drives, and they should be listed here.
If there is a SPLASH screen hiding the BIOS POST sequence, go into the BIOS, and again, turn off the prorietary " WELCOME TO HP (( or DELL or COMPAQ or whatever)) screen. This way
you can see the listed, detected drives BEFORE you try to get into windows.
If you have access to another computer, get a win98se bootdisk from BOOTDISK.COM, and go into the BIOS and choose boot from floppy ( removable media drive ) FIRST, and boot in DOS.
You can then run FDISK, and choose 4, information, and this
should also list the drive.
Your drive may be there, but be FACTORY zeroed, so that no
OS can see it, although WINXP should see it anyway, - Other OS's may not see the drive at all, so that you may have to FORMAT the drive. If you are using XP, you should not have to do
anything but run from the CD. If you are Booting Win98, you
may have to format the drive using FDISK, to create the partitions, and then FORMAT to format the partitions...
The fact that it takes SO LONG to boot indicates that the BIOS is probably not set up correctly, or there is some other problem in the first place. Go thru all the pages i the BIOS and make a list of all the settings - if nothing else mentioned on the answers helps, you can usually choose LOAD DEFAULTS, just to get started.
You would then go into the BIOS and set up the choices again.
More information on the drive, and the OS ( win3.11, win95, winME,
Win98SE, winNT, win2000, BEOS, Linus, UNIX, OS/2 etc. )
and the BIOS SETTINGS would help answerers to help you better
without guessing.
Good luck.
Add a few more details once you have tried these starting methods, if you still have problems. I am guessing a lot of things
at the moment. You can click on my name and look at similar questions I have answered, which may help. More info
is needed to exactly tell you have to get to the next steps...
Good Luck
ROBIN
2006-07-27 12:16:29 · answer #1 · answered by robin_graves 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Once you put in a new motherboard and processor, Windows has to be reinstalled from scratch. You can't just boot up the hard drive and go. The old Windows installation has the settings for the old hardware. The drive has to be formatted first. They could not do that for you because they don't know if there is stuff on that drive that you still want, although there is no way to get it now since you already wiped your drive. Also, make sure that they installed the hard drive correctly. They may have connected it as a slave drive instead of the master, or maybe the cable got disconnected. It could be as simple as that. When you first boot up your comp does it detect your hard drive? That should give you some kind of info what's going on. When it gets to the detecting IDE drives, watch carefully to see that it is detecting your hard drive and that it is detecting it as Master, and your cd rom drive should be the slave. In any case, those are the first devices to be detected. It should read Primary Master (hard drive) and next to that it should show the type of drive it is ( size in Gbs and manufacturer), then the next device is your Primary Slave which is usually the cd-rom drive. If it's not detecting a Primary Master drive, then you know where the problem is. Now it's a matter of either the cable came loose, or maybe the wire to the power supply came out so there's no power going to the hard drive, or worst case scenario, the drive is Kaput.
2006-07-27 12:27:25 · answer #2 · answered by bravadoca 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sound like the motherboard BIOS is not detecting the hard drive. It is likely there, go inside and look. You'll see it connected to a flat grey ribbon like cable. Once you see the hard drive is there, when you turn on the computer watch the boot screen and the computer will usually report what hard drive it detects. If it doesn't then You will have to have the thing checked again. I am curious, however, why the store you took it to didn't install Windows for you. That seems rather dumb!
Good luck!
2006-08-01 23:11:26 · answer #3 · answered by ghowriter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When major upgrades are done on your computer, you will have to re-activate the Windows operating system. That's why the computer asked for the boot disc. You'll have to re-install windows now and also re-activate. You'll do this by phone. When you reinstall, a series of numbers will come up in a instruction box telling you to contact Microsoft to re-activate Windows. I basically did the same thing that you have had done to your computer, I sent my mobo out for repair and backed up the hard drive to my second HDD. When I put it back together and re-installed the drive from the back up I had to first re-install the original windows operating system on the old HDD (since it was formatted and clean) and then re-install the original files back to that drive from the second HDD. I had to call Microsoft twice for this operation, once for the original install, and the second time was after the restore was done. Windows sends information about you computer's configuration to Microsoft, any major changes in your hardware triggers a re-activation. You may have had a Gigabyte mobo, for example, and changed it to an Asus mobo. This triggers re-activation, because of the mobo change. When you re-activate the new configuration is known to Microsoft, so any other changes will again trigger the re-activation. Big Brother is watching!
2006-07-27 15:20:44 · answer #4 · answered by mittalman53 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just add me to messenger yahoo and I will walk you through the steps.. You made the hard disk drive into a raw hard. this is what happens when you nuke it.. There is nothing wrong with the cables if there was you would have gotton a beep code . Trust me I have had this problem many times when I had to do an install on windows XP way more then I cared to do.
2006-07-27 14:23:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anointed71 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well two things come to mind 1 they forgot to hook up the connectors at the repair shop( bad boys) will require you to remove the case and check might also see if its still there,make sure its unplugged if you do that then reconnect if disconnected and present the connectors only fit one way.
two check the bios and reset the hard drive options tell it to figure it out automatically on start up or hardware change don't mess with the other settings. good luck
very important if you remove case that it is unplugged for your and the computers safety!!!!
2006-07-27 11:58:58 · answer #6 · answered by Daniel H 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can you open up machine? Care full make sure it's not plugged in and you are grounded it can still hold a charge even when unplugged...see if your machine has the pieces missing? Or find some one (not the person you where just at) to do it for you. Make sure all parts are there and plugged into the mother board.
Reset BIOS to see new hardware
2006-08-03 03:47:01 · answer #7 · answered by eccentric_daughter 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have the knowledge, and there are no 'protection stickers' open the case and check for the hard drive. Push firmly in on any of the connections both at the hard drive and at the motherboard. (Common mistake is to forget the power cord.)
2006-07-27 11:53:22 · answer #8 · answered by Marvinator 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Open the case and check that cables connected to your Hard Drive.
2006-08-02 23:21:09 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy new one
2006-08-03 23:45:59 · answer #10 · answered by endapagoa 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋