URGENT---PLEASE HELP!

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:08 am

I was working with Ulead DVD creator tonight creating a slideshow. When trying to burn this to a DVD, my screen suddenly went blank and my PC rebooted. Upon reboot, I now receive an error that my OS is not found. I've rebooted several times, with the same error messages.

I went into my BIOS screen, and my harddrive is not found. Anyone else seen this type of behavior with this software??

Thanks

heinz-oz · Post by **heinz-oz** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:16 am

What makes you think it's this software?

I have not heard of any program that can, at will, reboot a computer and make a HD disappear. I think you have a problem with either Windows or the hardware in your PC. Once you get your HD to appear again and it is not faulty, all should be ok.

Post by **Ron P.** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:24 am

Ouch!!
I hope you had your system backed up recently. It sounds like you just lost either a dard drive or a motherboard...

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:30 am

Before any of us can offer advice to try and recover a lost hard drive we need to know something about your system specifications. Please go to your profile page and complete them.

Are you using Windows XP / Windows 2000 / Windows 98 or some other Operating system. The recovery procedures are different for each, that is if recovery is possible.

Where are you posting from now? - Does that machine have the same operating system as (dependant upon the problem) we may need to create a recovery disc.

Steve J

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:43 am

I have a second networked computer, so thankfully I'm still able to get online. Both machines are XP, and the majority of my files are backed up---however, not all of them!!!

I'm thinking (and hoping) to make a recovery disk from this 2nd machine....although, i'm not sure i've ever created one before.....

thanks

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:01 am

Because you have a second computer also XP the first thing to establish if the Hard Drive is still in working order. You said it is not showing up in the system BIOS.

Faced with this I would remove the Hard Drive from the faulty machine.
Now Open up the case of the second machine and connect the "faulty Hard Drive" as a slave. Remeber to alter the small master/slave jumper(s) on the hard drive - make a note of the exisiting location of the jumper(s) before you do so to enable you to return that hard drive to its current setting later.

Now check the BIOS on the second computer to see if it detects your "Faulty Hard Drive." If it does not, sorry but bad luck the hard drive is dead, You would need to send it to an expensive data recovery service to try and get anything recoverable back from it.

If the second computer does detect the drive, start up XP (Using your good drive.) It is possible that during start up XP will automatically run CHKDSK (This is the XP equivalant of Scandisk from earlier Windows Operating systems.)

If it did not run CHKDSK, when your system has finished loading run CHKDSK manually.
Firstly look in Windows Explorer to make sure that your faulty disk shows up and note its drive letter. Lets say it has been given drive letter D
Now click the START button, RUN and enter CMD.
This brings up a DOS like screen. On the DOS like screen type
CHKDSK d: /F
press enter and it will then display a message telling you it cannot access the drive as it is in use, would you like to schedule a repair at next start up. Answer Y
Now reboot.

Did CHKDSK fix any errors? If yes, you can try returning it back into the first computer to see if your BIOS now recognises the drive.

If it did not detect any errors download the trial version of Active SMART 2.42 at the following site
http://www.ariolic.com/download.html

Run Active SMART and note any messages given.

I think thats enough for starters, please advise how the above has progressed.

Steve J

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:37 pm

OK...so here's the update. I messed around with this at great length last night, until finally giving up...needing more advice.

I put my 'faulty' harddrive in PC#2 as a slave, and was able to grab all my files off of it. I then ran CHKDSK on the drive and it came back with no errors on it. So, I took your suggestion and plugged it back into PC#1 (as master) and rebooted. Still saying OS not found. I then tried to reinstall Win XP (since i had all my files recovered) and upon completion of that, it too said OS not found.

I have not tried the Active Smart yet because i'm not clear as to what it does or how to use it.

I would still take any suggestions anyone has....although, I'm certain it has nothing to do with the Ulead application...

Thanks!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:39 pm

It sounds like the Master Boot Record needs to be repaired.
Follow the instructions here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;314503

The good news is by placing your Hard Drive in the other computer you have confirmed the drive is not dead.

Steve J

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:45 pm

I downloaded the instructions and will give it a try tonight. I just really hope its nothing with the motherboard!!! I'll keep you posted....

I really appreciate your help on this!!

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:09 pm

shoot3s4coe wrote:.........I have not tried the Active Smart yet because i'm not clear as to what it does or how to use it.......

Sorry Missed that bit. Here's an explanation

S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is implemented into all of the modern hard disks. A special program inside the disk constantly keeps tracking the condition of a range of the vital parameters: driver, disk heads, surface state, electronics, etc. At the present time, S.M.A.R.T. technology is able to predict up to 70% of all hard disk problems! However, to use this information, you firstly have to retrieve it from the disk and analyze it. This is one of the Active SMART program's tasks.

Please let me know if the MBR fix works.

Regards
Steve J

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:13 am

Unless I'm doing it entirely wrong, MBR isn't doing anything. I type the command in and press enter, and it doesn't do anything. just gives me another command prompt.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:51 am

shoot3s4coe
Microsoft never were very clear about how to use their recovery console.
In the Windows XP Help file you will find the following

Recovery Console overview
If safe mode and other startup options do not work, you can consider using the Recovery Console. This method is recommended only if you are an advanced user who can use basic commands to identify and locate problem drivers and files. In addition, you must be an administrator to use the Recovery Console.

Using the Recovery Console, you can enable and disable services, format drives, read and write data on a local drive (including drives formatted to use NTFS), and perform many other administrative tasks. The Recovery Console is particularly useful if you need to repair your system by copying a file from a floppy disk or CD-ROM to your hard drive, or if you need to reconfigure a service that is preventing your computer from starting properly.

There are two ways to start the Recovery Console:

If you are unable to start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console from your Setup CD.
As an alternative, you can install the Recovery Console on your computer to make it available in case you are unable to restart Windows. You can then select the Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems on startup.
After you start the Recovery Console you will have to choose which installation you want to log on to (if you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system) and you will have to log on with your administrator password.

The console provides commands you can use to do simple operations such as changing to a different directory or viewing a directory, and more powerful operations such as fixing the boot sector. You can access Help for the commands in the Recovery Console by typing help at the Recovery Console command prompt.

For information on starting and using the Recovery Console, see Related Topics.

Once you are running the Recovery Console, you can get help on the available commands by typing help at the command prompt.

Simply this means .... If you have a Windows XP CD then
1. Make sure your computer BIOS checks for a bootable CD before trying to boot from anywhere else, floppy, Hard Drive etc.
If you don't have a bootable CD or your computer cannot boot from a CD then you need a set of start up floppy disks.
(Instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595/)
2. with the CD (Or first floppy disk) in the drive start your computer and it will go through the same set of screens as if you were going to install Windows XP from scratch.
3. Eventually you come to a menu allowing you to repair Windows XP using the recovery console - choose this option.
4. It will ask you to log on to windows - you need your Administrator user name and password. This takes you to something that looks a bit like a DOS prompt.
5. now type
FIXMBR
then press the enter key.

You can now turn off your computer, remove the CD or floppy and hopefully your computer will now start.

If it fails to start.
Place the CD or floppy in the drive and restart the computer.
Now instead of using the recovery console follow the onscreen instructions to repair an existing installation.

Please let me know how you get on.

Regards
Steve J

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:55 am

A tip for the future, this is my workflow on all my pc's and has been for a long time.
Always set up a machine with at least two hard drives, one for OS and one for data, even to the point of relocating the "My Documents" folder onto the data drive.
When you install software, make a note of the steps you did to set that program up(location uf temp files, user parameters, etc)
Every six months or so(depending on usage of machine) completely rebuild the OS. Boot off the XP cd, delete the partition on C:, reformat, and load OS and apps based on your notes that you have made. If you had installed something previously and don't need (or want) it anymore, don't install.
I have been doing this for years, and generally have no problems like the kind I regularly see on this and other forii, and also have no errant registry entries caused by install and uninstall of applications.

I always say, there is no better registry cleaner than FDISK.

This process takes awhile, but prevention is certainly better than cure.

Regards,
Greg

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:35 am

To build upon the good points from Greg above please view the following link containing several suggestions about how to set up extra Hard drives, create seperate user profiles and other useful information.
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=9611

Regards

Steve J

shoot3s4coe · Post by **shoot3s4coe** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:39 pm

Update:

Okay....so here's the latest. I'm really thinking it's something to do with my motherboard on PC#1 over anything else, and here's why. I plug the "faulty" hard drive into pc #2 as slave, and am able to open the drive, grab data, and everything appears fine. I then took that same hard drive, made it master, and it booted up on pc #2 without any problems. Installed it into PC #1, and i get OS not found.

Here's another thing I tried, and it appeared to work, but not sure of later consequences. I put my hard drive and a CD-ROM together on the secondary IDE as SM and SS respectfully. I left the primary IDE empty, and everything "appeared" to work correctly.
Could it be that the Primary IDE doesn't work?

Another thought.....I then hooked my harddrive up to Secondary IDE as SM. I put my a CD-ROM and DVD-RW onto primary IDE as PM, PS and it only picked up one of them! Again, something wrong with my Primary IDE??

I know this is way off the subject of ULead products, but I truly appreciate the help I've gotten so far off this board!!