Very strange problem with win xp. Won't boot.

[garnet]

Hi all
2 day ago I have installed sisoftware's sandra (sys info soft) and after this 2 office 2007 updates (cant find names).
After restart the laptop just couldn't boot win xp. All it does is: show POST messages, black screen and POST messages again. Just cycles this forever.
My system has 2 HDD - SSD in main bay and HDD in caddy. SSD is dual ubuntu / XP boot disk.
HDD doesnt have OS, but has GRUB on it (another story)
I could access BIOS and changed the boot order from SSD only to HDD only. After that I could see OS selection. Ubuntu would boot OK.
Win XP can boot only in safe mode. If I try to boot it in normal mode - I see the start up logo, than a black screen and it freezes.

I have an image of my XP partition and I have connected another USB HDD and restored the image to it. In BIOS set only USB HDD to be bootable.

Win will boot, will show the logo and then a blue screen and freezes. Messages are something like:
- check for viruses
- remove HDDs
- run chkdsk

**** STOP: 0x000007B

Next I tried to delete all partitions on USB HDD and to install a clean win xp from CD. The first par of the install went OK, but after first reboot I got the same blue screen.

So, it seems some how win xp wont boot properly. Even an image from 3 weeks ago won't. Even clean install won't. All very strange.

Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

[Neil]

According to Microsoft, the cause of your stop error is; "This problem occurs because the ISA Enable and VGA Enable bridge control registers may become incorrectly set. Therefore, the boot controller may not be assigned the correct PCI resources. If the boot controller is not assigned the correct PCI resources during the startup process, the hard disk from which Windows starts becomes inaccessible. Therefore, you experience the Stop error that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section."

You might try removing both the SSD and HDD from the T60, and take the USB drive out of it's enclosure, and install it in the HDD bay of the T60. Now try installing Windows and see what happens.

It's just a shot in the dark, but my guess is that the hard drive you now have installed has developed a fault of some sort, that is confusing the BIOS...maybe.

[garnet]

Thanks for the hint.

Being a USB hard drive might explain this error. I will give it a try with a new laptop hdd in main bay tomorrow. This one now is a 3.5".

What you say about the faulty drive might be true. The strange thing is that the boot drive (ans SSD) has a GRUB and normally it is the only thing that boots set in BIOS. Since the problem appeared it seems like the SSD's MBR/bootsector has failed since the laptop just loops through POST messages. If I set the UBay HDD to be first to boot and SSD second, I see OS choice. But then I can't properly start windows.
I will try a new HDD in main bay and see what happens. If it works fine, the SSD is most likely kaput. But then again, why ubuntu starts OK from this same SDD?

Anyone with suggestions, please?

[RealBlackStuff]

A 3.5" HD does not get enough power from a laptop!
You'd need a separate power supply or connect it to a PC's power supply.

[Brad]

Change the BIOS SATA setting. AHCI to Compatible or visa versa.

Brad

[garnet]

The USB was externally powered. So no issue with power.
I will test it today with another new 2.5 HDD.
Can we rule out virus? How come the GRUB on the SSD failed? Does it mean MBR is corrupted?

[garnet]

Update:
The image restored OK to new HDD in HDD bay. I have restored the MBR to it as well and at boot got GRUB error. So I booted ubuntu live CD and run boot repair software. I could boot Win xp OK after this.
I went on and deleted all partitiond from the SSD and restored the image to it. Same problem when booting only difference is ubuntu live CD didnt sort it. I got black screen after this and it froze.
Frustrated I deleted all partitions again and went for a clean install of XP. This worked OK.
Then I resotored the image once again to the SSD but this time DIDN'T restore the MBR at all.
After restart WIN XP booted normally and the machine is as it was 4 weeks ago. No data lost.
I am not sure what exactly went on.
Hopefully this will be helpful to someone.