Computer will not boot

[DarkStar]

Saturday night computer went belly up while surfing and wouldn't get any further than the first screen with a message at the bottom 'Disk Boot Failure'. Tried to reinstall a backup which got to 5% and said 'input/output error'. Clicked OK and next message was 'Unable to write to destination disk'.
Contacted Macrium who e-mailed me back that in their opinion the hard drive was damaged.
So got a new one this morning and fitted it, booted from the Macrium Recovery disk and the back up completed but when it rebooted the first page gave the following:

Detecting Primary Master --------
Detecting Primary Slave - None
Detecting Secondary Master - Lite-on Combo SOHC 5236K
Detecting Secondary Slave - None
Primary Master Drive Fails

Disk Boot Failure
Insert system disk and press enter

Have reinstalled Windows XP Home from my recovery disk - same result.
Connected the new hard drive up the same as the old one, in fact this is the same set of messages that I got with the old disk when trying to boot up yesterday.
Funny (? ) thing is that I have a Linux Ubuntu disk in the CD drive and that has booted up no problem which is how I am sending this.
Any ideas or advice gratefully received. I am not that well clued up on computer operating systems so there could be something obvious that I am missing here.
Perhaps that new Windows 7 machine is coming earlier than I expected.

[pctech]

So just to be absolutely clear did the Windows install successfully format and then copy files to the disk?

[pctech]

Just another thought.

Have you checked the jumpers on the replacement drive?

[Steve]

I'm guessing its an IDE drive , Bios doesn't appear to be detecting it,so check the jumpers are set correctly as Mitch said if all's working correctly the Live CD should see that drive. I wonder whether the motherboard controller is faulty

[DarkStar]

Just another thought.

Have you checked the jumpers on the replacement drive?

Have just looked at the documentation for the new hard drive on the WD site below

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2521&p_created=&p_cats=185&p_cv=1.185&p_pv=2.296&p_prods=208%2C296

The Maxtor I took out has only 9 pins, I am sure the new one has 10. the chap in the computer shop said to make sure the jumper (that is the little plastic bit that slides over two of the pins?) was in the same place on the new one as on the old one which is the second pair from the left. Looking at the diagram in that WD link should I try a different position?

[DarkStar]

So just to be absolutely clear did the Windows install successfully format and then copy files to the disk?

Yes, removed the old installation of Windows and then installed the new one and rebooted to the info in my first post.

[DarkStar]

I'm guessing its an IDE drive , Bios doesn't appear to be detecting it,so check the jumpers are set correctly as Mitch said if all's working correctly the Live CD should see that drive. I wonder whether the motherboard controller is faulty

Yes, it is an IDE drive, the computer is 7 years old now. What puzzles me is that Linux is running OK, I would have thought that if it was the motherboard nothing would work.

[kinmel]

The Live CD is operating only in RAM from the DVD drive and does not need a hard drive to be present.

A common cause is either a defective IDE cable, or a defective motherboard IDE controller.

Test the HDD with the original IDE cable using the Secondary Master socket on the MB, if it works then the MB controller is faulty.

If it still does not work try the HDD with the IDE cable from the DVD unit.

[Steve]

if it's a 10 pin drive as a single disk looks like it should be jumperless to me

[DarkStar]

if it's a 10 pin drive as a single disk looks like it should be jumperless to me

Will try it tomorrow, I can pull that out with a pair of tweezers without having to move anything else

[DarkStar]

Have now tried with the jumper removed and with all the possible other combinations - no change. The only thing that is consistent is the 'disk boot failure' and the failure to detect the 'Primary master'

[Glenn]

Ian, how did you manage to reinstall Windows if the drive is not seen?

Have you tried resetting the BIOS on the motherboard?

[DarkStar]

The Live CD is operating only in RAM from the DVD drive and does not need a hard drive to be present.

A common cause is either a defective IDE cable, or a defective motherboard IDE controller.

Test the HDD with the original IDE cable using the Secondary Master socket on the MB, if it works then the MB controller is faulty.

If it still does not work try the HDD with the IDE cable from the DVD unit.

Thanks for the info about operating in RAM. I should have remembered that.

Where do I find the Secondary Master socket on the MB?

Will try with the IDE cable from the DVD drive as well.

I take it that the IDE cable is the flat one with 40? pins.

Apologies for seeming so dense  I'll be a lot better inform by the time I get to the end of this even if it turns out the computer is knackered.

[DarkStar]

Ian, how did you manage to reinstall Windows if the drive is not seen?

Have you tried resetting the BIOS on the motherboard?

I used the Linux recovery disk with Macrium and did a successful bare metal reinstall of the backup from an external USB HD to the new internal HD. I know it was successful because I can access all the docs and folders I installed from Ubuntu. I can view my photos - everything.

Have had a look in BIOS but am not that clued up there. If anyone can tell me what to look for I'll look for it. Cannot do screen shots because I cannot store them.

[kinmel]

Where do I find the Secondary Master socket on the MB?

The DVD's IDE cable is inserted in it at the moment, just  swap the cables at the motherboard

Will try with the IDE cable from the DVD drive as well.

Don't swap the cable at the same time as moving the cables on the motherboard

I take it that the IDE cable is the flat one with 40? pins.

Yes.

Apologies for seeming so dense  I'll be a lot better inform by the time I get to the end of this even if it turns out the computer is knackered.

You are not being dense, you are asking the right questions 

[Glenn]

Ian, What BIOS is it? What you are looking for is some thing along the lines of Optimal defaults.

[DarkStar]

Sorry for being a bit late replying, been out most of the morning till 13:30.
Have now tried the IDE cable from the HD in the secondary master socket and windows then gets past the first screen and asks me to put my recovery disk into the DVD/CD drive but that drive now no longer works because it's connected to the Primary master socket. If I connect either the HD or the DVD/CD drive to the Primary master socket with either cable nothing happens, dead. If I connect either of them to the secondary master socket they work, with either cable, so the cables are OK and working.
However, if I connect the HD to the secondary master socket it eventually gets past the first page, Windows XP Home logo comes up and asks me to insert the recovery disk into the DVD/CD drive, but that doesn't work because it's connected to the Primary master socket.
Nothing appears to work if connected to the Primary master socket so it would seem that the Primary master socket is dead, I have had to connect the DVD/CD back to the Secondary master socket to get the Linux disk going. I noticed when delving into the deeps of the CPU that I have what appears to be another socket that the floppy disc drive is connected to, can that be utilised or is it the wrong size?

@Glenn,
Will reply to your query about the BIOS in about an hour or so, have something urgent to do  

[Rik]

Can you not use the two drives as master and slave on one cable, Ian?

[pctech]

You cant use the floppy connector unfortunately.

Sounds like your motherboard is on its way out as you cant replace the controller.

[pctech]

As Rik said you can try putting them on one cable.

[DarkStar]

As Rik said you can try putting them on one cable.

How do I do that?

[Steve]

Using secondary IDE port connect HDD as Master and CD/DVD as slave,both need to jumpered correctly

[Rik]

You need a cable which has two plugs on it, Ian. Some come with a 'twist' so you don't need to do any jumpering, others are straight and you need to set the jumpers on the drives to master and slave.

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=334357&CatId=1548

[DarkStar]

You need a cable which has two plugs on it, Ian. Some come with a 'twist' so you don't need to do any jumpering, others are straight and you need to set the jumpers on the drives to master and slave.

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=334357&CatId=1548

Thanks for that guide Rik, I'm starting to get out of my depth. Will have proper read of it in a little while, just had my tea  now have to wash up and clean Guinea Pig out.

[Rik]

Not literally, I hope?