PC won't boot, can't access hard disk

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pdoff

n00b
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Nov 11, 2008
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Win XP SP3, SATA (Maxtor) hard disk - with 3 partitions

My PC crashed (first time for a couple of years!), and will not boot. It did make a noise like it was accessing the floppy drive at the time, although no disk was in this drive

On booting, it gets as far as the Windows splash screen, but then gets the BSOD and mainly an "irql not less or equal" error, or occasionally something like "trying to write to read only memory" error. And one or two times, it stated a problem loading a driver from Symantec (I have NIS 2009 installed)

I've tested memory and various other components and they are OK. One disk check software found the HD and reported it OK, but the manufacturers DOS diagnostic disk did not find the HD, so could not check it

The PC won't start in any of the other start up options (Safe mode etc) and the recovery console wont load as, when I boot from the Windows CD, I need to load the SATA HD drivers from a floppy (Promise 378) but after the drivers are loaded and the load sequence ends, I get the BSOD.

I took the HD out and connected it to a laptop via an external USB adapter. The intention was to check the disk.

However, it spins up, but as soon as it is accessed by the laptop, then it causes a BSOD on the laptop - again with the "irql not less or equal" error.

So, it seems like a HD problem, but is there a cure?

Thanks
 
Heh, a HDD that causes a BSOD... weird. Did you contact maxtor yet? Lets see what they say, lol.

In the meantime, go back to those blue screens get the stop error code hex numbers, just to make sure it didn't say something else. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL is 0x0A, but I just want to be sure you always get the same error.

Will Window Setup detect your drive without you loading drivers via the FDD and F6? If so, when you boot from the Windows CD, boot as if you were installing the OS for the first time. Proceed accordingly, and when it asks you where to put the installation, choose the current location. Setup should detect the old installation and ask if you'd like to repair it. Hit "R" to repair it. --- if you have to load drives via F6, get a new floppy disk, download a new driver, and if possible, try a new floppy drive, lol.
 
Thanks

The stop code is the same most times.

I've managed to get to the recovery console, but chkdsk says "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems" :mad:
 
dead drive, nothing you can do about it, may be able to recover some files via usb or pay 700 dollars for data recovery.
 
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