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Vista Help: So many problems lately

G

gilga

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
1,867
I am in need of some serious help. I was burning a dvd in nero 7 when the burn process failed. I went to my computer and the dvd drive was gone. I restarted the computer and i get a ntldr missing error, press ctrl, alt, delete.

I did this and nothing so i tried to do a repair install. Nothing as well. So i reinstalled Vista and got everything going and performed several successful updates and restarts. All is good until i go to burn some recorded tv files. Dvd drive disappears and I am unable to load the OS

I went to install again on another HD and during the vista install in hangs on expanding the files. I dont know what to do, my PSU is fine, and my ram is good as well along with my other components. Do i need to reset the CMOS? I am going to replace all the SATA cables when new ones when i get home in case i have a bad one including the one for the DVD drive.

Any help is greatly appreciated as i need this fixed fast.
 
How are your HD/DVD drives connected? SATA? Sounds like drive controller is the common factor.

Don't know of any off hand but sounds like you need to run some drive diagnostics.
 
sounds like either the drive is bad, the firmware is messed, the driver is bad, or maybe some setting is bad in the options, thought that seems doubtful
 
I have three drives connected via SATA

250gb Western Digital
320gb Seagate
Samgsung Dvd Burner with lightscribe

I will try to connect them to a different sata port and see if that works. In regards to martyrs post, what do you mean by firmware messed, driver, options...etc

What could be the underlying issue? Should i consider RMA for my mobo?
 
Try running a CheckDisk on your hard drive. I've seen dying hard drives cause issues like that. If you notice that it's correcting/finding a lot of problems in the System32 folder, then replacing the drive should solve your problem.

If the drives are fine, then you should probably see about RMAing that board.
 
im thinking the dvd drive may be on the way out, but the HD's should be fine. Stupid question but does the checkdisk need to be run from the OS or can it be run without the OS installed?

Keep the suggestions and help coming. And thank you once again.

would a cmos reset be of any use?
 
Pretty sure you can check your hard drives with a Knoppix live cd, and WD may have a live version of their diag utilities ..but my guess is your burner is taking a shit.

The controller could be bad, but I really think the odds of your burner crapping out are quite a bit better... Good luck man...

Oh...and a cmos reset wouldn't hurt.....but I don't think it would help either......
 
Ok gentlemen, I reset the CMOS, installed my new quadcore, and switched the SATA cable to completely new connectors. I think it may be my DVD burner, but it seems so freakin odd that it taking a shit would make everything die as well. It was working great for a while and i was able to burn loads of dvd video and occasionally i would take a dive and the dvd burner or HD would disapper ( mostly dvd burner) I went into the bios, and all i had to do was exit them and all was good ( for the most part) I installed a nvidia sata update listed in vista update. Could that be the culprit?

would this be worthwhile to install? nforce vista drivers http://www.evga.com/support/drivers/default.asp?switch=2
 
Your link appears to be broken, all I see is....

No Drivers Found

We're sorry, but the drivers you are searching for are not available. Please contact our Tech Support at 888/881-EVGA (3842) or through our Tech Support Form
Click to expand...
.

It really doesn't seem odd to me that having the drive "disappear" could jam things up... My experience with Vista has been that it is kinda picky... and reading through your OP, it seems to me that your burner is the problem... it craps out while burning, it craps out while reading... and has continued to do so after switching connectors, updating drivers etc.....

Do you have a spare drive around you could try.... or, um, did you sell it;)
 
no i still have the dam thing. Sorry for the bad link. I will see if i cant get another burner soon. Do you think my mobo might be bad? or my sata cables are shit?
 
My guess would be cables... but of course, that's just my guess...and I still think it's your burner... just grab a $20 burner from CompUSA or Best Buy if you don't have a spare to test with.

As far as your board is concerned, try this... try booting with no ram installed, listen for beeps, do the same with no video card, again, listen for beeps... etc.. If the beep responses are correct, your board is probably fine, you have already tried different sata connectors, so that pretty much eliminates that... and I hate to sound like a broken record here, but all of this started while trying to burn video...sooooo.....
 
its not a warez copy of nero is it? Just wondering if it could be a virus
 
1. format HD
2. reinstall windows xp
3. problem solved, happy
 
Thanx for the kind words Digital Exhaust, i truly appreciate it.

I still need to replace all of my cables, but I am thinking that it is the burner. I will grab a new one tomorrow as there is a store that will let me borrow one for testing purposes ( i did some work for them a while ago)

Nero is legit!!! I do not pirate and never will. If there was a virus i doubt nod32 would miss it (no debates over what antivirus ware is better )

The funny thing is that I am now able to install vista, I am really confused but I still think that my DVD drive is on the way out and acting flaky.

I will go ahead and test the system out with a replacement dvd burner but when i have more time this weekend i will remove each component and test. In regards to that , what is the order i should proceed? Try each individually and then the video card with the ram installed?

Thanx again for the help, I rely on you guys too much and I cant thank you all enough.

BTW if you are going to post someting similar to DNOTTIS's post, please dont and use the time you would of spent typing to do something constructive. I really dont have patience for the Vista = TeH suxorz crap anymore. ( NO OFFENSE TO THOSE WHO RATIONALLY DISLIKE VISTA, but you can understand where i am coming from
 
gilga said:
this weekend i will remove each component and test. In regards to that , what is the order i should proceed?
Click to expand...

Pull everything out of your case, put your mobo on a piece of cardboard and start with the basics.. cpu/hsf, one stick of ram and your video card.., once it posts, add one component at a time.. once that is done, just for fun, run memtest for at least four hours on each stick individually, assuming you have no errors, and you have a running OS, run WD's and Seagate's drive utility tools on your hard drives.... and if all passes there, your good to go..

But I really think your going to find that your burner is the problem... frustrating, but if that is the case, at least you won't have to deal with sending your board in...
 
gilga said:
no i still have the dam thing. Sorry for the bad link. I will see if i cant get another burner soon. Do you think my mobo might be bad? or my sata cables are shit?
Click to expand...

Replace all your cables first and try again.
 
i am going to replace the cables as well as the dvd drive. I really need to get my computer back and running. My job needs me to whip up a vb.net program soon and i am feeling the pressure at the moment.
 
ok, i was able to try a new cd drive and it seems to have done the trick. I am going to swap the cables and rethink my wiring scheme here.

Thanks for the help!
 
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