Member Avatar for spyros.lois

My Pentium D computer cant start windows xp normal mode, only in safe mode. I changed the IDE drive and i tried to setup windows xp but it still reboots after trying to get into windows. windows 7 dvd wont even start setup.

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Building on and , here is a concise, practical checklist to isolate whether the problem is BIOS/config, drivers/installation media, or failing hardware. Start with non‑destructive checks and capture any error information before attempting repairs.

  • Capture failure info: boot options (F8) -> "Disable automatic restart on system failure" and "Enable boot logging". Check C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt and the System event log for driver or disk errors from a limited Windows environment.
  • Repair/verify filesystem and boot records from Recovery Console or WinPE:
chkdsk /r C:
fixmbr
fixboot

Run those only after backing up important data.

  • Hardware basics: swap the data cable and use a different controller port. Inspect the drive power plug. For PATA drives check master/slave jumpers. Disconnect all nonessential peripherals and other drives to rule out conflicts.
  • Memory and disk health: run Memtest86+ for several passes to rule out RAM faults. Run the drive maker's diagnostic (or smartctl from a live environment) to check SMART and surface errors.
  • BIOS and drivers: confirm the disk controller mode (IDE/Compatibility vs AHCI). Older installers need legacy/IDE mode or integrated drivers (slipstream) for SATA controllers. If the disk was cloned, ensure the MBR and the active partition were copied, not just files.
  • Bootable media test: verify that a known-good live USB/CD boots (Linux Live, WinPE). If those fail, the issue is likely hardware or BIOS settings rather than the OS on disk.

Cautions: always back up user data before running repair utilities that touch MBR/partitions. If diagnostics point to intermittent power, failing capacitors, or repeated SMART failures, replace the PSU or the drive rather than attempting repeated repairs.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

How did you install/copy Windows from the old to the new IDE drive? Also, are they the same size and configuration (heads, cylinders, sectors)?

Member Avatar for JorgeM

Start up the computer, enter the BIOS, make sure that your CMOS setup has the primary hard drive set to auto detect.

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