Author Topic: Tech: Any Windows XP gurus here? (Read 1934 times)

ehbowen · « **on:** December 22, 2018, 01:22:53 pm »

I'm having issues with a computer which I had built this past year (2018) by an outside specialist for legacy video work. The hardware I'm using doesn't work under Vista or later and I use it only as a standalone capture unit isolated from all networks. It was working when I received it, but now I get the error message, "A disk read error has occurred..." and I'm unable to do anything further with it. I get the BIOS display all right, but I haven't been able to boot or run either the Windows XP (re)installation disk or any diagnostic utilities either from USB or CD-ROM. I have asked for help on one of the dedicated technical forums, but I thought I'd put out a call for assistance here, as well. (Ashmire, if you draw the Death card...keep it a secret, OK?! [Just kidding!])

RandallS · « **Reply #1 on:** December 22, 2018, 03:13:19 pm »

Quote from: ehbowen on December 22, 2018, 01:22:53 pm

I'm having issues with a computer which I had built this past year (2018) by an outside specialist for legacy video work. The hardware I'm using doesn't work under Vista or later and I use it only as a standalone capture unit isolated from all networks. It was working when I received it, but now I get the error message, "A disk read error has occurred..." and I'm unable to do anything further with it. I get the BIOS display all right, but I haven't been able to boot or run either the Windows XP (re)installation disk or any diagnostic utilities either from USB or CD-ROM. I have asked for help on one of the dedicated technical forums, but I thought I'd put out a call for assistance here, as well. (Ashmire, if you draw the Death card...keep it a secret, OK?! [Just kidding!])

Could be a dead disk (or a disk with errors in the boot sectors). If you can't boot from either CD or USB, chances are the boot order is set so it tries the hard disk first and (as it is having trouble) dies. Check the BIOS to be sure that USB and/or CD/DVD is before the hard disk in the boot order. If you have done this and it is not booting, I am out of ideas (that don't involve me sitting at the machine and playing with it).

TheGreenWizard · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2018, 02:15:36 am »

Quote from: ehbowen on December 22, 2018, 01:22:53 pm

I'm having issues with a computer which I had built this past year (2018) by an outside specialist for legacy video work. The hardware I'm using doesn't work under Vista or later and I use it only as a standalone capture unit isolated from all networks. It was working when I received it, but now I get the error message, "A disk read error has occurred..." and I'm unable to do anything further with it. I get the BIOS display all right, but I haven't been able to boot or run either the Windows XP (re)installation disk or any diagnostic utilities either from USB or CD-ROM. I have asked for help on one of the dedicated technical forums, but I thought I'd put out a call for assistance here, as well. (Ashmire, if you draw the Death card...keep it a secret, OK?! [Just kidding!])

Quote from: RandallS on December 22, 2018, 03:13:19 pm

Could be a dead disk (or a disk with errors in the boot sectors). If you can't boot from either CD or USB, chances are the boot order is set so it tries the hard disk first and (as it is having trouble) dies. Check the BIOS to be sure that USB and/or CD/DVD is before the hard disk in the boot order. If you have done this and it is not booting, I am out of ideas (that don't involve me sitting at the machine and playing with it).

I ditto what Randall said. In the BIOS you need to change the boot order for whatever you're using to be first. I like to do CD/DVD player, then USB, then the original Hard Drive. If that still doesn't work, I would probably say that the hard drive is dead - but you'd need to try connecting it to a different build first to confirm that.

Also, I'm curious as to what legacy software you're using for video work? Especially seeing as Microsoft killed off pretty much anything before Windows 8.0...

ehbowen · « **Reply #3 on:** December 23, 2018, 09:51:20 am »

Quote from: RandallS on December 22, 2018, 03:13:19 pm

Could be a dead disk (or a disk with errors in the boot sectors). If you can't boot from either CD or USB, chances are the boot order is set so it tries the hard disk first and (as it is having trouble) dies. Check the BIOS to be sure that USB and/or CD/DVD is before the hard disk in the boot order. If you have done this and it is not booting, I am out of ideas (that don't involve me sitting at the machine and playing with it).

Quote from: TheGreenWizard on December 23, 2018, 02:15:36 am

I ditto what Randall said. In the BIOS you need to change the boot order for whatever you're using to be first. I like to do CD/DVD player, then USB, then the original Hard Drive. If that still doesn't work, I would probably say that the hard drive is dead - but you'd need to try connecting it to a different build first to confirm that.

Also, I'm curious as to what legacy software you're using for video work? Especially seeing as Microsoft killed off pretty much anything before Windows 8.0...

I triple-checked the boot order in BIOS; apparently it's being ignored somehow. I suspect an MBR issue. Anyhow, it does look as though the hard drive is bad; I had a 500GB SATA drive pulled from an old laptop and an IDE/SATA adapter in the junk box; with those in place the Windows XP install disc seems to be doing something. Right now it shows, "Formatting-77%", but I tell you it's going dog-slow. I still hope I can recover data from the old drive; some of those drivers may be hard to locate.

GW, it's not a question of the software--that's just VirtualDub--but of the hardware. This PC is built around a motherboard with an AGP slot and an ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 video card. The All-In-Wonders were, hands down, the very best hardware ever built for capturing legacy NTSC and PAL video to digital. However, when the upgrade to Vista came out it broke some of the drivers which these cards depend upon, and since by that time analog video was on its way out the drivers were never rewritten after the update. Once I capture a video tape (onto a 2 TB SATA HDD in a removable dock), it goes to a much more modern PC for editing, rendering and burning to DVD or Blu-Ray.

ehbowen · « **Reply #4 on:** December 24, 2018, 12:33:33 am »

Quote from: RandallS on December 22, 2018, 03:13:19 pm

Could be a dead disk (or a disk with errors in the boot sectors). If you can't boot from either CD or USB, chances are the boot order is set so it tries the hard disk first and (as it is having trouble) dies. Check the BIOS to be sure that USB and/or CD/DVD is before the hard disk in the boot order. If you have done this and it is not booting, I am out of ideas (that don't involve me sitting at the machine and playing with it).

Well, for some reason it was ignoring the BIOS boot order as long as the original HDD was in the system. When I pulled it out and substituted another HDD, then I was able to run the Windows installation CD. However, I wasn't able to successfully install Windows; multiple tries with multiple installation CDs on two separate HDDs, one which was new out of the box. I downloaded Hiren's BootCD and was able to start it up for diagnostics; it does look as if I have some bad RAM so that needs to be replaced first. We'll see what happens then.