can't initialize to MBR!

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  1. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #41

    Night Hawk said:
    we back track in one search when looking up this particular model series to discover something found about another which could be the source of the problem. How-to Install Windows Xp on HP Pavilion dv6236EA

    According to that disabling the Native ide mode for sata drives allowed XP to install while previous attempts failed while the mode was enabled. I know Gigabyte boards see this setting in the bios while Asus boards don't. The Foxconn board in yours however may also see this option usually in the "Integrated Peripherals"or "Onboard" sections depending on the bios used.
    I think this is what I should try now. I hope I find it in the BIOS!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #42

    Guess what!
    I went into the BIOS and found a submenu under SATA II with 3 options: IDE, AHCI, and RAID. I enabled IDE, loaded the XP CD, and hooorray, it installed!
    Turned off PC, and rebooted right into XP again.
    I was elated, reconnected the 7 drive, went back into the BIOS to switch back to AHCI, to see whether I could boot into W7 as well. No such luck! "The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible".
    Now I can't boot into either drive!
    When I disconnect the 7 drive and switch the BIOS back to IDE, I get the "NTLDR is missing" notice on booting!
    How come it wasn't missing before?
    And how do I get those 2 drives to boot, or at least one of them for now?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #43

    Leave it in ide mode for the time being and boot up from the recovery disk if you were provided with or burned one to use the startup repair tool. First make sure the 7 drive is the default drive however.

    If you don't a set of recovery like most new systems won't and didn't use the option seen in 7 to create a repair cd you can download an ISO image from Neosmart and use a program that supports burning ISO images to disk. Since 7 is temporarily out of commission the system you are on or another will need a burning program unless 7 is also on for the support now seen.

    The 64bit as well as 32bit repair tool cd images are available for download at Download Windows 7 System Recovery Discs — The NeoSmart Files

    Once you have the image burned onto a cd-r you boot up from that and run the startup repair tool. You might have to do that more then once. The command prompt prompt option is also available for the "bootrec /fixmbr" and "bootrec /fixboot" commands while the startup repair tool should clean that up for you.

    The bios can be reset to the defaults while the Native ide mode should have already been the default setting. But I suspect HP had it setup for the AHCI mode to begin with. But depending on how you found the settings you simply only have to go back in and disable the ide mode to see 7 going again. The repair tools cd however is still good to have onhand in case something trashes the boot sector or something else goes wrong where the repair tools can help.

    Nothing to panic about with the XP "missing ntldr" error there however. That one goes back to 2000 as well as an annoyance seen often with XP! A few simple tips for this are seen at NTLDR is Missing Error Resolution

    Did you set the optical drive as first in the boot order this time around by chance? An empty drive is one thing pointed to there if you removed the XP cd as soon as the install went well.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #44

    Night Hawk said:
    Leave it in ide mode for the time being and boot up from the recovery disk if you were provided with or burned one to use the startup repair tool. First make sure the 7 drive is the default drive however.
    I have a rescue disk I made when I got the PC. But it doesn't rescue.
    I went into the BIOS to make sure that IDE is selected for now. I had to leave the CD drive first in the boot order to use the rescue CD. I made sure that the W7 drive is first in the HD group boot order.

    When I select to "run start-up repair from CD" it loads , then tells me "cannot repair automatically".
    When I select to run from HD it ends in "the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible".
    I am stuck again!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #45

    @Night Hawk:
    In my desperation about being unconnected I tried the following, successfully:
    Disconnected the new drive
    Set the BIOS to default
    Ran my rescue CD
    Ran "repair" off the CD
    Selected reboot normally.
    Basta! Got back into W7!

    This is where I am now. How do we get to use our XP drive now?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #46

    What was the mode setting now seen at? AHCI or ide? If AHCI you may be pooched as far as XP not running. Note the following reference on AHCI.

    AHCI is fully supported out of the box for Windows Vista and Linux operating systems from kernel 2.6.19, as well as later operating systems such as Windows 7. NetBSD also supports drivers in AHCI mode out of the box in certain versions. OpenBSD has had an AHCI driver starting with OpenBSD 4.1. DragonFlyBSD based its AHCI implementation on OpenBSD's and added extended features such as port multiplier support. FreeBSD supports AHCI as well. Solaris 10 introduced AHCI support in the 8/07 release [3]. Older operating systems require hardware-specific drivers to support AHCI.
    That's part of the 2009 wikipedia information seen at Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    I'm certainly glad you saw 7 load immediately showing there wasn't a problem with that drive to work through. I can imagine you are relieved as far as the preinstall!

    To get the XP install running again you will likely need to switch back to the ide mode if it isn't that way with the defaults as well as make sure the Plug'n'Play and OS2 support settings are enabled in the bios long enough to install any AHCI driver set for XP.

    For that you may want to contact the HP or Foxconn support. But first for Foxconn you may want to get the SIW program look at the model number of the board using the System Info for Windows tool. You will only need to download the freeware with installer version of that however. SIW | Download

    The only thing the installer does is create a desktop shortcut still being a stand alone program without any registry involvement. Once on look under the Hardware>Motherboard item. (note image attached below)

    If you are able to locate and install the drivers on the XP install you should be able to run XP without problems. The support would be a help.

    One thing if you find it set to AHCI by default you could try to switch to the ide mode to see if 7 will still run before replugging the XP drive back in. If 7 runs well you should be able to replug the new drive and run XP normally.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails can't initialize to MBR!-siw-board-info.jpg  
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #47

    Night Hawk said:
    What was the mode setting now seen at? AHCI or ide? If AHCI you may be pooched as far as XP not running.
    Could I at least do it by going into the BIOS and switching back to IDE and changing boot priority to the second drive before trying to boot XP?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #48

    Someone on Tom's hardware forum suggested this:
    You need to slipstream the SATA drivers onto your XP CD. It is easy to do. Just Google "slipstream XP". Put your network driver on it and you can go online as soon as you finish installing XP. Slipstream SP3 too. Make sure you use the correct method for whichever service pack you choose. I think it is different for each one.
    Make sense to you? This is the site for it: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how..._and_vista_sp1
    Last edited by Alsenor; 26 Aug 2010 at 22:26. Reason: afterthought
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #49

    First you may want to see if 7 will still run when switching to the ide mode unless it's already that way when you restored the factory defaults for the board. Once you are set with 7 in the ide mode you should be able to simply plug the XP drive back in and boot from it to see XP load or add the new entry into the 7 boot loader once the XP files are copied over seeing the boot.ini edit as well.

    For slipstreaming sata/Raid controllers you first would need them available. Or only with a second optical drive installed you would burn them to separate cd to have onhand when pressing the F6 option during the installation. But you already installed XP where now you would simply install the drivers onto the older version.

    When looking earlier HP only showed Vista/7 updates at the support site and why the SIW tool for finding out the model number of the board is the big step needed. Once you have the model number you can look up the specifications which should show who made the chipset. NVidia, AMD, etc. From there you would be able to look up any XP drivers sets for that particular board at the chipset manufacturer if needed.

    The one thing most don't realize is that OEM manufacturers will no longer be supporting XP by providing drivers for newer products coming out. Years back the same was seen for 98 when moving up from an old Socket A build. The time for 98 then ME and 2000 later went by for them and now XP is on the way out.

    Hopefully newer releases of the XP Mode or improved VM wares will see more direct access to hardware resources where you will be able to tuck the old version away. These are all things to come there however.

    The alternate option would be seeing if the game will install on the 32bit 7 where you would simply dual boot that with the 64bit host and bypass the hassles you are running into. Know anyone running the 32bit 7 who could try that out for you?

    If they could install the game on the 32bit 7 you would still need to buy another 7 disk however to custom install on the new drive but be running the game on the latest Windows version.

    The problem there is while XP was installed the support for the old version will hamper the gaming since you won't have drivers available for that model through the HP support itself unless contacting their own support for additional information on how to run XP.

    For now however try the SIW tool there to find out the board model number. From there a good search can reveal if any XP drivers were actually written. You will need them anyways.
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 119
    W7
    Thread Starter
       #50

    Night Hawk said:
    First you may want to see if 7 will still run when switching to the ide mode unless it's already that way when you restored the factory defaults for the board. Once you are set with 7 in the ide mode you should be able to simply plug the XP drive back in and boot from it to see XP load or add the new entry into the 7 boot loader once the XP files are copied over seeing the boot.ini edit as well.
    I think the default setting in my BIOS was not IDE. I would have to set it manually again.
      My Computer


 
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