IDE Drive problem

[voltrex32]

Hello, i have an old IBM PC which originally came with Windows XP, 1 gb of RAM, p4 2.66 ghz cpu and an 80 gb hard drive IDE, obviously i didnt buy a new one and upgraded it all i could, got another hard drive 500 gb sata for installing Windows 7, despite all the issues i had while upgrading (RAM, cpu, psu, gpu) the PC managed to work properly almost all the time, except when the original IDE hard drive wasnt connected to the PC which lead me to always have dual boot screens(which i dont want) until today when the IDE drive fails(makes weird sounds) and cant load the other hard drive OS. Im gonna buy an IDE-SATA adapter to see if it works, other than that anyone has an idea on why this happens and how to fix it?
Already tried looking on the bios but could not find anything, the bios has a feature calles pre desktop area which its like a factory restore and the restore files are on the IDE drive.
PC turns on but cant load any OS

 

[jankerson]

What do you mean weird sounds?

 

[voltrex32]

Like a damaged head sounds

 

[jankerson]

Like a damaged head sounds

Just get a new HD, it's either already gone or will be very shortly.

Not worth the effort or money to deal with it at this point.

 

[voltrex32]

I thought it was clear, i have 2 hard drives connected to my PC, the IDE has Windows XP, the sata has Windows 7, before IDE drive failure i had to had both hds connected to the PC because the PC doesnt load the SATA drive OS without the IDE drive connected to the MB

 

[voltrex32]

I want a workaround to be Able to use the sata drive OS without the need of the IDE drive

 

[jankerson]

I thought it was clear, i have 2 hard drives connected to my PC, the IDE has Windows XP, the sata has Windows 7, before IDE drive failure i had to had both hds connected to the PC because the PC doesnt load the SATA drive OS without the IDE drive connected to the MB

Then you will have to do a Windows 7 repair, repair the MBR so it will load Windows 7.

Boot from Windows 7 disk or Flash drive and choose repair.

Make sure the IDE drive is not in the system.

 

[voltrex32]

I thought it was that at some point, but tested my Windows 7 sata drive on another PC and doesnt have any issue, its like if the PC bios or any other part of the Motherboard needed the IDE drive and locks loading other Drive OS if IDE drive not present. That describes best the problem i have

 

[jankerson]

I thought it was that at some point, but tested my Windows 7 sata drive on another PC and doesnt have any issue, its like if the PC bios or any other part of the Motherboard needed the IDE drive and locks loading other Drive OS if IDE drive not present. That describes best the problem i have

Go into the bois and set the SATA drive as the 1st boot drive.

 

[voltrex32]

Already tried, keeps waiting, never loads the OS, i disabled PATA port didnt work, changed boot sequence didnt work and just to unplug the IDE drive doesnt work either

 

[jankerson]

if the drive is there in the bois try and do the repair.

 

[voltrex32]

Would the letter of the drive be the problem?
Sata unit letter is G:
IDE unit letter is C:

 

[jankerson]

Would the letter of the drive be the problem?
Sata unit letter is G:
IDE unit letter is C:

Yeah that's a problem.

Why I said to do a repair without the IDE drive in there.

Should fix the issue.

 

[Paperdoc]

I'll outline the likely cause and fix.

I suspect that, when you bought and installed the new SATA HDD and then installed on that Windows 7, the old IDE HDD also was installed in the machine. Is that right? In fact, since you say your system now is set up for dual boot, it MUST have been there when you Installed Win 7.

Assuming that is right, you have been caught by a "feature" of Win 7 etc. At the time you Install Win 7 on an HDD, it checks the hardware to look for a second HDD. If it finds one it places on it a spare copy of some important system files in a semi-hidden Partition. This is in preparation for recovery from future problems. From then on, every time you boot Win 7, it checks its system files for corruption. Of it finds a problem, it goes to the second copy on that other HDD and copies back to the first HDD a good copy, then completes booting. It fixes itself for you, and saves you headaches! A good idea. BUT what that also means is that, from then on it MUST be able to find those copies on the second HDD. If it does not, it cannot boot! I bet that is why your machine will not boot if the old IDE unit is not connected.

There's a way to prevent this, and a way for you to fix it. To do it you need your Win 7 Install disk again. Set up your machine with the old IDE unit NOT installed at all. Place the Win 7 Install CD in your optical drive and set your BIOS to boot from that optical drive. Boot up and it will start to look like a Install process. DO NOT do a normal Install!! Look through the menu choices instead and find a REPAIR INSTALL, and do that. This process will check lots of things. It will find that those backup copies are missing and will re-install them on the only HDD available (your new SATA unit). When it is finished its fixes, back out of it, shut down, remove the Install CD, and boot up, setting BIOS to use your SATA HDD to boot from. That should work with NO IDE unit connected.

 

[voltrex32]

well paperdoc you hit the point, the thing is that i installed win 7 from inside win xp, just extracted the iso and started installing on the sata drive and deleted the installation files and iso file after working windows 7, i know i installed win 7 ultimate, im gonna download the iso again to see if it works. tnx