Hello (first post),

Not sure if this is the right place, but I've tried lots of other places. I've got a Western Dig WD1600JB-00GVA0, manufactured 21 October 2004. I can make it a slave drive and store stuff on it, copy, move, rename and delete files all I want (really I've rarely used it).

But when I install an OS and try to boot, it won't find the startup info/files. Other posts:

MSFN posting

Windows BBS posting

ASUS posting

I can create, format and move partitions all I want. But so far, booting from the drive just won't happen. I tried the obvious stuff like setting the bootable flag in the partition table. I've tried the recovery console (in Win 2000 Professional and XP, but it won't fix the problem). I have even made the drive a slave in a [working] linux box to manually edit boot.ini. I've tried reinstalling LILO, but never had great success there. The problem persists.

I've put the special NTOSKRNL from the amd directory of the SP 64 cd, the one for dual-core AMD chips. I've tried the recovery console like the MS KB says (314777 or whatever).

Windows will say "cannot find NTOSKRNL.EXE" [EDIT: even when it is RIGHT THERE in the correct directory], "missing operating system", "bad or missing NTLDR", or similar (I've seen 'em all). Linux may give me 8 to 10 lines of "99 <space> 99 <space>" and then just stop. If I boot from, say, "Ultimate Boot CD" or whatever, and choose Ranish Partition Manager, the same messages happen -- when Ranish hands control over to the OS on the drive, it fails to boot and throws the error message.

The only Intel board I have is an old Gateway 800 MHz, i815 chipset I think. Should I try installing Win or Lin there? Win2000 or 32-bit XP? Win98, anyone?

P.S. My 120 Gig Western Dig has the same issue (on the Asus mobo, my only 64-bit hardware), as does my brand new 320 GB Samsung SATA drive (also only tried on the Asus).

Any help is greatly appreciated. Hope you all can think of something. I don't want to trash this almost-new drive, and it's probably long out of warranty and so I cannot return it to the manufacturer.

What happens if you try to boot from it in another computer?

Sounds like a hardware problem with your HDD controller on the motherboard. If you truly must have it bootable, I can probably make it happen, or at least prove to you that it boots in my lab.

I don't believe the issue is with the drive, but more likely the motherboard as wise has stated. Have you tried using this drive as the boot drive on another mobo? Give a try and let us know your results.

Sorry for the late reply. Had to use a floppy to install a driver in RAM so XP 64-bit could handle over 128 GB drive with nVidia nForce 560 mobo chipset.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.