Cloned hard drive will not boot/start

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Alanl440, Nov 3, 2007.

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  1. Alanl440

    Alanl440 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2007
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    Hello
    Searching this forum I was unable to locate this exact problem posted before now.
    I purchased True Image v. 11 today (Nov 3rd) to clone my Gateway notebook hard drive (using Windows XP). After the cloning of the new hard drive was completed, through a USB connection, I removed the old hard drive from the notebook installing the new one in its place.
    Upon starting the Gateway screen appears then it changes to a black screen with a small flashing white bar in the upper left hand corner of the screen, No error message are displayed nor is there any indication of XP starting.
    I recloned the hard drive with the same results above.
    Placing the old hard drive back into the notebook and checking Disk Management both drives are displayed. The new one is listed as "G" drive
    Both "C" and "G" have the same information: layout partition Type Basic, File System NTFS Status Healthy
    Both drives have about the same amount of spaced used. All files and folders from the old drive are listed on the new one
    I then tried to start the system using True Image CD (which is bootable) The results are the same The new drive will not start
    Every time I reinstall the orginal hard drive the notebook starts up right away.
    Not sure what I am missing to have the new hard drive load Windows
    Any ideas? Thanks for taking time to assist in the problem
    Alan
     
  2. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2007
    Posts:
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    You have a drive letter change problem. This happens with windows xp on occasion during restoration. The reason that windows is not loading all the way, is due because windows is looking for the next startup files in the wrong drive.
    If you have a floppy, you can try the windows98 boot floppy fdisk/mbr fix.
    The only programs that I know that can fix a drive letter change problem on a non-booting hard drive are "paragon justboot corrector" and "avanquest partition commander version 10" , both can get into the registry and do the changes. I've used them in similar type of problems and was able to get the hard drive to boot up.

    below link shows different ways to fix your problem.


    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174958
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2005
    Posts:
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    Location:
    NSW, Australia
    Alanl440,

    Interesting, but I doubt it is a drive letter problem. A flashing cursor can have several causes.

    Make sure the partition is set active. Check with a dsrfix CD using ptedit. Make sure it's 80 in the Boot column.

    http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm

    Run fixboot from the WinXP Recovery console in case of a corrupted boot sector.

    Try fixmbr from the WinXP Recovery console if you still have no boot.

    If it's still not booting, have a look at ptedit and let us know the number of heads and sectors recorded next to the Hard Disk at the top of the window. I don't know if Gateways have different geometry.
     
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