UPDATE #2
funny that i'm making progress on my own. i'm gonna label this thread solved. i stumbled upon the solution online.
my sincere apologies for not digging deeper sooner. i felt stumped at each roadblock because this was brand new to me and didn't even know HOW to approach it. luckily, i just had to reword my google searches. :p
final solution so future people can benefit:
i followed the steps outlined in a forum i can't find anymore. >.<
1. unplug extra hdd's so they don't get in the way. (windows 7 will use any extra drives to put the system/boot files in it. like the hidden system reserved partition it normally makes)
2. with only your main OS drive plugged in, restart with installer dvd
3. let installer repair any issues using startup repair or anything else it might find. (may have to do this multiple times, it's ok)
4. ???
5. profit.
it worked for me. i'm back to IDE mode for my sata drive, i don't need the installer disc in, everything boot fine. and i even plugged my extra hdd's back in. all good. woot!
now i just have to deal with my drivers and hardware interrupts but that's for another thread if i get stuck again.
thx all. :p. thread solved.
OLD UPDATE:
ok. i mucked around a bit more. found a bunch of results regarding "disk boot failure". one of which piqued my interest.
it had to do with someone who could only boot into windows with the install disk still inside and not pressing anything.
apparently, this is my case as well. O_o
i plugged in the external DVD drive (internal is CD only), popped the install disk back in, set the SATA mode back to IDE
and...walla! boots up normally. (yay no more raid).
but now i'm stuck again. i can't get the OS to boot on it's own without the CD. and upon further investigation i notice that the partition with win7 on it was not set to "active". and instead, one of the other primary partitions had active on it. i thought (sure, i can fix this). i set win7 to active, set the other to inactive. remove dvd drive, restart. and....flop. nogo. the error changed from "disk falure" to "bootmgr is missing". (i think that was the error).
so i'm forced to boot from dvd, and run startup repair. startup repair fixes it by RE-ACTIVATING the other primary partition. (Drive F)
*i uploaded screenshot to show drives*
i'm wondering if there's a way to remove the "system" and "active" flags from Drive F. and have this thing boot without being in raid, or having the dvd always plugged in. :(.
any tips greatly appreciated.
OLD POST
hello. i got stuck on something and was looking for some new ideas to help fix my probs.
WARNING LONG POST!
i blame MS for all this cause they forced me to upgrade to Win7 cause XP gonna die soon. :( (exaggeration)
anyway. here's how it went.
formated partition
installed win7
everything went smooth. finally got to the desktop for first time. pretty. :)
reboot for first time.
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
/horror
i don't know what compelled me to, but I switched the SATA mode from IDE to Raid just to see if it boots again.
boom! works great! boots up like normal every time now. i should be happy. but here are the issues.
VERY old pc. feels super laggy and sluggish. i think to myself "damn you win7, you're too big for my ancient pc!"
but upon further research/troubleshooting i find lots of hardware interrupts.
not all drivers are good yet i guess. but woop dee doo, crappy Mobo manufacturer does NOT have windows 7 drivers.
mobo: FIC K8m-800m. using VIA chipset.
http://www.fic.com.tw/product/mother.../k8m-800m.aspx
i don't know how well installing old XP drivers works on Win7. i know i can use the compatability switch and force it. but sounds risky.
either way, i still attempted this to install chipset 4in1 drivers found here.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp
specifically, the Hyperion Pro 4in1 Chipset Drivers which include ide, agp, sata, ethernet, chipset drivers. i crossed my fingers....no improvement. (maybe slightly worse)
i know it's a driver issue so i'm just trying to deal with those as i go on. but here's where I think things might help and why i'm here.
Using LatencyMon i am able to monitor which drivers are causing lag on my system.
at first, the big one was ATAport.sys. i think i fixed this one by going to devices and updating the driver. it appears the system chose the one that was installed from the Chipset 4in1 package INF file cause the manufacture now says "via" instead of "microsoft". and everything is better now. not as horribly laggy as before. (this hardware interrupt was taking over 70% cpu)
now, latencymon reports the next big culprits.
storport.sys
ndis.sys
upon further research, storport has to do with scsi? and ndis is network?
also, i notice my sata drive is considered "scsi" under the device manager. apparently a "common" issue that could be ignored. but i respectfully disagree. because i believe this may be the reason why storport.sys is giving me issues. (storport wants to help scsi drives, i don't have one but sata thinks its one, which is probably happening because the only way i can boot windows is by setting the BIOS SATA mode to Raid instead of IDE). that's my theory and would like confirmation.
furthermore, if my theory is correct, i'd very much appreciate how i can make my sata drive boot using IDE.
it confuzzles me that xp worked great with Sata in IDE, and that i successfully installed win7 while in IDE, but after the first reboot, i get the DISK FAILURE error and now it only boots in RAID mode. :(
as for ndis.sys. idk. i already tried like 2 drivers. i guess i could find another. (this is ethernet driver right?)
and for further info.
PC: eMachines T3302
2ghz amd sempron 3300+
2gigs DDR1 memory (max memory i can have)
sata channel 1: 1x sata drive (500gb) with the jumper setting set to "slow" because mobo can't use it at fullspeed
channel 0 - no master, 1 slave (pata hdd)
channel 1 - 1 master(pata hdd) 1 slave (cd rom)
i'm just trying to do what MS told me to do. ditch XP and get on with my life. i can't afford a new pc. (please don't mention it).
and if i could avoid another reinstall, that'd be fantastic.
ty all in advanced. let me know if you need more info.
funny that i'm making progress on my own. i'm gonna label this thread solved. i stumbled upon the solution online.
my sincere apologies for not digging deeper sooner. i felt stumped at each roadblock because this was brand new to me and didn't even know HOW to approach it. luckily, i just had to reword my google searches. :p
final solution so future people can benefit:
i followed the steps outlined in a forum i can't find anymore. >.<
1. unplug extra hdd's so they don't get in the way. (windows 7 will use any extra drives to put the system/boot files in it. like the hidden system reserved partition it normally makes)
2. with only your main OS drive plugged in, restart with installer dvd
3. let installer repair any issues using startup repair or anything else it might find. (may have to do this multiple times, it's ok)
4. ???
5. profit.
it worked for me. i'm back to IDE mode for my sata drive, i don't need the installer disc in, everything boot fine. and i even plugged my extra hdd's back in. all good. woot!
now i just have to deal with my drivers and hardware interrupts but that's for another thread if i get stuck again.
thx all. :p. thread solved.
OLD UPDATE:
ok. i mucked around a bit more. found a bunch of results regarding "disk boot failure". one of which piqued my interest.
it had to do with someone who could only boot into windows with the install disk still inside and not pressing anything.
apparently, this is my case as well. O_o
i plugged in the external DVD drive (internal is CD only), popped the install disk back in, set the SATA mode back to IDE
and...walla! boots up normally. (yay no more raid).
but now i'm stuck again. i can't get the OS to boot on it's own without the CD. and upon further investigation i notice that the partition with win7 on it was not set to "active". and instead, one of the other primary partitions had active on it. i thought (sure, i can fix this). i set win7 to active, set the other to inactive. remove dvd drive, restart. and....flop. nogo. the error changed from "disk falure" to "bootmgr is missing". (i think that was the error).
so i'm forced to boot from dvd, and run startup repair. startup repair fixes it by RE-ACTIVATING the other primary partition. (Drive F)
*i uploaded screenshot to show drives*
i'm wondering if there's a way to remove the "system" and "active" flags from Drive F. and have this thing boot without being in raid, or having the dvd always plugged in. :(.
any tips greatly appreciated.
OLD POST
hello. i got stuck on something and was looking for some new ideas to help fix my probs.
WARNING LONG POST!
i blame MS for all this cause they forced me to upgrade to Win7 cause XP gonna die soon. :( (exaggeration)
anyway. here's how it went.
formated partition
installed win7
everything went smooth. finally got to the desktop for first time. pretty. :)
reboot for first time.
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
/horror
i don't know what compelled me to, but I switched the SATA mode from IDE to Raid just to see if it boots again.
boom! works great! boots up like normal every time now. i should be happy. but here are the issues.
VERY old pc. feels super laggy and sluggish. i think to myself "damn you win7, you're too big for my ancient pc!"
but upon further research/troubleshooting i find lots of hardware interrupts.
not all drivers are good yet i guess. but woop dee doo, crappy Mobo manufacturer does NOT have windows 7 drivers.
mobo: FIC K8m-800m. using VIA chipset.
http://www.fic.com.tw/product/mother.../k8m-800m.aspx
i don't know how well installing old XP drivers works on Win7. i know i can use the compatability switch and force it. but sounds risky.
either way, i still attempted this to install chipset 4in1 drivers found here.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp
specifically, the Hyperion Pro 4in1 Chipset Drivers which include ide, agp, sata, ethernet, chipset drivers. i crossed my fingers....no improvement. (maybe slightly worse)
i know it's a driver issue so i'm just trying to deal with those as i go on. but here's where I think things might help and why i'm here.
Using LatencyMon i am able to monitor which drivers are causing lag on my system.
at first, the big one was ATAport.sys. i think i fixed this one by going to devices and updating the driver. it appears the system chose the one that was installed from the Chipset 4in1 package INF file cause the manufacture now says "via" instead of "microsoft". and everything is better now. not as horribly laggy as before. (this hardware interrupt was taking over 70% cpu)
now, latencymon reports the next big culprits.
storport.sys
ndis.sys
upon further research, storport has to do with scsi? and ndis is network?
also, i notice my sata drive is considered "scsi" under the device manager. apparently a "common" issue that could be ignored. but i respectfully disagree. because i believe this may be the reason why storport.sys is giving me issues. (storport wants to help scsi drives, i don't have one but sata thinks its one, which is probably happening because the only way i can boot windows is by setting the BIOS SATA mode to Raid instead of IDE). that's my theory and would like confirmation.
furthermore, if my theory is correct, i'd very much appreciate how i can make my sata drive boot using IDE.
it confuzzles me that xp worked great with Sata in IDE, and that i successfully installed win7 while in IDE, but after the first reboot, i get the DISK FAILURE error and now it only boots in RAID mode. :(
as for ndis.sys. idk. i already tried like 2 drivers. i guess i could find another. (this is ethernet driver right?)
and for further info.
PC: eMachines T3302
2ghz amd sempron 3300+
2gigs DDR1 memory (max memory i can have)
sata channel 1: 1x sata drive (500gb) with the jumper setting set to "slow" because mobo can't use it at fullspeed
channel 0 - no master, 1 slave (pata hdd)
channel 1 - 1 master(pata hdd) 1 slave (cd rom)
i'm just trying to do what MS told me to do. ditch XP and get on with my life. i can't afford a new pc. (please don't mention it).
and if i could avoid another reinstall, that'd be fantastic.
ty all in advanced. let me know if you need more info.