Of all days.... today my 'old' computer decided to give me a major headache.
It just won't start! Does not boot C
... and since I know we have many computer experts on this board, I shamelessly take advantage of these recources.
I need help preferrably step by step and in idiot proof language.
The problem is
- computer does not recognize drive c / does not boot properly
- I can boot from my backup CD ROM (A drive) but when I try to access 'recover' it tells me it can't do that, not recognizing C drive
I've tried without success so far:
- check BIOS and CMOS - settings seem to be ok (but then what do I really know? ) In CMOS it autodetects the IDE Primary Master as the HDD, the A=floppy drive and also DVD and CD-ROM drives
In BIOS I'm running on F6=Fail safe Defaults
- booting via floppy or CD-rom works, but in either case I still can't access C drive after booting with either method. (invalid drive specification)
sys c: does not work either (obviously)
- check internal cable connection: seems ok, not loose or anything
My 'feeling' is there is something wrong with the way the computer assigns drive letters....but then how do I fix that?
I probably have a corrupt sys filed but how do I fix that when the computer does somehow not recognize c drive (yet autodetects it from CMOS)
I'm running Windows XP home edition (Athalon AMD, 80GB)
Any help/advise in this is greatly appreciated. Thanks!