noetus Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 The hard drive of my Thinkpad T40 was failing so I purchased a new drive. When I tried to image the old drive onto the new block by block I got errors with Partition Manager (I assumed because the old drive was giving out).So I used XXCLONE to copy everything file-by-file, including the Windows installation, from the old drive to the new. All the files copied successfully. This program is also supposed to make the new drive bootable, and I used the feature this program provides to do that.When I start the machine with the new drive, however, I just get a blank screen with a flashing cursor right after BIOS POST.So I tried using the Recovery Console with the Windows disk, and ran the following commands:FIXMBR C:FIXBOOT C:COPY d:\i386\NTLDR C:\ (d: is my CD drive)COPY d:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\BOOTCFG /rebuildbut I get the same issue when I try to restart the machine after that.So I ran a Windows repair - booted from the Windows CD, select the Install Windows option, and then selected R for a repair of the Windows installation. A lot of files were copied over, the Windows installation routine was busy for a while, and then the machine attempted to boot - with the exact same problem. Right after the BIOS POST, I get a blank screen with just a flashing cursor.Is there anything else I can try to get this working? Seems there is something simple I need to fix, but I don't know what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 It's possible the BIOS is corrupted, in which case you'll need to do a full re-install again rather than a repair. Or you have a faulty hard disk, or some other piece of hardware. Can you take it to a technician to check the hard disk and other hardware?Sorry I can't be more helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noetus Posted February 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 hmmmm, BIOS corrupted, well that would be very strange, and I just don't know how a Windows reinstall would help with that. If the BIOS is corrupted, then only a reflash of the BIOS would help, and I don't think it would get past the self-test. In any case, the problem has nothing to do with the BIOS, since the machine will boot ok from the old disk (which is on its way out). And the hardware is perfectly all right, we're talking about a brand new disk here that I just had no trouble copying gigabytes of data onto (more than once, in fact). Also chkdsk /R reports no problems whatsoever from the Recovery Console.No, the issue is that once BIOS POST is completed, for some reason the BIOS isn't handing over control to the Windows startup routine that starts Windows, so the machine hangs in an in-between state with a blank screen and cursor flashing. This is a well-known problem but googling round seems to reveal that most people give up without ever resolving this issue and then simply reinstall Windows.I've tried using Diskpart to make sure the partition is marked as active. Doesn't make any difference (don't know if it wasn't marked as active before).I've tried using the Windows repair routine (NOT the recovery console) that copies over copies files from the startup CD (basically a sort of 'reset' for Windows) and then 'restarts' but right after BIOS POST - same again. Whatever the problem is it is right before Windows starts so that sort of very basic reinstall of Windows doesn't help.There is some little thing that is wrong, something that is preventing the BIOS from handing over control to the Windows startup, some little thing that I am sure it would be dead easy to set right if I just knew what it was.Anyone with expert knowledge of this sort of thing know what else I could try? (I've already thought of all the common-sense stuff, thanks, like thinking of taking it to a technician for a hardware checkup - most technicians are useless anyways, I can diagnose stuff more successfully than most of the computer shops I have tried to deal with in the past.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Are you sure the registration/key identification has been transfered???Or am I just being silly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Will flashing the BIOS help with this type of problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 It's possible the BIOS is corrupted, in which case you'll need to do a full re-install again rather than a repair. Ah, you spotted the deliberate mistake noetus. Possibly the first part of the sentence is correct, but I don't know how a BIOS is repaired (or re-installed)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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