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From: BillBled on 4 Nov 2007 21:22
Final Update - 4 Nov 07 at 9:10pm EST

First off, thank you all (and I do mean all) very much for the help and
advice. I finally gave up and blew the partition away, remade a new
partition, reformatted and reloaded and everything is fine now. There were no
hardware problems anywhere on the box.

Some specifics:
1- I was getting nowhere in getting the drive to boot on its original box.
It would not boot on my hardware identical box either, so I knew the problem
was either a hard drive failure or a Win x64 software failure of some sort.
The drive passed all of the Seagate drive tests just fine, so I crossed hard
drive failure off the list.
2- I pulled all of the data off of the bad drive (thank God I could get to
all of the data just fine) and copied it all over to my good drive.
3- Then, with the bad drive still running on my good, bootable x64 computer,
I go into Computer Management - Disk Management and delete the partition on
the bad drive. Now it is just "unpartitioned space".
4- I then take the "unpartitioned" drive over to the "bad" computer. NOW
(with the partition gone), it will boot to the x64 CD just fine. I launch the
x64 setup program, make the new partition and format it and install x64 and
all is good.

I just got back from delivering the computer to it's owner.

It is really frustrating because I never was able to figure out what went
wrong in the software to keep the drive from booting. But with the tests that
I did, and the fact that once I blew the partition away and re-loaded and
reformatted and everything was fine - I have to assume the hardware was not
at fault.
Thanks again to everyone for their help. I just wanted to update you all on
the final outcome and not leave this thread hanging.
--Bill


"John Barnes" wrote:

> One last try would be to swap a different and known good cd player into the
> problem machine. Unplug all your hd's. If you still don't get the install
> cd to boot, you have a problem with the motherboard. You did say you had
> flashed the BIOS, so the only remaining variable is the MOBO itself
>
> "BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1D6B3AE3-83EB-40C3-98D7-3A3A31126713(a)microsoft.com...
> > AN UPDATE - as of 31Oct07 at 9:30pm EST:
> > I have now run these tests / procedures on the problem drive. Nothing has
> > helped. Data is still there, but cannot get the drive to boot x64:
> >
> > chkdsk /f and /r
> > fixboot
> > fixmbr
> > SeaTools (both short and long tests passed)
> > BIOS on the computer is updated
> >
> > Does anyone have any more suggestions?
> > Thanks much,
> > Bill
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:
> >
> >> Well, yes. I do know that the regular updates are database stuff and
> >> definitions, but the program itself updates this way too once in a
> >> while -
> >> and requires re-booting. I have tried doing the forced update, but I
> >> don't
> >> see anything that isn't in the auto-update facility. I simply think the
> >> menu-item is a service for users on dial-up?
> >>
> >> Anyway - the problem is the same and I still think we should adapt to the
> >> notion that downloads can be harmfull when they decide to be.
> >>
> >>
> >> Tony. . .
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Carlos" <Carlos(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:9F0D5582-B65F-45B2-967C-D5F4DD95FF97(a)microsoft.com...
> >> > Tony:
> >> > The Avast update mentioned by the OP was a Program (i.e.: kernel)
> >> > update
> >> > of
> >> > the Antivirus, rather than the regular daily definition update.
> >> > Those program updates are not automatic and you can force them by
> >> > right-clicking on the Avast icon (systray), then Update, then Program
> >> > Upate.
> >> > That will force you a reboot.
> >> > Current kernel version is 4.7.1074 (right-click, About Avast, etc.)
> >> > Carlos
> >> >
> >> > "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Hi Bill,
> >> >>
> >> >> I have been running Avast myself for more than two years now, I think.
> >> >> My
> >> >> machines are updating automatically, sometimes several times a day,
> >> >> never
> >> >> had a problem. Something can easily have been corrupted in that
> >> >> update,
> >> >> but
> >> >> I am positive it is not Avast that did it. Anything you download may
> >> >> be
> >> >> corrupted along the 'line' at any time and these updates are not
> >> >> trivial,
> >> >> in
> >> >> a running system.
> >> >>
> >> >> On the other hand, it doesn't sound to me as something that HAS to be
> >> >> software related - how old is the system you've built? How long since
> >> >> Avast
> >> >> was installed? Are you 'Dual-Booting'? How many HD's? IDE, SCSI, RAID
> >> >> or
> >> >> SATA?
> >> >>
> >> >> If nobody else here objects, I would probably first try and remove the
> >> >> CMOS
> >> >> battery for a few minutes (maybe ten?) - this will reset the BIOS and
> >> >> [should] be harmless.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Tony. . .
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> "BillBled" <BillBled(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> >> news:3DE47E52-F482-48B3-A242-C9DB3FA8E75E(a)microsoft.com...
> >> >> > Hi,
> >> >> > I have a computer that I built that won't boot after the latest
> >> >> > Avast
> >> >> > update. I updated Avast late Thurs (10/25/07) night and when it said
> >> >> > that
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > needed to restart the computer, I pushed OK for it to restart and
> >> >> > went
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > bed. I got up Friday morning and it was on a solid blue (not BSOD)
> >> >> > screen.
> >> >> > Now, it won't boot at all. I get thru the POST, and when it gets to
> >> >> > launching
> >> >> > the Windows x64 logo, it freezes on a black screen. No text.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I also:
> >> >> > - cannot get into any of the safe mode options, with one exception -
> >> >> > when
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > launch into "Safe Mode" - I can see the lines "multidisk, rdisk, etc
> >> >> > etc"
> >> >> > coming across the screen and it stops on a line that ends in
> >> >> > \windows\inf\biosinfo.inf - so it appears that this is where it
> >> >> > freezes.
> >> >> > - cannot boot to my original XP CDrom.
> >> >> > - cannot get into the recovery console.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Everything freezes to a black screen before I can get to any options
> >> >> > that
> >> >> > may allow me to work on this drive.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I have slaved the drive to another x64 computer. I have full access
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > all
> >> >> > of the data and files. Nothing is lost.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > So I'm thinking that when Avast did it's update on Thursday night,
> >> >> > it
> >> >> > corrupted one of the Windows boot files.
> >> >> > Does anyone have any ideas?
> >> >> > Do you need more information?
> >> >> > Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
> >> >> > --Bill
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
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