Start Up Problems BEFORE XP Pro Splash Screen

I am going to try and be as detailed as I possibly can, given the limitations
of my computer knowledge....

I recently rebuilt a computer that I had originally bought from Alienware.
It was purchased at some time during 2002. When I rebuilt this computer I
purchased a new graphics card (VGA ASUS N7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M R), and a new
hard drive (WD 7K 8M ATA100 WD5000JBRTL). It's a 500G drive. My old hard
drive was 80G. It might be important to note that the old hard drive was
broken. This installation was done on the fresh hard drive, with the old 80G
drive and the old video card removed.

Anyway, when I first replaced everything I ran into the 137G barrier. Since
my Windows Restore CD was pre-SP1, the windows installation process didn't
recognize the full 500G. I installed Win XP onto that 137 partition and once
it was done I installed all updates, bringing me up to SP3. When I got all
of that done, I formated the remaining 300+G. This process made it into a
second partition. This was not by choice, but my only option. I didn't want
to have 2 separate partitions, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of
trying to fix and all was right with the world.

About 2 weeks later I decided I wanted to back up some of my DVDs onto my
hard drive. I downloaded a ripper, and when I went to rip I decided I would
put everything onto my larger, unused partition. When i started the rip, my
computer would freeze momentarily and then unfreeze. This would happen about
every 3 seconds or so. I decided to try and run the rip onto the smaller C:
drive that I originally created when I installed XP. Everything worked fine.
No stuttering/freezing at all. When this happened I decided I was going to
reformat the entire drive as one big drive, using a "slip stream" disk.
Basically, what you do is copy your entire (hidden folder.files and all)
installation CD to a folder, download windows XP SP2 and add it to that new
folder. You then burn the original image from the original CD onto a new
disk with the new files (SP2). *Note: This is in no way a workaround to get
a free operating system. You still need you product key, which, of course, I
do.* The process I used it explain on this site:
http://www.tech-forums.net/showthread.php?threadid=79821.

I tested the disc first and it worked fine. So, I reformatted the whole
thing. When I ran through the installation process I deleted all of the old
partitions and installed onto a new one. Also, this time Windows recognized
the entire drive, due to SP2 being installed. I formatted the entire drive
(I did NOT use quick format). Windows installed beautifully. I ran through
all of the updates and everything seemed to be fine. I installed my drivers
with only one problem. The Asus Video Card install gave me the "This
software has not been verified as being compatible with WinXP. Do you want to
continue?" I clicked yes. *Note: it gave me this same message the first time
I installed XP, when I had two different partitions. So I don't think this
has anything to do with it, but I will include it to be as detailed as
possible.*

So, I start downloading my usual software: AVG, Adaware, AIM, PowerMenu,
Firefox (sorry microsoft, I still love you). I start installing this stuff
and everything goes fine. I restart several times. I then decided to rip a
DVD to the 500G C: drive to see if I get the same problem as I had before.
Everything goes fine. I install some of the programs I downloaded and I was
prompted for a restart. When I restarted the computer it took a solid 4
minutes to get past the solid black screen that comes up before the Windows
XP loading screen. Once I finally got to my desktop, everything SEEMED fine.
So, I restarted again, and I had the same problem. I tried several times,
and it was always the same.

So, since I had just recently started using PowerMenu I thought maybe that
was some sort of Mal-ware and I decided to just reformat the whole thing
again (did NOT use quick format). Windows installed fine, I started
installing my drivers, and when i was prompted for a restart I did. Same
problem, on a fresh format and install. No programs installed whatsover,
other than my Nvidia driver. So, here I am. I need some help. I have no
idea what's going on. Is it a bad hard drive, with bad sectors? That's the
only thing I can think of. It's not unheard of for a new drive to arrive
bad.

If anyone can provide any advice or information it would be greatly
appreciated.

*Note: During this process I went into MSCONFIG and made sure that it was
in Normal Startup Mode. Everything seemed fine. There were no unusualy (at
least not that I know of) programs that were set to load on startup since I
hadn't really installed anything.*

Does the BIOS properly recognize the size of the hard drive?

JS

"LouDog0102" <LouDog0102.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9773D643-CD43-4072-A499-D852A7784FCC@microsoft.com...
>I am going to try and be as detailed as I possibly can, given the
>limitations
> of my computer knowledge....
>
> I recently rebuilt a computer that I had originally bought from Alienware.
> It was purchased at some time during 2002. When I rebuilt this computer I
> purchased a new graphics card (VGA ASUS N7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M R), and a
> new
> hard drive (WD 7K 8M ATA100 WD5000JBRTL). It's a 500G drive. My old hard
> drive was 80G. It might be important to note that the old hard drive was
> broken. This installation was done on the fresh hard drive, with the old
> 80G
> drive and the old video card removed.
>
> Anyway, when I first replaced everything I ran into the 137G barrier.
> Since
> my Windows Restore CD was pre-SP1, the windows installation process didn't
> recognize the full 500G. I installed Win XP onto that 137 partition and
> once
> it was done I installed all updates, bringing me up to SP3. When I got
> all
> of that done, I formated the remaining 300+G. This process made it into a
> second partition. This was not by choice, but my only option. I didn't
> want
> to have 2 separate partitions, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of
> trying to fix and all was right with the world.
>
> About 2 weeks later I decided I wanted to back up some of my DVDs onto my
> hard drive. I downloaded a ripper, and when I went to rip I decided I
> would
> put everything onto my larger, unused partition. When i started the rip,
> my
> computer would freeze momentarily and then unfreeze. This would happen
> about
> every 3 seconds or so. I decided to try and run the rip onto the smaller
> C:
> drive that I originally created when I installed XP. Everything worked
> fine.
> No stuttering/freezing at all. When this happened I decided I was going
> to
> reformat the entire drive as one big drive, using a "slip stream" disk.
> Basically, what you do is copy your entire (hidden folder.files and all)
> installation CD to a folder, download windows XP SP2 and add it to that
> new
> folder. You then burn the original image from the original CD onto a new
> disk with the new files (SP2). *Note: This is in no way a workaround to
> get
> a free operating system. You still need you product key, which, of course,
> I
> do.* The process I used it explain on this site:
> http://www.tech-forums.net/showthread.php?threadid=79821.
>
> I tested the disc first and it worked fine. So, I reformatted the whole
> thing. When I ran through the installation process I deleted all of the
> old
> partitions and installed onto a new one. Also, this time Windows
> recognized
> the entire drive, due to SP2 being installed. I formatted the entire
> drive
> (I did NOT use quick format). Windows installed beautifully. I ran
> through
> all of the updates and everything seemed to be fine. I installed my
> drivers
> with only one problem. The Asus Video Card install gave me the "This
> software has not been verified as being compatible with WinXP. Do you want
> to
> continue?" I clicked yes. *Note: it gave me this same message the first
> time
> I installed XP, when I had two different partitions. So I don't think this
> has anything to do with it, but I will include it to be as detailed as
> possible.*
>
> So, I start downloading my usual software: AVG, Adaware, AIM, PowerMenu,
> Firefox (sorry microsoft, I still love you). I start installing this
> stuff
> and everything goes fine. I restart several times. I then decided to rip
> a
> DVD to the 500G C: drive to see if I get the same problem as I had before.
> Everything goes fine. I install some of the programs I downloaded and I
> was
> prompted for a restart. When I restarted the computer it took a solid 4
> minutes to get past the solid black screen that comes up before the
> Windows
> XP loading screen. Once I finally got to my desktop, everything SEEMED
> fine.
> So, I restarted again, and I had the same problem. I tried several times,
> and it was always the same.
>
> So, since I had just recently started using PowerMenu I thought maybe that
> was some sort of Mal-ware and I decided to just reformat the whole thing
> again (did NOT use quick format). Windows installed fine, I started
> installing my drivers, and when i was prompted for a restart I did. Same
> problem, on a fresh format and install. No programs installed whatsover,
> other than my Nvidia driver. So, here I am. I need some help. I have no
> idea what's going on. Is it a bad hard drive, with bad sectors? That's
> the
> only thing I can think of. It's not unheard of for a new drive to arrive
> bad.
>
> If anyone can provide any advice or information it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> *Note: During this process I went into MSCONFIG and made sure that it was
> in Normal Startup Mode. Everything seemed fine. There were no unusualy
> (at
> least not that I know of) programs that were set to load on startup since
> I
> hadn't really installed anything.*