Hard Drive issue - HELP!!!

[Sailavie]

I have an older custom built pc (5+ yo) and one of my removable hard drives is not booting.

Here's what happens... I start the pc normally, the bios screen comes up and all drives are recognized (including the bad one) as normal and I get system "beep". Then the Windows XP splash screen comes up with the blue progress bar running. While this happens, the LED's on pc are flashing from one drive to the next, etc (this normally happens). Finally, it gets to the blue XP welcome screen where the words "computer is starting" (or something similar). This is where is stays. It never goes beyond this screen. Sometimes it does not get past the Windows splash screen and all I get is a black screen.

When I turn the drive OFF with the drive key and repeat the start-up everything is fine.

Any ideas as to what is happening and MORE IMORTANTLY any ideas as to how I can get this drive to boot at least 1 more time to get data off of it?

All help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Pat

[The Wise Monkey]

Moved to correct forum. :)

In answer to your question, can you just turn the HD on after XP has loaded?

[Sailavie]

Thanks Wise! Wasn't really sure where to place the post.

Although I can turn the drive ON after OS loads, the drive is not recognized and nothing happens. There are 2 LED's on the drive. One is green for power and the other yellow for activity. The green is lit.

[shyster]

I do not know exactly what the problem is with your drive, but I would power it down for at least a day remove all connections and everything.

Then try reconnecting it and seeing if the downtime has fixed it temporarily. If that does not work you could always try freezing it, that apparently does work as a temporary fix, in some certain situations.

[Sailavie]

Shyster, I actually had the drive removed for several weeks. I just re-inserted it today to see if it would magically come back online, but it didn't. It all seems very strange to me. I understand a dead drive, but one that registers, seems to spin and appears to be accessed by the OS at start-up then jams further progress is odd. My system has 3 HDs. 1 internal and 2 removables. The removables are identical WD 120s. This is actually the pc I plan on replacing with a self built one, but I'd like to stretch it out as long as possible!

[The Wise Monkey]

What happens if you boot with just the "bad" drive attached? That is, remove all the other removable drives.

[Sailavie]

Same thing as when I have them both in. Actually, that's how I diagnosed the issue in the first place. I removed both, then tried one, then tried the other. One works, the other freezes the OS at start up. I even tried it in both slots in case one of the bays itself was acting up. Same results.

[The Wise Monkey]

Ok, try booting into XP with the drive connected but turned off, turn the drive on and go to the Add New Hardware wizard in the Control Panel. This will scan for any recently added hardware - might pick up on the drive that way.