PC restarting

aimo3

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I installed Win XP on an NEC desktop machine and then cloned its HDD to another. After that, I connect each HDD separately to the machine and both were bootable with identical OSs and installations.

Couple of days back, when I turned on the machine, it kept restarting after showing the NEC logo/screen. The HDD is still detectable in the BIOS. I connected the second HDD, and it's fine. I shut down the machine, connected the fist one with it and booted from the second. I still can boot from the second HDD, and in Windows I can navigate the first HDD. I scanned it with chkdsk /f, and no error was reported.

I have done the whole exercise a couple time since then and got the same findings.

What could be the issue?
 
How does MBR make for restarting?
If it can't boot to anything but it knows that something is there (i.e. - it's corrupt or missing files), the computer, instead of telling you there's no bootable device, will constantly restart in a booting loop.

Normally, unless you did something tricky when you install windows, it will create a 100MB "system reserved" partition in addition to installing Windows.
SystemReservedPartition.jpg

This is where the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) resides, so if it becomes corrupt, windows will not boot properly and possibly initiate an unending booting loop.

If you can access a command prompt with the bad drive, you can try repair it with the following commands:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd *- I would say this one is optional
 
Thank you for explaining the boot loop.

I installed Win XP from the original Windows installation CD as I always did, and with this method the setup program does not create a separate partition for BCD. So what I understand is that MBR must be C:\ and sense I cannot boot with the bad disc, can I still repair it from the other disc where this C:\ will be called D:\?
 
so i bought a pc from a friend dirt cheap but the catch was i had to fix the problem. It restarted for no reason quite often when downloading or installing at first got that to work now but it downloads or installs longer then it does it again and when i start up up a game. i got ripped off at staples spent $160 for an antivirus and they gave me theories but no for sure answer. kinda wanna get this working this pc is 8gb ram and 3.6ghz quad core and my other pc is only 2.4ghz dual core 4gb ram. any suggestions? the tech guys at staples were useless it apparently passed all thier tests they were able to do everything with it but when i take it home the problem arisses again. what should i try?
 
Ive tried leaving it open with a house fan there in case it overheats and tried to change windows setting i wont touch the bios cause i dont understand that is it a hardware issue or just an easy software fix?
 
oh yeah and i dont know if its power supply its only 500w but dont wanna buy something like that and the issue still isnt fixed
 
Thank you for explaining the boot loop.

I installed Win XP from the original Windows installation CD as I always did, and with this method the setup program does not create a separate partition for BCD. So what I understand is that MBR must be C:\ and sense I cannot boot with the bad disc, can I still repair it from the other disc where this C:\ will be called D:\?
Oh, I read over the Windows XP part. Windows XP and vista do not create a separate partition for the MBR, only Win7 does.
Kind of the same procedure I mentioned above, except the commands are bit different. Here's the article: How To Repair or Replace Boot.ini in Windows XP

@edman88 - I would suggest starting your own thread with your problem, so I or someone else can hear about your problem individually. Your issue is most likely caused by something different than what we're talking about in this thread.
 
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