Broken bootloader

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I can't seem to figure out what is wrong here. Yesterday, the new HDD for my brother's computer arrived. Today, I went to install XP from the recovery disks. Installed fine. It automatically installed some drivers and restarted. Then it installed some more drivers and restarted. However, on the second restart, after the Acer screen, it can't seem to boot windows. The "_" just flashes on the screen. After trying to boot 3 times, I figured I'd use a different XP disk and I wouldn't install from the recovery disks. I did that, but then I couldn't get the internet driver working so I decided to reinstall using the recovery disks. Now the same problem that I had at the beggining occured. Also, when I try to reinstall using the recovery disks on top of the recovery disc it gives me an error saying "different partitions". When I installed using a regular XP disc, the partition showed up as EISA.

Anybody got any ideas on what I can do? I have no idea how to fix this. Should I look for my drivers online so I can install after I get Windows going with the XP disc.
 
You should be able to from the manufacturer's website. Just worry about the ethernet drivers first. Then you can just start downloading everything you need from online. Did you get the install problem fixed? Did you try deleting all previous partitions and creating a new one?
 
Hahhah yeah thanks. I typed it in a hurry.

Here's how I fixed if you're interested:

1) Long reformat NTFS
2) Fresh XP Install (not recovery disks)
3) Send needed drivers and Empowering Technology to flash drive

It was pretty simple :D. Tricky part was finding all the Empowering Technology software for the laptop. I also couldn't find drivers for the FN keys.

Now what I want to know is why the boot loader is broken on the recovery disks. It installs XP just fine. Also installs the first 14 drivers just fine (Includes Empowering Technology, LAN, Wi-Fi, Video, Audio, Touchpad). The problem comes in when it installs some other 7 drivers/software. When it goes to restart for the changes to be applied the bootloader dies and the partition becomes EISA.
 
Hahhah yeah thanks. I typed it in a hurry.

Here's how I fixed if you're interested:

1) Long reformat NTFS
2) Fresh XP Install (not recovery disks)
3) Send needed drivers and Empowering Technology to flash drive

It was pretty simple :D. Tricky part was finding all the Empowering Technology software for the laptop. I also couldn't find drivers for the FN keys.

Now what I want to know is why the boot loader is broken on the recovery disks. It installs XP just fine. Also installs the first 14 drivers just fine (Includes Empowering Technology, LAN, Wi-Fi, Video, Audio, Touchpad). The problem comes in when it installs some other 7 drivers/software. When it goes to restart for the changes to be applied the bootloader dies and the partition becomes EISA.

I wonder who gave you that same idea before? He must be a very smart man.:rolleyes:
 
He was a genius. Anyways....any ideas on why something would corrupt the bootloader? Those disks worked perfectly last time I had to reformat.
 
Maybe you installed XP on a different location than what was in the boot.ini. XP may have messed up installing some drivers to the wrong location. Or, the partition path in the boot.ini was setup incorrectly.
 
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