PC Problem ?!?! Please help...

[hyiu]

Hi All:

I have old computer parts around, and want to reload XP Pro so that it can be put to some use...

After loading everything (XP Pro and Office 2000) and some windows upgrade... (at this point, everything is working fine... I have windows XP pro up, can start MS word, surf web, and even updated windows with Service pack 2... and still reboots ok...)

Then I turn it off, unplug it, and bring it to another room (where its suppose to stay..) reconnect and turn it on...

it now shows a msg:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys

You can attempt to repair this file by starting winfows setup using the original setup cd-rom.
Select "r" at the first screen to start repair.

However, if I take out the HD, and put it in another computer, it runs windows without pblm !!!!

Any suggestions on what to try to find out what's wrong ??

Thanks,

[AtomSmasher]

First thought is to make sure you didn't knock something loose when you moved it.  Double check that all cards and cables haven't come loose.

Are you able to boot into safe mode?

[ImaTest]

Well... did you try the repair function like it suggests?  That usually works just fine.

pop in your CD and choose to repair your installation.  You could also browse the CD and manually copy over the bad file IIRC.

[hyiu]

I tried....

I first make sure nothing is loose... from any power cords... to IDE cables inside...  to cards properly plugged.... everything double checked....
same problem....

I also tried repairing as suggested... what it does is it'll boot from CD, copy the files over the windows directory, and it'll boot....

and then I shut it down... this time without doing anything.... went away for 15 min and come back.... (with all power off... my power station switched off...)

and now cold boot again... now its the same error... but with a different filename....

I'm going crazy.... 

Really want to use a hammer to bang this piece of *&^%*&^% to pieces...

[ImaTest]

If it keeps doing it, its a hardware issue most likely.  Pull all non-essential parts and try again.  Swap known working parts whenever possible

[ChadTower]

Could be an IDE cable issue.

I'd swap out the IDE cable and try again... and after that, try a low level format and manuf diagnostic on the hard drive.

[_) (V) (-)]

Did you say this drive booted up ok in another machine?

Is that the same machine you installed WinXP onto the drive from?

Win2K and later are very picky about the chipsets and video drivers. You can't just pop the drive into any other machine like 95/98 allowed.

[ChadTower]

You can but it takes a lot more work... you have to have your device drivers handy.  95/98 came with native support for a lot of third party devices.  MS stopped doing that in W2K and started shipping with a lot less drivers included.  So if you want to drop your drive into another machine it'll just load with some default half functional drivers or it will load with the devices disabled.  That's when you load in the drivers.