Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

hey guys, hoping someone can help me out, having a problem with my machine.

i have a desktop running vista 64, and a laptop running xp sp3.

my sister dropped the laptop and on startup the laptop said "no operating system".

i presumed the hard drive was broke so i replaced it with a new 320gb one and tried to reinstall xp. the install errored during the xp installation and got a blue stop message. on restart xp booted and seemed to be ok for a few hours. then i got another stop message so presumed the installation was corrupted and decided to format abd re install. the hard drive wouldnt format so i took it out and put it into my 2.5 portable sata case and formatted it with my desktop. when i put it back in the laptop i couldnt install xp. the drive wasnt being read, so i decided to put it back into my portable case and formatted it again using my vista desktop.

i booted the desktop with my xp disk and when asked which drive to install xp on, chose my portable hard drive. the installation was about 35% when i went downstairs. when i got back up the vista dekstop was desplaying the following message:

Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.

Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.

since then i cant get the vista machine to boot up, it constantly shows the above message. i put my vista disk in and cant get it to boot from disc. the boot priority shows a cd drive which i dont think is mine or something! and i dont ever get an option to boot from cd.

sorry for the long post but hopefully someone can please help, dont want to lose all my files from another computer!

cheers,

Rob

Re: Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem

Looks to me like the first priority is to save your files. Try this procedure ( Computer First Aid Using Knoppix ) - but you have to set the BIOS boot sequence to boot from CD once you have burnt the Knoppix CD.

Re: Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem

ill give that a go later, copy all my files to a portable hdd.

but i was having difficulty yesterday booting from the vista cd, even when i had set the bios boot sequence to boot from the atapi cd first.

although atapi is not the make of my cd at all

i will update later. cheers for the quick response

Re: Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem

its a problem with your hard disk.. put the windows cd to make it start to boot from cd then switch it to hard disk.. thats one option or just backup your data and check your hdd.. it may be faulty.. u can also runa hard ware test