On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 14:55:18 -0800, John Vercelli <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I am trying to remove an extra hard drive. The computer will not reboot when
>I disconnect that drive. Am using Windows XP Pro. The drive in questions is
>connected to a PCI slot SIIG ide card. Virtual memory is on the C: drive.
>Tried disabling both the drive and the ide card in hardware manager then
>rebooting but same problem. The drive was used to store data only, no
>programs. Before disconnecting, I copied the data to another drive and wiped
>the drive with Norton Utilities.
>
>
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Does the computer complete POST?  If so, when you get to the initialization screen, hit pause/break and see what bios is recognizing.
It's possible the O/S is on the drive you are trying to remove.
Boot with a Win 98 boot disk, at the A prompt type C: then at the C: prompt TypeDIR/P and see what comes up. Look and see if it shows a Windows Directory, if it doesn't, the O/S is not on C: which is where Bios looks for the O/S. Type D: Then DIR/P and see if there is an O/S here. If so, the letters assigned to the drives got screwed up along the way some how.
You might try plugging that drive into the MOBO and unplugging the other drive and try rebooting. If it comes up, you've found the problem.

Let us now what happens.

Good Luck
John

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