You have all been very helpful however your suggestion didn't work either Jeremy, I think Marc maybe right the disk has cracked it.
Well I have a new HHD that i tried to clone could i just format this drive and load a new Win 8.1 maybe, and if so any suggestions please.
If your BIOS can see "C" drive that usually means its OK but if it cannot boot from it as in your message then something is wrong with MBR=MasterBootRecord. Which can be easily fixed since you have installation CD/DVD.
As others suggested, you have to set up in your BIOS to start from CD/DVD and then follow the prompts.
Step by step instruction with pics here, scroll down to Win8,1:
and choose Method 2: Perform a Startup Repair using installation media
Seeing as your original disk was working fine, that is all you should need to do. If your computer does not boot from the disk after setting the boot order in the BIOS, then there is usually a button you can press when the computer starts up that takes you directly to the boot order menu instead of having to go into the BIOS.
Hi Guys, it seems a frustrating end to what i can do to get this HHD up and running .
I have exhausted all avenues and tried all your suggestions to the letter with no results.
When I was doing number 4 and 5 in this tutorial listed below the command prompt window showed that everything was healthy on the HHD please see below.
So I am at a loss of what to do now.
Hi Leon,
I've had problems like this after a clone rebuild.
I've got a few Acronis programs that let you boot to a CD and then search the disk to see what data is on it, and where the partitions are and if they are primary or not.
The OS has to be on a primary disk or at least the MBR.
I've had a problem fixed by just making the disk primary and it booted up.
Another problem can be the MBR and sometimes the pointers to the MBR.
When the disk is initiated the in the very first few bites are pointers to the MBR. If this gets corrupted then the disk keeps spinning and won't find the MBR.
It could also the MBR is copied from one disk to another but the partition tables are different.
It's trying to find C/windows which isn't at the right address.
I've manually written the partiton tables to look at the right place once when I got really stuck and it worked.
I normally use partition manager for this and Acronis programs for backup, repair and clone disks
Good luck.
Cheers
Andy.
Hi Leon,
It looks real daunting but normally this gets done automatically but sometimes the partiton is not correct and the MBR is missing or the pointers are wrong.
You should check if it's an active primary partiton first and you can download a free partition manager for this.
Then you might have to rewrite the Master Boot Record but this will only work if there is a windows directory on that primary, active disk.
Good luck.
Cheers
Andy
I have also found ,replacing and moving hard drives around as I seem to do, that on some older machines the cable selection and particular site on the board of connection is important. Some machines just don’t seem to work with a particular location and cable connections for a boot drive.
There may be something in the recovery partition and bios recovery systems which also overrides your manual selections.
I have had the surprise of two win os boot drives in the machine and the Hp system asking which drive I would like to boot to each time. That was a bonus.
But failing that, I agree with a Marc, yes , plug in the new drive and boot to the original installation media and start over . You will probably be able to see the data on the old drive as a slave once you have completed the new install and plugged it back in. I have lots of what are now slave drives in several computers.