William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi!

I have an old Dell Optiplex GL-1 with XP Pro on it. In the middle of
doing something simple, I got an error notification that said something
like, Windows Hard Error. I clicked OK several times, and then it came
back, and I clicked it again several times. Then I got a longer error
message that said something like Windows cannot write to the resume
file. I powered the computer off, and then it wouldn't boot.

I had something like this happen recently with a self-built box running
Windows 2000. In fact, the error message was exactly the same. The only
difference I noticed was that the motherboard would not see the hard disk
after rebooting. If I let the system unit sit, it would run again for a
while.

I put the hard disk (a Western Digital 80GB drive) into another system...and
found nothing wrong with it. I then tried the cable in the other system with
the offending hard disk. Still nothing. So I put the hard disk on the
secondary IDE channel in the first system (the one that broke) and it worked
like nothing was wrong. Then that too broke down with the same error from
windows/failure to detect the hard disk at startup.

I began to suspect the motherboard until I grabbed another hard drive. To
date, that hard disk and system have been working fine. I erased the
offending hard disk and put it in another system. It is still working fine
as well.

Moral of the story? Try the hard disk that won't start in another machine.
Check the cabling too. I still don't know why the drive is rejected by the
first computer...it works fine everywhere else I've tried it--in a Firewire
enclosure, another self-built computer and a Power Mac G4...

I don't know if you can blame the CMOS battery yet. If the system is keeping
good time, it may be OK. Proper and accurate timekeeping seems to be the
first thing you lose when the battery gets weak. I would definitely be
interested in hearing if a new battery fixes this problem.

William

William,

Thanks for the good tip. I'll try the hard drive on the secondary IDE
controller and report back. I did put a new battery in, and now the
BIOS clock is running at warp speed, very fast. Still won't boot.