# New hard drive, system won't boot **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405 "2008-03-23T02:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/1 "2008-03-23T02:37:09Z")
So my laptop’s hard drive finally died on me, but I fortunately had a back up (used driveimage XML) stored on an external. I bought a new hard drive (bigger and different model from the old one), restored the image, popped the new hard drive into my laptop, booted it up and… nothing. Instead it says: “Computer disk hardware configuration problem” Huh? I did some googling and it looks like it might be a problem with the boot.ini file which I gather is no longer correct since there’s a different hard drive. I don’t have an original XP disc since my computer is old and it didn’t come with one anyway, but I managed to “procure” one so I could try using the recovery console. Then I hit the snag with the administrator password. I have no idea what it is. Any ideas on how to fix my computer? ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/2 "2008-03-23T03:49:55Z")
Did you try keeping the password field blank? Also make sure the new hard drive is recognized by the BIOS ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/3 "2008-03-23T05:10:43Z")
I tried just hitting enter and it wouldn’t work. I’ve installed windows xp on it, so it seems to work fine, just not with my old hard drive image on it. I just restored it back to the original drive image. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/4 "2008-03-23T05:59:57Z")
The [FAQ](http://www.runtime.org/driveimage_faq.htm) for that program says that you must restore the drive image to an existing partition, and it has to be to a partition that’s at least as big as the original. Also, read the bit about what to do if your boot partition doesn’t boot. (Summary: make sure the boot partition is DISK0/the master drive, it’s the first partition on the drive, it’s primary and it’s active.) If none of this makes any sense, you really might want to buy a commercial disk imaging program like Norton Ghost. You may find it much easier to use. (And BTW, the DriveImage FAQ says that you can’t browse an image file, which is something I think you asked about earlier.) ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/5 "2008-03-23T22:44:11Z")
It’s the master drive, only one partition, it’s primary and active, it just won’t boot up. i can browse the files on the hard drive now since I have it connected up in a hard drive enclosure. It definitely is all there, it’s just not configured right for the computer I think. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-hard-drive-system-wont-boot/442405/6 "2008-03-23T23:44:09Z")
AHA! I FIXED IT! HAHAHAHAHAHAH Ahem. Excuse me. I’m a little excited, that’s all. I was right about the boot.ini. For some reason it had my OS as being on partition 2, so I was able to change it manually, and now it loads up like a dream.