And so the saga continues.

The 40 gig returned an ok result after a thorough scan. Took the 20 gig out and tried an OS install on it. This time the OS won't even install. Did everything... took out all peripherals except the video card. Swapped out the CD drive with one that I know works. Damn thing starts installing then screws up. Dammit... I'm gonna flash the BIOS and then I am lost because it means its not a messed up drive its something worse.

 

Bloody hell.

Flashed the BIOS.

Started an install on XP and got a c000021a error. The secondary codes are 0xc00001e, 0x75eaaf04 and 0x004fe934. Can't find shit about that error. I am about to drop kick this computer to hell.

 

do a low level reformat, then a regular format, then install

 

This is why computer techs hate gateways.

 

have you tried a new riboncable on the HD, sounds like it may be damaged a little or something which could account for the eratic boots?

i had that happen once in the past, and i only realized it AFTER buying a new hard drive

 

Well after 3 days I got ME to load stably. Yes thats an oxymoron in itself but hey its progress. I did a LLF and a HLF a few times to no avail. Ribbon cable... didn't check that.

 

at least it would be a prety cheap fix if it turns out to be that, otherwise it's always nice to have a spare cable

 

I used up my spare cables... I have this habit of being very impatient. So I ended up ripping 2 cables the other day when I was working on my secondary pc. :doh:

But I like your idea, I'll dump one in there just in case.