Problem:
After adding an additional drive to the system, Windows 2000/XP may fail to completely load. The system may end up in a loop in which it restarts repeatedly.
Cause:
Windows has a setting that dictates what happens when a system failure state occurs. This may be causing the restarts.
Resolution:
To check for this, do the following:
- Shut down the system and remove the recently added drive. At this point, Windows should boot up normally.
- Once the desktop appears, right-click on My Computer and click Properties.
- Click the Advanced tab at the top of the resulting window.
- Click Startup and Recovery at the bottom of the next window. Look for the Automatically reboot option and uncheck it.
- Click OK twice to close the remaining windows.
- At this point, shut the system down and reconnect the drive. You should now be able to start the system and boot up completely into Windows.
- If necessary, proceed as normal to configure the drive using Disk Management.