Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
chair wheels go). I then let it "fall" while still holding it, twice on each long edge, then once flat
on top and bottom. You want firm, but not too hard raps on the plastic. I find that the carpet
underneath seems to cushion the blow just enough. This appears to work on drives with stuck
read-write heads most of the time. If the center bearing is locked up, nothing short of a
miracle will bring it back. In any case, have a second drive ready to receive your files when
you attempt to restart.
From: Tony
A. Dead system—System "A"
B. Known working system—System "B"
C. I am assuming that the system board is posting and responding in the correct manner. And
that no Jumpers have been moved on any of the equipment.
Step 1. Verify power to Hard Drive (HD), Multi-tester (VDC), or another system plug. If power
(See step #2) If no power, swap/replace plugs/power supply.
Step 2. Swap hard drive from A to B and boot. If boot, then HD is good. (See step #3) If No-
boot, then replace HD.
Step 3. REMOVE...DISABLE if onboard.... all un-needed devices from System A...modem,
sound card...etc.
NOTE: Label HD ribbon cables A and B before removal from systems. "A" for System "A" and
"B" for System "B")
Step 4. Remove from system A and B the HD, and ribbon cable that connects it to the
motherboard...(MB)
Step 5. Swap drive and cables from B to A and connect to MB. If boot then controller on MB
"A" is good (See step #6.) If No-boot then MB controller is bad.... replace MB.
Step 6. Return HD's and cables to original systems, Remove HD ribbon cables from both
systems, swap B for A and boot...If boot then ribbon cable on A is bad...replace. If No-boot
then... Balance your check book, and get out the sale pages...you've got bigger problems!!
From: Eddie N.
The two techniques that I have used to get a failed hard drive to come back to life is to Sys the
drive from a boot disk and/or to use the fdisk/mbr command form a boot disk. I have used
these together and independent of each other.
From: Paul W.
Dead disk drives?
There's a bunch of steps I would take if the drive weren't being recognized by either the auto
setup or manual entry.
1) Check your Master/Slave/Standalone jumper settings and make sure they are correct and
don't conflict with another device on the same IDE channel.
2) Check for bent pins on the connectors.
3) Try a known good cable—Floppy and IDE cables often seem to go down the gurgler at the
worst possible time for some unknown reason.
4) Try a known good drive on your IDE channel and check the channel. If it doesn't respond:
• Try another IDE port (if there's two)
• Disable onboard IDE and try another I/O card (one that's known to be good of course)
5) Try the disk in another PC.
