Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
If yes and the drive still does not boot, I would use fdisk/mbr in case the Master boot record
was destroyed.
If no then I would go to step 2.
2. Open the box and check all power and data cables. I have seen Molex type power
connectors lose a connection intermittently I have also seen one case where the data cable
came loose when the computer was moved.
If cables were the problem, then you should be okay now. If you still have a problem go to
step 3.
3. Remove the drive and plug it into another computer and see if the other computer can
detect the drive. If yes then the problem is a cable, motherboard, etc. on the computer and
needs to be replaced. If the thing still is not working, then it is most likely a defective drive
and you will need to decide how badly you need the data on the drive. If you need the data
then I would send the drive to a data recovery lab that can extract the data from a dead drive
and save the data to a tape, CD, HD etc. This can be expensive but may be worth it.
From: ppotts
Boot the PC from a DOS Boot Disk. Make sure that the boot disk has the following files on it:
FDISK.EXE
SYS.COM
1. Boot the computer and see if you can see the drive. If you can, then COMMAND.COM may
be damaged or missing or the boot files may be corrupt. Run SYS C: to make the hard drive
again bootable.
2. If you still can't see the hard drive then, run the following command, FDISK /MBR. The
FDISK utility updates the master boot record only if one does not exist. Even repartitioning a
hard drive with FDISK does not necessarily rewrite this information. However, this switch
allows you to write the master boot record to the hard drive without damaging the existing
partition table information. You should not use this command if you are using special partition
software (not partitioned with FDISK), if you have a dual-boot disk (such as NT and Windows
95/98) or if you have more than 4 partitions on your drive.
From:Gary Moon
You have to troubleshoot from the hardware up:
1. Swap the IDE cable to eliminate that as a cause. Also, check any jumper settings, and
remove any other drives from that cable.
2. Set the drive type back to Auto. If drive ID isn't taking place, then you can't communicate
with the drive anyway.
3. If you can't hear the platters spin up or the heads doing their "positioning dance,” and it's a
few years old, it might have a "sticktion" problem caused by the lubricant on the platters
sticking to the heads. With the PC off, give the hard drive a couple of sharp taps on the side
with the handle of a screwdriver! Then power it up again.
4. If all the hardware seems to be functional, you'll have to see if you can get at the data.
5. Depending on the manufacturer and model, the drive might require a special boot-time
driver to access the full capacity of the drive. Two examples are
Ontrack
Disk Manager, or
Maxtor's
EZDrive
. This driver usually resides in the root directory of the system drive or the
MBR, and if it is lost, the system won't be able to correctly see the drive partitions. On some
