Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
later 486s and early Pentiums, even though they can read the drive information into the BIOS,
they still cannot properly translate the CHS information. This can lead you to believe that the
computer can use the full capacity of the drive, while in fact, it cannot. Try re-installing a
translation driver using original software, if the drive came with it. This should not require any
formatting of the drive or loss of information.
6. Run FDISK and view the partition information. If FDISK cannot access the drive, then the
hardware is still messed up, and you need to back up a couple of steps until that is corrected.
7. Try switching the drive into a new machine you KNOW will support its capacity natively.
8. If none of these steps works, and you are certain the drives hardware is functional, then get
a data recovery software such as
R Studio
or as a last resort, try fdisk/mbr.
From: John Bragdon
I have tried only a couple of steps on my own:
1. If you are a "computer person" you would have brought a bootable floppy with you. Boot off
the floppy and hopefully you can read the c: drive then.
2. Opening up the box and slapping the hard drive can revive the hard drive if the servomotor
is "frozen."
3. I have turned the data cable around and powered on, and after about two seconds, turned
the box off and then put the cable on correctly. Powered on the box and the system found the
hard drive.
4. I have used the utility
Speed Stor
in the passed to tell the CMOS about the hard drive if the
CMOS could not be read from the system. Of course you have to know the head and sector
size.
From: Lou Schweichler
This procedure assumes you do not hear any "grinding noises" or other evidence of a physical
damage, i.e. worn-out bearings, dragging read heads, etc. If you do, then the HDD is "toast"
and you might as well offer your customer your condolences as the HDD has just headed to
the big computer in the sky and it's cheaper these days to replace the HDD then to repair it.
First, Check the CMOS settings and verify they agree with those preprinted on the HDrive's
Label, If not preprinted on the label, either use a program like EZ-Drive to obtain the correct
values or remove the hard drive and connect it to a known newer motherboard and use that
board's CMOS setup utility to detect the proper values. Try rebooting to the C:\ prompt on the
new board. If successful, reinstall the hard drive to the original board. Then ensure the CMOS
settings on the original board agree. Adjust as necessary. Try rebooting. If the your lucky your
finished. If not try the second step. Second, if the first step didn't solve the problem, then the
FAT Table may be corrupted. Use a utility like EZ-
Drive
, which usually can be downloaded from
any of the Major HDrive OEM's Web site, to switch to a backup version of the FAT (file
allocation table). Usually there is a backup of the FAT on the HDD, but switching to it requires
the use of a HDD utility like EZ-Drive. Follow the instructions for the Advance Options to switch
FATs, then reboot. If reboot to the C:\ prompt is successful, AND you can access your data
files, Run SCANDISK from the DOS prompt to verify the integrity of the FAT. Then do a cursory
search of the HDD for any documents you may have recently created. If you can get a good
DIR listing of them, you're done—smoke' em if you got em!. If not, then try third step. Third,
