Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
• If I fix the cmos settings, then the system boots okay but not after being turned off...suspect
cmos battery...drive is probably okay-good idea to backup important stuff at this point
anyway!
• If I cant get to c: drive, I'd probably run fdisk and look at the drive information to see if it
thinks that the drive had partitions defined, how many, what size etc. I've seen the fdisk table
scrambled mess because of a virus... I have fixed this problem a couple of times... OS2 fdisk
utility can help here sometimes... (more of a last resort) best to get important data (if I get it
running) and then start over with fdisk/format/reinstall....
• I think I would isolate it on the bus and set the cmos and jumper settings accordingly just in
case the other device is disrupting everything
• At some point I would probably replace the drive with a drive known to work normally, and
run it to eliminate other system, problems cable problems, etc.
• If another drive works but not this one, and I still cant access the drive at all....punt.
• If critical, consider sending to a data recovery specialist. If drive is detected but won't boot:
• Start the system and watch to see how far it gets. If possible boot to c:\ prompt.. if not, boot
from floppy.
• If I can access the stuff on the drive, I'd back up. If drive is accessible but won't boot, I'd
check the version of OS then sys the c: drive with an appropriate boot disk. If this doesn't
work, maybe fdisk /mbr will help.
• If the OS dies while loading drivers etc.. look there...
Hope I haven't forgotten anything obvious... each one is different and I usually win! I have a
couple of dead drives in a box... I'd love to hear some new tricks to try on them!
From: MICHAEL W. BROWN
Order a new identical drive and swap the controllers.
From: hotmail
Unfortunate the box does matter!
1) Open the box and check for HD's model; go to manufacturer's Web page; find out the
details (Heads, Cylinders, sectors per track) and use those at setup, configuring manually the
HD's params; download specific software (
EZdrive
, etc.) for the HD's model.
2) Check for OS the user is running.
3) If OS is MS-based (excluding NT), then get a boot disk under Win95b/98; start the machine
and use the program you've downloaded or if the HD is old, try to use NDD (only if OS is
MSDOS or Win95 do not try to use it if there is a possibility to have VFAT32 installed).
4) Usually most of us do carry with them some startup diskettes with an antivirus, so USE IT
FOR BOOT (I myself use an emergency Boot Disk made with the help of
McAfee AntiVirus
since
it's very usual to run up to a virus).
5) If all the above are pretty hard to do, then try to install the new HD, and OS; connect the
old HD as a secondary master (or primary slave if that's easier) and start the computer booting
from new HD and try to access the old one.
6) If the old one is inaccessible then be sure that the drive was installed through BIOS without
using any overlay driver to expand BIOS's addressable HD capacity; If there was, try to get
