gward28
asked on
Hard Drive prob
This is whats up.
twice in the last to weeks the secondary master HD on my kids computer has gone down .while the kids were playing there
kids programs there has been an error message and before I could see it they hit ok .after this win95B will not access
this hard drive .(but it will access the cd-rom on the same
HD controller)After shutdown and restarting the bios was
still set to see this drive(standard cmos setup)But when I
try to autodetect it the bios does not see it.After exiting the cmos with the HD still setup in the bios it does not see
it still (secondary master Hard drive fail)so I unplug it
open it up to check the conections they where fine (both times ,and after the first I replaced the ribbin)Now this is the weird part on restarting the computer it's fine the
bios sees the drive No errors,No conflicts and win95b reads
it fine .upon scandisk nothing No errors.like this Never
happened .But it did twice and when I say the cmos did not see HD I mean it did not see the HD .
seagate 2.5 gig part D,E ,win95b ,award bios,amd k-6 200mhz
Now Any Ideas on what this is are most welcome please.:~)
twice in the last to weeks the secondary master HD on my kids computer has gone down .while the kids were playing there
kids programs there has been an error message and before I could see it they hit ok .after this win95B will not access
this hard drive .(but it will access the cd-rom on the same
HD controller)After shutdown and restarting the bios was
still set to see this drive(standard cmos setup)But when I
try to autodetect it the bios does not see it.After exiting the cmos with the HD still setup in the bios it does not see
it still (secondary master Hard drive fail)so I unplug it
open it up to check the conections they where fine (both times ,and after the first I replaced the ribbin)Now this is the weird part on restarting the computer it's fine the
bios sees the drive No errors,No conflicts and win95b reads
it fine .upon scandisk nothing No errors.like this Never
happened .But it did twice and when I say the cmos did not see HD I mean it did not see the HD .
seagate 2.5 gig part D,E ,win95b ,award bios,amd k-6 200mhz
Now Any Ideas on what this is are most welcome please.:~)
wayneb
All clues point to a faultly harddrive, I would try another drive if possible and see if this works. It is going to be hard to without trying another drive. The bios should auto detect this harddrive all the time and if it don't then you have a problem with the harddrive. I would start there.
ASKER
wayneb I have swapped this hd in several computers now and cannot
get it to repeat the problem nor can I get it to do so on the computer this happened on in the first place.and I have tried
other HD's the bios reads them fine .
get it to repeat the problem nor can I get it to do so on the computer this happened on in the first place.and I have tried
other HD's the bios reads them fine .
I would say
YOU SAID IT YOURSELF.
REPLACE THE FLAT CABLE !!.
and also, check for CORRECT jumperring.
I dont remember the jumps for SG, but make sure it is NOT stand alone.
If still make trobles, MOVE the CD-rom to be Prime SLAVE and jumper you SG HDD as a STAND ALONE sec master. only make sure than it is not jumperred as MASTER.
ELC.
YOU SAID IT YOURSELF.
REPLACE THE FLAT CABLE !!.
and also, check for CORRECT jumperring.
I dont remember the jumps for SG, but make sure it is NOT stand alone.
If still make trobles, MOVE the CD-rom to be Prime SLAVE and jumper you SG HDD as a STAND ALONE sec master. only make sure than it is not jumperred as MASTER.
ELC.
ASKER
as I said I replaced it Once allready the jumper settings are right were there supposed to be.I am not new to this so please do not treat me like I am.But thank you for the input:~)
ASKER
and one more thing remember why change the drives they worked fine before and right now .
I had a co-worker state" sounds like the power supply is going out".could this be it ?would the power
supply stop sending power to this unit ? it tested fine .
is this one of the tell tell signs of power supply failure.
:~)
I had a co-worker state" sounds like the power supply is going out".could this be it ?would the power
supply stop sending power to this unit ? it tested fine .
is this one of the tell tell signs of power supply failure.
:~)
Maybe,
But did you chack the POWER conn. (4 wires, Ye,Bl,Bl,Rd)
Some times the round pins go too wide and dont touch where they should.
ESPECIALY if it is the CPU fan extention.
you know, [x]====[]==[]
fan out in
try another power conn if you have spare one. if not, very gently, use long nose pliers to re size the power conn.
ELC.
But did you chack the POWER conn. (4 wires, Ye,Bl,Bl,Rd)
Some times the round pins go too wide and dont touch where they should.
ESPECIALY if it is the CPU fan extention.
you know, [x]====[]==[]
fan out in
try another power conn if you have spare one. if not, very gently, use long nose pliers to re size the power conn.
ELC.
ASKER
elc_music yes I thought of that and switch to an alternet power
lead the first time this happened.(maybe I should of listed that above) :~)
lead the first time this happened.(maybe I should of listed that above) :~)
IF your board is a PnP (=Plug n Pray)
Check in the Bios, that the Sec Slave (CD-Rom yes ?)
is set to NONE.
in boot it should prompt "CD-ROM xxxxxxx Found."
Check in the Bios, that the Sec Slave (CD-Rom yes ?)
is set to NONE.
in boot it should prompt "CD-ROM xxxxxxx Found."
ASKER
yes the bios is PnP (I like that plug n pray) :~)
and is setup PM 2.5gig PS none SM 2.5gig SS none .
and as I said before it read the SS cd-rom when it wouldn't read
the SM .at the momment both are working but for how long twice in two weeks it's bound to happen again.please list your answers
as comments so I can get as much info on this as possable .IF no
hits the nail on the head so to speak I will award the points
to the person that was most helpfull.:~)
and is setup PM 2.5gig PS none SM 2.5gig SS none .
and as I said before it read the SS cd-rom when it wouldn't read
the SM .at the momment both are working but for how long twice in two weeks it's bound to happen again.please list your answers
as comments so I can get as much info on this as possable .IF no
hits the nail on the head so to speak I will award the points
to the person that was most helpfull.:~)
well,
I have haerd and experianced too, that WD is going bad.
the 3.2 and 4.3 HDDs happend to FAIL.
I dont know why, but I have replace 2 drives (NEW) in 3 months and talked to a deler who replaced 15.
so it could be the drive too.
ELC.
I have haerd and experianced too, that WD is going bad.
the 3.2 and 4.3 HDDs happend to FAIL.
I dont know why, but I have replace 2 drives (NEW) in 3 months and talked to a deler who replaced 15.
so it could be the drive too.
ELC.
ASKER
When your WD went down . what happened ? are you saying that your
problems where simulair? :~)
problems where simulair? :~)
ASKER
Most drives that went bad for me stopped working all together
or there bad sectors kept pileing up. and a low (mid)level
format only prolong it a little.:~)
or there bad sectors kept pileing up. and a low (mid)level
format only prolong it a little.:~)
Hard drives have electronics and controllers on board that can cause many problems, including the problem you are having. Your drive is most likely under warranty and will be replaced by seagate if you contact them and request an rma #. You can check to see if your drive is under warranty by going to the url below.
http://customer.seagate.com/warranty/Cwvw
Good Luck
http://customer.seagate.com/warranty/Cwvw
Good Luck
ASKER
wayneb thank you for the warranty info I bought this about 31/2
years ago for $390.00 I thought the warrenty was up but it's good to 2000 I wouldn't of known this with out your help thank
you.
years ago for $390.00 I thought the warrenty was up but it's good to 2000 I wouldn't of known this with out your help thank
you.
What does it do? What error is it giving you, and does it take you to the A prompt, C prompt???? Every strange problem. If it was a power problem it would lock up on you when it did let you in. Is it possible you kids deleted one of the system files? Just curious!
Jake
Jake
ASKER
no it stays in windows but won't read the secondary master as stated above there was an error message but I didn't get to see it, wish I had.no all the system files are intacked.:~)
Have you checked for viruses? It is a possibility that you have one being loaded by a game or other software.
I have seen hard drives fail increasingly over the past year or so. I've had the most bad luck with WD's. In each case there was no "soft fail", once they stopped working that was it, though in a few cases I was able to get some data off using a low-level disk utility.
It could also be a controller issue. Instead of making it a Secondary Master, move it to the Primary IDE and set the jumper to Slave. If you get no more problems, it is probably the controller. Do the anti-virus scan anyway.
Good luck.
I have seen hard drives fail increasingly over the past year or so. I've had the most bad luck with WD's. In each case there was no "soft fail", once they stopped working that was it, though in a few cases I was able to get some data off using a low-level disk utility.
It could also be a controller issue. Instead of making it a Secondary Master, move it to the Primary IDE and set the jumper to Slave. If you get no more problems, it is probably the controller. Do the anti-virus scan anyway.
Good luck.
ASKER
jb123 thanks for the imput .but as I said above the cd-rom on the secondary hard drive controller worked when this happened so I think that rules this out and I did check for viruses and found none.thats whats so wierd, it's like it never happened.
But keep the Idea's comming. :~)
But keep the Idea's comming. :~)
I would make a good backup of that drive and take note of the first comment
Your drive is about to give up, no telling when but it will.
Seagate made a few lousy drives and i believe the 2,5 Gb was amongst them
Try to get a new one.
Your drive is about to give up, no telling when but it will.
Seagate made a few lousy drives and i believe the 2,5 Gb was amongst them
Try to get a new one.
Hard drives do fail and yours has typical symptoms. Copy the data while you still can.
Here is the location of the seagate repair page with phone # Etc
http://www.seagate.com/support/repair.shtml
I would have your drive replaced, it only costs you to ship it to them they pay shipping back to you.
http://www.seagate.com/support/repair.shtml
I would have your drive replaced, it only costs you to ship it to them they pay shipping back to you.
For what it is worth, don't assume that because the cd-rom works the hard drive should. They are two different devices. As good troubleshooting, move the suspect device to a different controller. Eliminate as much as possible before you replace the HDD. And take public's advice and back up everything important while you can, just in case.
ASKER
jb123 I have also hooked up several drives to this port trying to trouble shoot this prob ,and the port worked fine with the other drive's .(as stated above)and the HD worked fine on other controllers.(as stated above):~)
On the lighter side I have access to proto-type tester at 3:00
will post results.
Thank you one and all for the input.:~)
BTW the drive contains games thats all.:~)
On the lighter side I have access to proto-type tester at 3:00
will post results.
Thank you one and all for the input.:~)
BTW the drive contains games thats all.:~)
Note that some BIOSes must be *TOLD* to look for
a hard-drive, i.e., change 'disabled' to 'enabled',
save the BIOS, and then a reboot will cause the
BIOS to check all 4 IDE ports (primary/secondary & master/save on each).
a hard-drive, i.e., change 'disabled' to 'enabled',
save the BIOS, and then a reboot will cause the
BIOS to check all 4 IDE ports (primary/secondary & master/save on each).
ASKER
OK I'm back the main board,bios tested fine.:~)
And the drive is on it's last legs I guess I just didn't want to accept it .
wayneb you were on the money and most helpfull in giving me the
warranty information if not for you I would have beleived
the two year warranty was up. it must of been a five year.
so post your answer.(seagate sent me the rma #) :~)
and to every one thank you for the input .:~)
And the drive is on it's last legs I guess I just didn't want to accept it .
wayneb you were on the money and most helpfull in giving me the
warranty information if not for you I would have beleived
the two year warranty was up. it must of been a five year.
so post your answer.(seagate sent me the rma #) :~)
and to every one thank you for the input .:~)
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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I'm sorry that I didn't pour through all the prior comments, so this may be repeatative. In any case I have run into situations where a BIOS on a certain Mother Board and a Hard Drive (or some other device) don't mix. If your BIOS isn't in perfect with the HD or any other device then you may have intemittant errors that come and go as they please. I'd check with the manufacturer for an update of the BIOS.
GOOD LUCK ;-}
GOOD LUCK ;-}
ASKER
thank you all. bye the way I got my t-shirt today :~)
Dear gward28
Plaes notice that I have said this some time ago.
Pasting:
well,
I have haerd and experianced too, that WD is going bad.
the 3.2 and 4.3 HDDs happend to FAIL.
I dont know why, but I have replace 2 drives (NEW) in 3 months and talked to a deler who replaced 15.
so it could be the drive too.
ELC.
Please be kined to give the pts to me.
ELC.
Plaes notice that I have said this some time ago.
Pasting:
well,
I have haerd and experianced too, that WD is going bad.
the 3.2 and 4.3 HDDs happend to FAIL.
I dont know why, but I have replace 2 drives (NEW) in 3 months and talked to a deler who replaced 15.
so it could be the drive too.
ELC.
Please be kined to give the pts to me.
ELC.
ASKER
ELC (seagate drive)WD?
thank you very much for the info on my problem.
but wayneb was first with the correct answer and exact information on the warrenty site and repair page. youv'e been here12 days .
long enough to know no points for second place:~)
(tie yes, second no)
thank you very much for the info on my problem.
but wayneb was first with the correct answer and exact information on the warrenty site and repair page. youv'e been here12 days .
long enough to know no points for second place:~)
(tie yes, second no)