fsartorius
asked on
Dell's Disk Monitoring System boot warning
Running Windows 98. Every time we boot up, it hangs with the error message: "WARNING: Dell's Disk Monitoring System has detected that drive 0 on the primary EIDE controller is operating outside of normal specifications...." It goes on to say we should back everything up and quit, but to press F1 to continue. Pressing F1 makes everything operate normally and I don't believe there's anything wrong with our drives. How can I get rid of the message for a seamless boot-up?
If this helps: Device Manager says "Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)"
Driver files:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32\IO
Thanks!
If this helps: Device Manager says "Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)"
Driver files:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32\IO
Thanks!
Lee W, MVP
It may be that it is detecting problems with your hard drive that YOU don't notice. It may be that the drive isn't quite spinning up to speed. This may be an early warning sign that the disk is going to die. I would highly recommend contacting Dell and asking them how to interpret the code. There is software that can determine the likely cause of that message but you may have to get it from Dell.
I can only echo the above and try to press home the idea of making a backup. Now!
While reading sectors, the hard drive may fail several times without telling the operating system anything, the number of tries is programmed into drive controller hardware. I'd say this message comes before your O/S has booted, so it hasn't got anything to do with drivers; it is probably a test routine built into BIOS.
You'll not notice if the drive has to re-read a few sectors during normal operation, but it is a warning sign indeed. As it says "drive 0", this is your primary master drive, the boot drive, that has an issue.
Regards
/RID
While reading sectors, the hard drive may fail several times without telling the operating system anything, the number of tries is programmed into drive controller hardware. I'd say this message comes before your O/S has booted, so it hasn't got anything to do with drivers; it is probably a test routine built into BIOS.
You'll not notice if the drive has to re-read a few sectors during normal operation, but it is a warning sign indeed. As it says "drive 0", this is your primary master drive, the boot drive, that has an issue.
Regards
/RID
Hi,
I encountered the same error message with our Dell machine especially in GX1 PII 333,350 and 500. It was a hard disk problem and nothing else. The best way is to replace the hard disk. It will un-useful in the future.
Take my advice!
Thanks
I encountered the same error message with our Dell machine especially in GX1 PII 333,350 and 500. It was a hard disk problem and nothing else. The best way is to replace the hard disk. It will un-useful in the future.
Take my advice!
Thanks
The best way : Call Dell service to have more information !
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On the other hand, a bug in Dell's BIOS could cause this to report falsely. As others have already recommended, you need to contact Dell directly and get the story straight from the source.
I've seen this error many times too, and it does mean the drive is failing (according to the SMART technology jhance mentioned). To double check it, AFTER you backup critical data from the system, use a disk diagnostics program to test the drive. IBM's Drive Fitness Test is a good start:
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/download.htm
It should work with non-IBM drives also.
Maxtor/Quantum: http://www.maxtor.com/products/DiamondMax/techsupport/TechnicalProcedures/20014.htm
Dell's Diagnostics will test the drive as well.
-dog*
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/download.htm
It should work with non-IBM drives also.
Maxtor/Quantum: http://www.maxtor.com/products/DiamondMax/techsupport/TechnicalProcedures/20014.htm
Dell's Diagnostics will test the drive as well.
-dog*
Just backup important data (floppy,cdrom) before the tests ... because the tests can stress your disk ...
ASKER
Essentially unanimous responses...I'll back up the drive and get a new one. For those who have never tried to contact Dell support, believe me that if your time is worth ANYTHING it's cheaper to buy a new drive!
Thankyou!
Thankyou!
Actually, I've called Dell support on multiple occasions - recently - and never waited more than 20 minutes...
I also have had excellent and very professional dealings with Dell support. In fact this month's PC Magazine again has them rated by customers at #1 in service and support.
I think you're confusing them with Microsoft....
I think you're confusing them with Microsoft....
It is worthwile to call Dell and find out the specifics. I once had 10 out of 60 new HP machines give this error when about a month old. Turns out there was a problem with that HP model's BIOS regarding SMART so all we had to do was flash in an update rather than swap so many drives.