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Thread ID: 53232	2005-01-11 05:29:00	Computer won't start.......sometimes	rover1nz (2175)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
312953	2005-01-11 05:29:00	Hi there, need a bit of help with a problem...... Every now and then when i turn on the computer I get an error message saying "Warning the hard disk has been changed. Hard disk boot priority will be affected. Please enter setup to check" when I enter the bios it says I have no hard drive (only cdwriter) When I use the win98 setup disk I get a message saying "Win98 has detected that c drive does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 Partition" When I type c:/dir i get "volume in drive c is ms-ramdrive" Then a list of 15 files. If i type "FDISK /STATUS" I get "No fixed disk present" Total disk size is 2,048kb Usually 4.3Gb The 3 reasons that it gives me for not being able to start are (briefly) ....... 1 Drive may need to be partitioned 2 3rd party disk partitioning software (I don't have that) 3 A virus I know that it's not option 2. Can anybody tell me what the problem might be. It only does this approx 1/10 times I turn the computer on. The other 9 times it is perfectly normal. Is this a virus or a warning that my hard drive is packing up? Also... If i type "FDISK /STATUS" I get "No fixed disk present" Total disk size is 2,048kb Usually 4.3Gb Another problem I have that may be related is when I try to Defrag drive c, it get to 10% and up pops an error message telling me that the contents of c: have changed and it restarts the defrag from the beginning. It does this over and over. I have done all the virus scans, spyware scans etc. Found nothing. No loose cables etc The problem eventually seems to fix itself if I restart often enough, usually 5th or 6th time. Sorry for the long post but i thought i should include as much info as possible. Hope someone can help... Thanks	rover1nz (2175)
312954	2005-01-11 06:01:00	Well, I can tell from "when I enter the bios it says I have no hard drive" that your hard drive is simply not being recognized. Everything you have mentioned since that is a result of this. Why that is? Probably a failing hard drive, cable or controller. Replace the cable first - they should be around $2 -5 at any computer store. If that doesn't help, it is either your hard drive or motherboard. Post back here if the cable doesn't fix it.	george12 (7)
312955	2005-01-11 06:19:00	Thanks for that, I will get a new cable tomorrow. I won't know for a few weeks wether it has fixed the problem as it only does it sometimes, plus I only turn computer off once a week now as I am scared it won't start again lol	rover1nz (2175)
312956	2005-01-11 06:38:00	If it only does it sometimes then it's probably a cable issue, a dying hard drive or a connector issue - all of which need a decent wriggling and a good spanking before coming into order. If it's the hard drive dying, you should look at replacing it - but it's perhaps a bit early to tell yet. This happened to me once, but eventually no hard drive ever turned up untill I reset CMOS.	Growly (6)
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