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| Thread ID: 50062 | 2004-10-09 03:43:00 | Is this hard drive dead? | brig (1359) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 279383 | 2004-10-09 03:43:00 | I can't remember now what I was doing at the time, but this hard drive running Windows XP Pro suddenly could no longer be found on boot up. It's a 2 year old 40 GB Seagate ST340810A I've tried it as master drive on three different functioning computers and each gives the same error on boot up: "Detecting IDE Primary Master - NONE" Followed by: "Verifying DMI Pool Data.......Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter" Surprisingly, if I attach it as the slave H.D. the error message is the same,. Neither the good master nor the dodgy slave is found. After much searching the web and trying various remedies and diagnostics (Seagate Tool) I'm just about to rubbish it. Before I do, is there any way to be sure this drive is dead? brig |
brig (1359) | ||
| 279384 | 2004-10-09 03:54:00 | have yu tried to fix the mbr on it sounds like a similar drive error i had on a maxtor 80gb and i repaired it that way first fdisk /mbr in dos then used diagnostic tools |
RoIdY (6252) | ||
| 279385 | 2004-10-09 03:55:00 | My judgement would be: It's gone. But first, check it is getting power correctly. George |
george12 (7) | ||
| 279386 | 2004-10-09 03:58:00 | Did u check in the BIOS to see if the hdd was set to AUTO?? And that it was set as the bootdisk?? Or something like a non-system floppy isnt in the diskdrive. That Insert system disk error can also appear if there's a non-bootable/system floppy in the drive. |
Spacemannz (808) | ||
| 279387 | 2004-10-09 04:20:00 | Thanks for the suggestions.... any are welcome. Remember that the HD cannot be accessed to do anything to it, so fdisking the MBR is just not possible. There is no possibility of a fault with the power or ribbon connector, as I've been switching those between a good HD and the dodgy one endless times. The good drive always works perfectly - except, as I said above, when I attach the dodgy HD as slave. then neither drive is recognised No disk in the floppy drive spacemannz, and the bios is set to auto |
brig (1359) | ||
| 279388 | 2004-10-09 04:36:00 | Are the jumpers set to master on the HDD? | hsv-b0y (5210) | ||
| 279389 | 2004-10-09 04:39:00 | If the drive prevents the master or slave on the IDE being recognised, its because the data buffer chips on the IDE have probably failed, and are grounding the entire bus. Drive is dead.... |
godfather (25) | ||
| 279390 | 2004-10-09 04:49:00 | Yes, hsv-b0y | brig (1359) | ||
| 279391 | 2004-10-09 04:50:00 | I don't suppose it is still under warranty, but it would be worthwhile checking. There may be a warranty date on the drive. | Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 279392 | 2004-10-09 06:35:00 | Thanks godfather. After a quick read-up on IDE's and data buffering, your diagnosis sounds spot on. One last question before I follow Terry's suggestion about looking at a warranty claim. Does it seem likely or even possible that I have caused this chip failure by poking around inside the computer? Although I am usually ultra careful I may have got careless, and in fairness to the supplier I shouldn't want to blame the product. |
brig (1359) | ||
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