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| Thread ID: 44825 | 2004-05-01 05:25:00 | Computer wont start? | B.M. (505) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 233420 | 2004-05-01 05:25:00 | Thank goodness it’s raining and I was getting boared. :D A mate just dropped of his computer, which he assures me wont start. Too true. It gets as far as: Verifying DMI Pool Data…………. Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: No Bootable CD in CD-ROM And hangs with a flashing cursor. OK, I try booting from a Win98 floppy boot disk and running scandisk on drive c: Unfortunately I get the following message: Scandisk encountered a data error while reading the FAT on drive C: This error prevents scandisk from fixing this drive. Ohhhhh, bugger! :( The possibilities of a virus occurred to me so I think I’ll try and run NAV off the CD but get told NAV can’t be run from DOS mode! Oh goodie! What do I do now team? :) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 233421 | 2004-05-01 05:38:00 | Just wondering why it is trying to boot from a CDROM rather than the HDD, does it detect the HDD, if it has one? | Tobas (224) | ||
| 233422 | 2004-05-01 05:49:00 | Don't think it can see it Tobas. :( and it is moving on to find something bootable? I get the feeling the FAT tables are corrupt. Well is that not what it is trying to tell us????? Maybe the HDD has a physical failure? It's just that I've not been down this road before. :) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 233423 | 2004-05-01 05:57:00 | > Maybe the HDD has a physical failure? Can you take the HDD out and connect it to your computer as a slave and see if the drive can be read . |
Davesdad (923) | ||
| 233424 | 2004-05-01 06:00:00 | In the BIOS, check the boot order includes the hard drive. Then try running the auto-detect hard drive option. It should detect something. |
bmason (508) | ||
| 233425 | 2004-05-01 06:25:00 | Might have to Davesdad, just checking what I should be doing first. :) Interesting, if I type dir/p at the dos prompt derived from the boot floppy I get the directory plus 17 File(s) 1,368,581 bytes 14 Dir(s) 7,320.62 MB free Now the way that free space is written looks odd to me?? |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 233426 | 2004-05-01 22:40:00 | Ok, update . Did as you suggested Davesdad . Pulled out the HDD, changed the jumper to slave, installed it in mine, (Hell I hate touching something that's working fine) :D set the cmos and let it run . OK, the bios recognised the new slave and I think identified it correctly . However, as windows loaded, up comes the message "One or more of your drives may have bad sectors, run scandisk" Yes, well I've been trying to do that but it wont run . Complains there is a data error that it cant fix! :( So, had another brainwave and thought I'd try SystemWorks Disk Doctor . Looked promising, then up flashes the message "Cant write to disk, all data may be lost, press any key to continue" :( Soooo, I'm developing the distinct impression that I might be experiencing my first HDD failure . Did I detect some of you thinking I hope Bob's mate has got everything backed up? Well, where we have a wee problem because not one byte has been backed up . Installation disks? Hmmmmm, don't know if I ever got any? Might have thrown them out with all the other junk that came with the computer . As the Tui add says "Yeah Right" :D |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 233427 | 2004-05-02 00:24:00 | Here is an idea: Seen you got that hdd drive plug in to yours, boot in to your own hdd drive, then via windows explore try accessing the other hdd & see if you can see any data, if you can, then have a look around & see if you can backup any of the data have a look here - pressf1.pcworld.co.nz (Note: this FAQ might be a wee bit slow loading) for a list of thing that you might want to try & backup Good luck :) |
stu120404 (268) | ||
| 233428 | 2004-05-02 03:50:00 | Can you get a DOS directory of the disk on your computer? If so you should be able to copy any or all files off it with xcopy and you'll have a backup. It will cough on files in any bad areas, but you should be able to use the "Ignore" option. Then a format ... |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 233429 | 2004-05-02 06:20:00 | Try doing: fdisk /mbr From the boot CD - will repair the Master Boot Record only if no master boot record exists. Might get it to boot. |
whiskeytangofoxtrot (438) | ||
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