HDD and CD-ROM DEAD!

[jad1097]

I uninstalled Milliennium beta 2 today due to some problems.
All seemed fine untill It came time to reboot into Win98. Got to verifying DMI and hung. Could not boot with floppy it just read the floppy and did nothing. Threw in the old seagate 640MB hdd and configured the Maxtor 8.4 gig drive as slave.Bios did not see the Maxtor drive but it let me boot into the seagate drive. Yanked out the Maxtor and took a wif and yea it smells burt allright. The Cd-rom the was configured as the slave connected to the Maxtor gone also. BIOS does not see it either. At least the CDRW did not go.Lost 6gigs of stuff!
I configured the Maxtor as a secondary Master and the BIOS did see it but widows does not. I was warned not to get a Maxtor hdd and now see why.
Now does this sound like it is burt? Why would it go this way? After Millennium was unistalled it rebooted and hung up.
The only good thing that has happend in the last few days was it was six weeks since my last son was born, thank god for that.
I guess I have to dig up all the paperwork to get a new drive,its only six months old.
One more thing is there any way to get all my programs off this fubared drive?



http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87367

[smokin1]

with the maxtor as secondary, and recognised in the bios, can you boot to a c: prompt with a floppy?
if you can, you can get your programs off.
What are you using to connect to the net? Can you configure the Maxtor as a slave and hook it up to that?
Your CD may be OK..mine never shoes up in the bios...for both to be dead your comp would have undergone a surge that took out one of the IDE controllers on the MB..maybe check that in sys properties...see if both controllers are still there and working..
just some thoughts...

[jad1097]

It seems to me like it is something internal. I just had it out and the BIOS sees the drive now as a slave and as a master. But it does not seem to be spinning the disks. I can feel it trying to. It is kind of hard to explain. Just as a though I tried to get install Linux on it with booting to the cd. It gets to the point of trying to read the partitions and hangs at hdd2< .I am going to the Maxtor site to find out if the can fix it. I would much rather them fix it than give me a new drive if I can save my software.
I also though it may have been a surge or a spike. There is no harm done to the board. I will try the cdrom again later. The BIOS saw it before this happend.
I knew I shoud have got a better drive. Funny thing is that on the Maxtor drive it says "IBM warranty void if removed". Also has a IBM P/N?

[smokin1]

Your master boot record may be corrupt..did you have a dual boot before?

[smokin1]

Oh sorry jad
fdisk /mbr will give you a new one
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[jad1097]

Yes as a matter of fact I did. But if it was the MBR wouldnt I be able to see it as a slave?
I tried to configure it as a slave and it would not boot when both drives are on the same cable but if I put the Maxtor on the second IDE the seagate will boot. But the maxtor is not seen by windows.
I also tried use the Partition magic start disks with the Maxtor as a master and the same thing has happened. I will try to boot to the PM disks with the maxtor on the second IDE and see if dos will see it that way.

[smokin1]

This may seem lame...sorry..but are the pins set correctly for it to run as a slave?...
I have a Maxto or two around here that have pretty bizarre pin settings for slave...

[Dave_H]

Do you remember using the Maxtor set-up disk when you originally installed the drive?
If so, it could have put that EZ-drive overlay on it. This could be why your bios sees it and windows cannot.
Just a thought,
Dave

[jad1097]

I will never forget the problems I had with getting that ez-drive off this drive. That is how I first came across this BBS.
This is what I just tried. to make it short master slave IDE 1 master slave IDE2. Every configuration possible changed jumpers every way possible.Booting with win98 startup/ERD disk no luck Partition magic disks no luck.LINUX-MANDRAKE DISK cd and floppy Still hangs @ DMI. HDD light on case stays lit.Checked all BIOS settings.Took every card out of the board exept video.Tried to put cdrom back in light on the thing stays on and it will not work just opens and shut the drawer.I am tired of F****** with this thing!
Can not access this drive at all and I am going to ship it back to be fixed or replaced.
This is what I figure happend to the drive. It has always made allot of noise since I bought it also. It must have either shorted out and caused the cdrom to short along with it or something inside it jamed it and why the cdrom went also I don't know. The next time I touch this thing it will be going in the mail. I am making the call that it is just plain shot since the disks will not even spin.
Thanks for all the help.I am finally on my way to MAXTOR and give them a piece of my mind!

[jad1097]

I have just filled out an RMA at the maxtor site. They want me to run some kind of test on the drive before I can send it in. I kindly explained why I can not run their dam test. Thanks again for all the great advice. I tried all of it that I could. I found the paper with all the jumper settings while I was messing with it. I can't wait to hear what Maxtor will say.

[Mattyb]

Hey Jad relax. I also Had this problem. It is exactly the Ez-drive (ez-bios) program that is causing your problems. My comp would recognize the fricken drive in Bios but wouldn't boot. It kept freezing up when it came to checking 2ndHDD. I had tried to install an old 1.3 maxtor into my system from an older comp. I realized after many cursing it was Ez-Bios. Here is what you do.

First thing First. You need to download Data Lifeguard Tools formerly ez-drive. http://www.wdc.com/service/Hard Drive Installation Utility. Yes I know it is a maxtor but trust me. You will then need to format a 3.5 disk and install the program onto your 3.5 disk. This program is bootable. Stick it into your floppy drive and enable your system to boot from A: first before any hard drive. Make sure both harddrives are installed into the computer. Then when you get into the Ez-drive program use the advanced properties to first disable ezbios then remove ezbios. Hopefully this will fix your problem. It did mine. Good Luck!

Mattyb

[jad1097]

I got rid of ez-bios when I built this computer. Have reformated the drive since then and fdisk /mbr a couple of times. I had Linux-mandrake and Windows Millennium on the drive. Uninstalled Millennium and the drive is trashed. But I will give it a try anyway since Maxtor has yet to reply to me. I really don't think it will help though as with this drive I can not boot to a win98 ERD, Partition Magic disks,Linux disk,win95 bootdisk ,win millenium erd and I even tried a disk I had a backup of a old mbr. I also tried that dam Maxblast disk and their maxdiag disk.All of witch are bootable even booted to the Linux cd and it hung while trying to read the partions. This drive has been in this computer since I built it a couple of months ago.
I think I am going to buy a IBM or Seagate drive this weekend.
Thanks for the sugestion I will try it.

[Mattyb]

Let's see if I got this right.

1. The bios detects the drive as slave on either cable with the Seagate installed as master?

2. It also detected the Maxtor as Master on either channel but will not post?

3. System will boot to Win when Seagate is set as master and Maxtor as slave but only if Maxtor is on seperate channel? When it does boot, Win does not recognize the Maxtor.


When you run the Maxtor Blast program (with the Seagate as master and Maxtor as slave on seperate channel) does it recognize the F****n Maxtor? Does it recognize the appropriate Cylinders, Heads, and sectors? Are there any error Messages when using Blast related to the Maxtor drive?

Where you running partion magic when you uninstalled the Win Millenium? I am not certain, but I don't think partition magic can run in a linux environment alone. I think the problem might be related to this program.

If you are going to buy a new HD anyway, and if Maxtor Blast recognizes the Drive, have you tried reformating and partioning the Drive? I know you will be losing the Data on drive, but it sounds like its lost already. Before you do this you might want to get intouch with partion magic's home page http://www.powerquest.com/support/index.html first to see if they have heard of this problem and if they have a fix? Fill me in this is a good learning experience if Partion Magic is the problem?

I think you pretty much narrowed it down to the Maxtor drive (does the CD-Rom still work with only the seagate installed). If the CD drive still works it might tell you a little more as to the problem with the HD?
Good Luck

Mattyb

[jad1097]

Now I am really confused! Hooked it up as master(IDE 1) and kept playing with the hd settings in the BIOS untill it finaly gave me a non sys boot error. Put in win98 ERD and it booted put in the MAXDIAG disk ran two of the three test the third wipes the drive clean, It passed! Tunred it off hooked the cdrw up and it rebooted to the non sys disk againg. Put in the Partion Magic start disks to repartion showed a clean drive. Went to partion ERROR!Tried again ERROR. Exited back to A:\ Prompt put the MAXDIAG disk back in and ran the program. This time it gave me a 1-800# and an ERROR code E03.Does anyone know what this code means? Also said I should back up all my data if I have not done so,DUH! Also the BIOS did not see the cdrw.
I am going to change out the mobo just to humor myself.I have another board so it is not much of a problem.
Still waiting for a reply to my RMA request. I will be sure to call first thing in the morning and let them know how I feel about that. I aplied for the advaced RMA where the will ship the new one to you first and it is supposed to be next day service. More than 24hrs later and still no reply from them. Is this normal or do I have a right to be upset with Maxtor.

[CMonster]

Hello,

If you had a true hardware failure with either drive, and they were on the same data cable at the time of failure, it is possible one device took the other down with it - it's happened to me like that before.

Cheer up though - Maxtor has a good return policy, and they sometimes send back a larger drive.

[jad1097]

Changed the motherboard and same ol same ol.Dead hd and cdrom.
It would be nice if the give me a bigger drive. They still have yet to reply. I am making the call now. Good thing I had the cdrw on the other IDE channel.

Got the RMA# and the new drive will be here in two to three buisness days.Still waiting for a reply from them when I filled out the RMA form on their site.
This has been another well learned experience.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped me through this.



[This message has been edited by jad1097 (edited 01-20-2000).]

[Ygor]

I think EO3 is the error code we got when we thought we lost a Maxtor drive. It means a communication problem.

In our case it was the IDE controller that went on the motherboard.

There can be short-lived drives from any manufacturer. The Maxtor drive from my original DEC is still in use as a boot drive more than 4 years after purchase and in spite of a beating it took being shipped in inadequate packaging.

[Mattyb]

Jad, are you limited to only one extra harddrive (the seagate)? If you have two then you could definitely verify if controller is bad. Hook em up check em out. Max blast detected and cleaned the drive but it wouldn't boot? ****, Hopefully the new will help in to verify whether the drive bit the dust and not the controller. With the other Mobo it may have not detected the Cd-rw due to old board and bios. Has the bios been updated?
Maybe the boot track is fauled on the Maxtor drive. Check out this sight and see if it will help http://www.maxtor.com/technology/technotes/24003.html . This may do the trick if you haven't already tried. Good Luck.

Mattyb

[jad1097]

The old board has recent BIOS. I used MAXDIAG to check the drive now required by Maxtor for an RMA. Funny I never gave them the error code. Just told them it would not boot. Quick and painless. BTW still waiting for a reply from there RMA form on the site.
Oh the CDRW is on IDE 2 as secondary master so I guess that means the controller is good right? I can burn cd's useing Direct cd.From the drive on IDE1 to IDE2.
I also have most of my stuff backed up.
Well all seems fine now have a replacment drive on the way and 64 meg pc100 sdram.so this time next week I should have every thing restored and I will be quad booting,Win Millennium,WIn2K,BEOS and of course Linux Caldera 2.3.I hope they are nice and send me a bigger drive.

[jad1097]

I tried another board and the same thing happend. When you changed boards did the drive work? The other drive I have does work. Is there a way to check the Ide controller to see if it is going bad?

[This message has been edited by jad1097 (edited 01-20-2000).]