cmos

Have no idea what the problem is

[WildAngel]

Hi guys
a friend of mine emailed me today with a problem, but i dont know anything about cmos so i was hoping maybe one of you guys might know what the problem is.

His PC was giving him problems so he ran a check on it using the normal hard disk tools but then is froze half way.

basically his computer is not finding the hard drive now and i dont know how to make it find it, only through cmos, auto detect hard drive and it still didn't work!

I know iv probably been really vague. Im not even sure if this is the right place for this type of question.

any ideas?

Thanks

Bernadette

[saurabh]

If it was an old disk (maybe with bad sectors) it might have crashed.

[WildAngel]

thanks saurabh:)

[fathom]

Bad sector will likely not stop CMOS from seeing drive. Even a bad sector zero the drive should detect. Make sure IDE cable is on the right way, power plug and IDE cables are hone (check IDE at both ends)and drive jumper is master -- "ma".

Still problems possibly a bad IDE cable.

Some PC boxes/mainboards also have a LED/HD connector that if not attached (to mainboard) will cause the hard drive not to run up.

[WildAngel]

thanks fathom.

Are those the only things that it could be?

[fathom]

Not really, it gets worst.

Does the Hard Drive run up.

[Tapolyai]

As fathom suggest, first check all the hardware.

* Is the disk controller seated properly in the motherboard?
* Is the cable between the controller and drive connected properly and securely?
* Is the HDD power plug is in properly?
* Is the power supply powered?
* Is there power from the power supply?
* Is there power at the HDD?
* Does the drive spin up?

Then you can check CMOS, etc. but most often the problems I encountered with HDDs were loose cables, then bad power cable, dead controller, and finally dead drive, in order of most frequent to least.

[WildAngel]

Thanks guys for your replies.

one more thing this happend while fragmenting.

Not sure if that helps at all.

Fathom:nope, it gets past the scsi, a and d, but says cant find c.

[fathom]

No, not at all. Defrag is basically a Windows function now.

Question: do you hear the hard drive run up/spin up?

Question: Do you have a Boot "floppy" disk and a virus checker rescue "floppy" disk?

Question: What version of "Windows" is the computer running, what computer are you current on, so that you can access WebmasterWorld. (e.g. same room/area as the problem one?) and does this computer have the same Windows version?

[fathom]

Go to advance setup in CMOS and check: Boot Setup.

First boot should be a: (floppy in some CMOS)
Second boot should be C:

Added does this computer have SCSI drives or just regular IDE drive.

SCSI drive would have a wider cable (more pins).

[fathom]

...and d,

What is "d" your CD-ROM?

[Gizmare]

Can you be more specific on it cant find the hard drive. (i.e. 1. when I run fdisk, 2. when I try to format it, 3. When I turn on the computer it gives me an error., 4. When the computer is loaded up I no longer see the drive. ) this list can go on and on. I am just trying to figure out at what level the problem is occuring. From there I am able to help you troubleshoot further.

[fathom]

Thank you WebmasterWorld members I was sticky mailed and believed the problem is solved.

[Tapolyai]

Since this is a SCSI drive try some of the following:

* Move the drive to the second or third position within the chain.

* Make sure the SCSI ID is not in use by one of the other SCSI devices (don't forget about the controller card!)

* If it's a newer SCSI card use an ID below 7, instead of the extended 14 available.

* Most SCSI controllers come with their own "FDISK". Check to see if the controller sees the device.