Hard Drive dead?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daedalus
  • Start date Start date
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Daedalus

My brother infected his computer with numerous viruses (up
to 13 at one point) but I think I managed to get rid of
them all. Now, when I go to boot up the computer, it
stalls on the diagnostic writing and won't start up. I
get a message that states: "Primary Master HDD error." I
can't even get into Safe Mode.

I then decided to reinstall Windows and wipe everything
clean, however after Windows loads up the essential files,
I get the following message:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your
computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on
and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk
related hardware configuration is correct. This may
involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or
setup program."

Does this mean my harddrive finally crashed and its time
to buy a new one? I looked inside my case and everything
looks to be connected. I know that this computer is about
2-3 years old and is used quite a bit. I guess if the HD
finally crashed, there is no way to retrieve any files?

Any tips, suggestions or comments would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks!
 
You may have to low level format (see bottom) your hard
drive because just regular formatting doesn't get rid of
boot sector viruses or you may have a bios virus. When
going booting your computer look to see if you can go
into your bios (usually a line comes up and sasy to
choose the del key or F1. If so you can go in and see if
the hard drive is pickes up by looking for something like
the HDD Otion screen) If the bios doesn't pick it up it
can be one of 3 things. The first is that you need to do
listen to hear if the hard drive is spinning (it sound a
little like a high speed whine but its not really loud).
If the sound isn't there you need a new hard drive, if it
is there keep reading. #2 you may have to replace the
cable that runs from your motherboard to the hard drive.
The ones that usually come with the hard drives are not
made to last. #3 if after replacing the cable and that
doesn't work (still can't read the HD), try seeing if
there is a bios update for your machine to fix the
problem. If these still don't work all the info on the
drive may not be lost. There are some companies out
there that specialize in recovery of the informatikon
from dead hard drives. Just phone around to the computer
stores and see if they do data recovery from hard drives
(don't phone the stores such as Best Buy, Future Shop
etc. as they are known as the fast food of computer
repairs. Good for taking your money and doing a really
bad job). Do this before you low level format the
drive. Once you low level it you can't get the info back
ever. You can still get the info off a drive after using
the windows formatting but not after a low level
formatting. You usually can download a low level
formatter from the manufacturer of the hard drive.

Cheers
Garett

-----Original Message-----
 
Daedalus said:
My brother infected his computer with numerous viruses (up
to 13 at one point) but I think I managed to get rid of
them all. Now, when I go to boot up the computer, it
stalls on the diagnostic writing and won't start up. I
get a message that states: "Primary Master HDD error." I
can't even get into Safe Mode.

I then decided to reinstall Windows and wipe everything
clean, however after Windows loads up the essential files,
I get the following message:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your
computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on
and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk
related hardware configuration is correct. This may
involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or
setup program."

Does this mean my harddrive finally crashed and its time
to buy a new one? I looked inside my case and everything
looks to be connected. I know that this computer is about
2-3 years old and is used quite a bit. I guess if the HD
finally crashed, there is no way to retrieve any files?

Any tips, suggestions or comments would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Your first step should be to download and run the diagnostic
program that your hard disk manufacturer makes available
free of charge on his home page.
 
Thanks for the tips. I think I solved the problem. I
opened up my case and noticed 2 ribbon cables coming out
of my motherboard. One cable said ULTRA ATA CABLE and this
one was plugged into my HD. The other ribbon cable said
MASTER on it. I just switched the ULTRA cable with the
MASTER cable and it booted up just fine. I don't know how
they got switched.
 
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