IDE Issue?

[AString]

O.k. My computer restarted and when scandisk ran, a message came up
stating that it couldn't read from the last sector of the C: drive. It
stated that the LBA setting may be wrong.

I checked the BIOS and the HDD was set to LBA. I formatted
the drive, used fdisk to remove the partition and reinstall it and then ran
scan disk again. No errors. I restarted the computer and ran scandisk
again. I got the same error.

I naturally assumed that the drive was bad so I bought a new one. I set
up the partition and as it was about to run scandisk, I get the same error
message.

So it wasn't the drive after all. Could it be a virus in the bios? A
bad mother board? A Bad IDE Slot? I tried replacing the IDE cable but still
have the same error...

Someone please help me!!!

 

[David Maynard]

O.k. My computer restarted and when scandisk ran, a message came up
stating that it couldn't read from the last sector of the C: drive. It
stated that the LBA setting may be wrong.

I checked the BIOS and the HDD was set to LBA. I formatted
the drive, used fdisk to remove the partition and reinstall it and then ran
scan disk again. No errors. I restarted the computer and ran scandisk
again. I got the same error.

I naturally assumed that the drive was bad so I bought a new one. I set
up the partition and as it was about to run scandisk, I get the same error
message.

So it wasn't the drive after all. Could it be a virus in the bios? A
bad mother board? A Bad IDE Slot? I tried replacing the IDE cable but still
have the same error...

Someone please help me!!!

How about some kind of clue as to what hard drives they are, what O.S.
you're doing this with, and what motherboard it is.

 

[Michael Cecil]

O.k. My computer restarted and when scandisk ran, a message came up
stating that it couldn't read from the last sector of the C: drive. It
stated that the LBA setting may be wrong.

Scandisk so W9x of some kind?

I checked the BIOS and the HDD was set to LBA. I formatted
the drive, used fdisk to remove the partition and reinstall it and then ran
scan disk again. No errors. I restarted the computer and ran scandisk
again. I got the same error.

I naturally assumed that the drive was bad so I bought a new one. I set
up the partition and as it was about to run scandisk, I get the same error
message.

So it wasn't the drive after all. Could it be a virus in the bios? A
bad mother board? A Bad IDE Slot? I tried replacing the IDE cable but still
have the same error...

Someone please help me!!!

Without knowing the history of the drive, what I would do would be to make
sure the BIOS is set to Auto detect the drives. Then I'd boot off a
floppy and use Zap or Wipe on the drive to clean the drive. Then power
down the computer, then power it up and the drive's correct settings will
be detected by the BIOS. Then fdisk and format it.

Sometimes a computer will take incorrect previous drive parameters from
those stored on the drive, that's why you want to wipe it and force the
drive parameters to be gotten from the drive electronics instead.

There is no such thing (at least yet) as a virus that infects or resides
in the BIOS.

 

[David Maynard]

Scandisk so W9x of some kind?




Without knowing the history of the drive, what I would do would be to make
sure the BIOS is set to Auto detect the drives. Then I'd boot off a
floppy and use Zap or Wipe on the drive to clean the drive. Then power
down the computer, then power it up and the drive's correct settings will
be detected by the BIOS. Then fdisk and format it.

Sometimes a computer will take incorrect previous drive parameters from
those stored on the drive, that's why you want to wipe it and force the
drive parameters to be gotten from the drive electronics instead.

There is no such thing (at least yet) as a virus that infects or resides
in the BIOS.

He didn't give enough information to go on but if I had to throw darts in
the dark I'd bet on an over sized hard drive. e.g. >137gig Or, with Win98,

 

[JS]

Without knowing the history of the drive, what I would do would be to
make sure the BIOS is set to Auto detect the drives. Then I'd boot
off a floppy and use Zap or Wipe on the drive to clean the drive.
Then power down the computer, then power it up and the drive's correct
settings will be detected by the BIOS. Then fdisk and format it.

Sometimes a computer will take incorrect previous drive parameters
from those stored on the drive, that's why you want to wipe it and
force the drive parameters to be gotten from the drive electronics
instead.

There is no such thing (at least yet) as a virus that infects or
resides in the BIOS.

Would clearing the BIOS be a useful part of this process as well?

 

[AString]

O.k. My computer restarted and when scandisk ran, a message came up
stating that it couldn't read from the last sector of the C: drive. It
stated that the LBA setting may be wrong.

I checked the BIOS and the HDD was set to LBA. I formatted
the drive, used fdisk to remove the partition and reinstall it and then ran
scan disk again. No errors. I restarted the computer and ran scandisk
again. I got the same error.

I naturally assumed that the drive was bad so I bought a new one. I set
up the partition and as it was about to run scandisk, I get the same error
message.

So it wasn't the drive after all. Could it be a virus in the bios? A
bad mother board? A Bad IDE Slot? I tried replacing the IDE cable but still
have the same error...

Someone please help me!!!

Sorry guys. Original OS was WinXP. I tried using Win98SE and now (At the
point I wrote the original post) I am using a win98 Startup disk to access
the drives which are formatted. Both drives are only 10gig Seagate drives.
They were running fine untill the computer shut off and suddenly the "Can't
read from last sector...bad LBA settings..."Messages came up.

I have reinstalled an OS now (Win98SE) and installed Norton System works.
I ran there surface scan and did not find any errors. The scandisk in Win98
did not find error either. The only spot that pics up the errors is the
scandisk that runs when I restart the comp.