Newbie question : Diagnostics

[SBrodsky68]

Hi All,

Recently, a friends computer would not boot into windows. (Win98 SE)

In trying to diagnose the problem, I have run into the following
problems...hopefully, someone will be able to steer me in the correct
direction.

The hard drive is a 40gb, ATA (40pin cable), Maxtor Athena. First off, what
would cause a drive to just 'lose' it's partitions?

Anyway, here is what I've done so far...any suggestions are welcome.

First off, if I go into the BIOS, it sees the drive. (Maxtor Athena ATA, 40
pin cable)

If I just turn on the computer, here are the messages that come up :

It sees the primary master drive and the two secondary cd's.

Then it says : Secondary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed
Primary master hard disk fail
Press F1 to continue...

If I press F1 then I get : For Realtex RTL8139(x) PCI Fast Ethernet
Controller v2.00
PXE-E61 : Media test failure, check cable

If I use a Win 98 SE system disk to boot, it boots to a prompt. Then when I
run fdisk it returns a message that says 'No fixed disks present'

So, is it the controller, the cable, the hard drive...what should I be
looking for.

I've tried a Maxtor drive diag boot disk. It finds the drive, says it has
errors, asks to fix them and then says it's fixed...but, when I try to do a
low level format it cannot do it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Stacey

 

[kony]

Hi All,

Recently, a friends computer would not boot into windows. (Win98 SE)

In trying to diagnose the problem, I have run into the following
problems...hopefully, someone will be able to steer me in the correct
direction.

The hard drive is a 40gb, ATA (40pin cable), Maxtor Athena. First off, what
would cause a drive to just 'lose' it's partitions?

Virus, drive failure, or user error

Anyway, here is what I've done so far...any suggestions are welcome.

First off, if I go into the BIOS, it sees the drive. (Maxtor Athena ATA, 40
pin cable)

Run Maxtor's diagnostic program, available from their website if
you don't have it.

If I just turn on the computer, here are the messages that come up :

It sees the primary master drive and the two secondary cd's.

Then it says : Secondary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed
Primary master hard disk fail
Press F1 to continue...

Rightabout now I"m thinking that you should've first mentioned
system, listed drives and where they were attached.

If I press F1 then I get : For Realtex RTL8139(x) PCI Fast Ethernet
Controller v2.00
PXE-E61 : Media test failure, check cable

Not significant, unless you were trying to boot from LAN. You
might try disconnecting all drives except the lone OS drive, put
it on end of IDE cable and jumper as Master.

If I use a Win 98 SE system disk to boot, it boots to a prompt. Then when I
run fdisk it returns a message that says 'No fixed disks present'

So, is it the controller, the cable, the hard drive...what should I be
looking for.

Well we could assume nothing else had changed, but it may not be
a safe assumption to make. Therefore, check drive jumpers, power
plug seating in drive, bios IDE controller setttings.

I've tried a Maxtor drive diag boot disk. It finds the drive, says it has
errors, asks to fix them and then says it's fixed...but, when I try to do a
low level format it cannot do it.

What does it report when it "cannot do it"?

Check the power supply voltage, preferribly with a multimeter but
at least in BIOS hardware monitor screen (if there is one).

So had system worked normally then one day it was turned on and
didn't work, or was it previously moved or there was a
thunderstorm or ???

You might remove drive and see if it's readable in another
system. Otherwise contact Maxtor and ask for an RMA, replacement
if still under warranty.