C
chiropter
I am the original poster to "Win2000 HD stopped to register. How can I
save
data?" (Wed. June 9) . Thanks to people who responded to help me.
After I read the rsponses, I decided to examine the whole affair
systematically. Here is what happened. I post this thinkin there might
be
people who encounter similar problem and thinking my post might suggest
to
programming engineers something that might help develop better
softwares.
I have three functionning machines of which two (A&B) usually used with
W2K
and one (C) usually with W98.
The problem drive (100GB Maxtor) resulted in the "Rlue screen) when used
as
the primary in Comp A, as I describer earlier.Thinking trouble might lie
in
the computer itself, the 100GB Maxtor drive was replaced by another
Maxtor
(250GB) loaded with W2K. To my surprise, same thing happened: Blue
screen.
Puzzled, I moved both drives to Comp B one at a time to test their
compatibility with this machine. The results were same. The same results
were repeated with Comp C. Now wondering whether these drives lost only
booting ability, I tested them as slave with a working drive loaded with
either W2K or W98 as the primary drive in all three machines. The
results
were that the presence of both 100GB and 250 GB drives were recognized
by
all machines as evidenced by their listing in My Computer in Win
Explorer.
However, when I clicked the drive, an error message popped up saying:
Drive
is not formated. Format now? This is of course machines'
misunderstanding
because both drives were formated and loaded with Win2K. Up to this test
stage, it appeared that something happened to the drives' booting
partition
or partition in general although it is very unlikely to cause such a
severe
problem to two drives at the same time.
As the last resort, thinking that some alteration was made to the
Windows'
registry either by viruses, electric surge or whatever, I put 250 GB
driveas
a slave in Comp A with a W98 drive as the primary. After getting up
normally, its Win Explorer showed the presence of the slave drive as if
it
was functioning. When I clicked the drive sign, the same format error
message popped up as before. This time I hilited the drive and examined
the
properties. In General Tab, it reported :This drive is working properly.
In
Drive Usage below, I changed to Disable. When I restarted the machine,
the
slave drive was no longer listed as expected. Subsequently I pulled up
Control Panel/ Add-Remove Hardware and made search new hardware. It
found
the 250 GB drive with red cross on the top of line. Clicking it led to
Trouble Shooter saying that the drive is disabled and asked if enable
again.
Yes started reactivation and ended with "successfully enabled".
Win Expl now listed the drive but clicking the drive still resulted in
"Not
Formated".
When I put the re-enabled 250 GB in Comp A as the primary (no slave) and
started the machine, I expected some kind of trouble sign as seen above
repaeatedly. But Surprise! The screen kept running normally and ended
with
normal desk top display. (Win Expl list the drive normally.) What
happened
in the preceding disable-enable procedure inside the machine or
modification
in the drive's booting system? I do not know. Another suprise: When I
shutted down the machine and replaced the primary drive with 100 GB
drive
whic only resulted in Blue screen before thinking that I would repeat
the
same procedure for this drive, the screen following turning on the
machine
kept running normally and ended with normal desktop. It appears that the
procedure used for fixing the 250GB drive changed something in the
machine
too.
Conclusion: Whole affair involved two Win2K drives but not Win98 drives,
indicating that the problem is specific to Win 2K. The problem made the
machines misconstrue as formatting problem--all user would gasp seeing
this
message. The above test was done with three independent machines and
five
drives so that it is impossible that the problem lies in nowhere but in
the
Win2K software. The possibility of virus infection seems unlikely
because
while the 100 GB Maxtor is routinely used including internet connection,
the
250 GB drive is set up as a backup (used as slave as appropriate time)
and
never connected to internet.
If anyone can furnish pertinent comments, please post.
save
data?" (Wed. June 9) . Thanks to people who responded to help me.
After I read the rsponses, I decided to examine the whole affair
systematically. Here is what happened. I post this thinkin there might
be
people who encounter similar problem and thinking my post might suggest
to
programming engineers something that might help develop better
softwares.
I have three functionning machines of which two (A&B) usually used with
W2K
and one (C) usually with W98.
The problem drive (100GB Maxtor) resulted in the "Rlue screen) when used
as
the primary in Comp A, as I describer earlier.Thinking trouble might lie
in
the computer itself, the 100GB Maxtor drive was replaced by another
Maxtor
(250GB) loaded with W2K. To my surprise, same thing happened: Blue
screen.
Puzzled, I moved both drives to Comp B one at a time to test their
compatibility with this machine. The results were same. The same results
were repeated with Comp C. Now wondering whether these drives lost only
booting ability, I tested them as slave with a working drive loaded with
either W2K or W98 as the primary drive in all three machines. The
results
were that the presence of both 100GB and 250 GB drives were recognized
by
all machines as evidenced by their listing in My Computer in Win
Explorer.
However, when I clicked the drive, an error message popped up saying:
Drive
is not formated. Format now? This is of course machines'
misunderstanding
because both drives were formated and loaded with Win2K. Up to this test
stage, it appeared that something happened to the drives' booting
partition
or partition in general although it is very unlikely to cause such a
severe
problem to two drives at the same time.
As the last resort, thinking that some alteration was made to the
Windows'
registry either by viruses, electric surge or whatever, I put 250 GB
driveas
a slave in Comp A with a W98 drive as the primary. After getting up
normally, its Win Explorer showed the presence of the slave drive as if
it
was functioning. When I clicked the drive sign, the same format error
message popped up as before. This time I hilited the drive and examined
the
properties. In General Tab, it reported :This drive is working properly.
In
Drive Usage below, I changed to Disable. When I restarted the machine,
the
slave drive was no longer listed as expected. Subsequently I pulled up
Control Panel/ Add-Remove Hardware and made search new hardware. It
found
the 250 GB drive with red cross on the top of line. Clicking it led to
Trouble Shooter saying that the drive is disabled and asked if enable
again.
Yes started reactivation and ended with "successfully enabled".
Win Expl now listed the drive but clicking the drive still resulted in
"Not
Formated".
When I put the re-enabled 250 GB in Comp A as the primary (no slave) and
started the machine, I expected some kind of trouble sign as seen above
repaeatedly. But Surprise! The screen kept running normally and ended
with
normal desk top display. (Win Expl list the drive normally.) What
happened
in the preceding disable-enable procedure inside the machine or
modification
in the drive's booting system? I do not know. Another suprise: When I
shutted down the machine and replaced the primary drive with 100 GB
drive
whic only resulted in Blue screen before thinking that I would repeat
the
same procedure for this drive, the screen following turning on the
machine
kept running normally and ended with normal desktop. It appears that the
procedure used for fixing the 250GB drive changed something in the
machine
too.
Conclusion: Whole affair involved two Win2K drives but not Win98 drives,
indicating that the problem is specific to Win 2K. The problem made the
machines misconstrue as formatting problem--all user would gasp seeing
this
message. The above test was done with three independent machines and
five
drives so that it is impossible that the problem lies in nowhere but in
the
Win2K software. The possibility of virus infection seems unlikely
because
while the 100 GB Maxtor is routinely used including internet connection,
the
250 GB drive is set up as a backup (used as slave as appropriate time)
and
never connected to internet.
If anyone can furnish pertinent comments, please post.