18-AUG-06 / 13:30 Thailand time
Very sorry to barge in here. As often happens (w/ any computer I use), just
can't get 'New Question' or 'Comment' to open up for me. Also, the line here
is
terrible most times. So have to try this route.
I would really like to post this under my own title and would appreciate if
anyone here could do that for me. I just can't get it to work here.
Couldn't find anything via newsgroup search that precisely resembles my
problem and many of those posts were way out of date. This thread here is
current and seems at least related in part - which are the 2 additional
reasons why I'm here.
Also, if I take more than a minute or 2 to type here and then send, I lose
everything; so I have to copy it before I send it, so can paste it back in on
next try.
This always happens.
My Title/Subject/Thread is:
Lost HD Master function /CMOS checksum error
------------------------------------------------------
Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, Copyright (C) 1984-2003
-----------------------------------------------
Few days ago couldn't boot up to Win XP in morning. Was OK
the night before. No new programs added or major changes made.
No virus. Kept re-booting endlessly as follows
(error message spelling & punctuation, verbatim):
(1) 1st screen goes up to the logo and following message at bottom:
"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"
(2) Then displays 2nd screen:
"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!
Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"
(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message - the same
message which *normally* screens for 5 seconds just before the
pc shuts down completely. So I guess this is just before the
next re-boot begins.
Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...
If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and the "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."
Then the looping repeats again.
I pulled the BIOS battery and the plug to let things bleed off
and reset the BIOS and then ran without the battery. Didn't
make much dif.
Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help either.
If I disabled "quick boot" though, the screen would ultimately
hang at "Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to
pull the BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get out of that screen
and operational again.
Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic, anyway. Health
is good. Battery voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also
tried "optimal settings". "Fail Safe defaults" only works for 1st
menu and its difficult to repeat this choice (I think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be made again. I learned of
this latter option from the Help menu [F1]. It is not offered as
a Main menu option).
--------------------------------------------
I've 'detailed' the above looping process for ref only, in event
there's a clue in there somewhere. I don't offhand see how the
BIOS itself might have anything to do with the current problem
(battery is > 3.00 Vdc, under load, by the way, w/ or w/o external
pwr applied). Moreover, it can't be a BIOS / battery problem
because any changes I make at the BIOS are retained.
Additional info:
(a) On each boot, the Hard drive was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.
(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but, of course, not into D:, the
NTFS partition (which is one reason I prefer FAT 32).
(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...
(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...
(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
There was no report. Next...
(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Did the Troubleshooter.
Not much use - because there was no branch option for
a Master or Slave configuration problem and everything
else was irrelevant or OK.
(g) When I first worked with this comp around 6 months ago,
did a Scandisk (and/or chkdsk) and found around 1MB of bad
sectors. As noted above, there's no change in the nr of
bad sectors shown now.
I haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. From what I've
been told, the HD install was only about a year old by the time
I got to it 6 months ago. Mfr date is 2004.
I'm wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any such problem. One would think that if
the MBR was affected, there would have been some indication
of this.
Would like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out any possible system problems - besides
the apparent HD problem. I hesitate for now because:
(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. This almost certainly
implies an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at the spare comp. It's highly unlikely for 2 different
faults to occur at same time, IMHO.
(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago
(talk about coincidences!) at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics,
virus checks, boards reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found
nothing; yet somehow the problem went away right after all that.
In this latter case, though, the looping seemed 'deeper', the turn-off
more abrupt, as if it looped into a 'full-bang!-shut down" each time;
whereas in the current case, the reboots seem faster, continuous and
incomplete; faster even than a "reset-button" or "ctrl+alt+del"
re-boot.
So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.
So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.
--------------------------------------------
In the old days, we used to be able to check & repair bad
drives with Norton Utilities, but now I don't know.
BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?
No, I don't have a camera nor, in fact am I overly
concerned as, except for time & date, the modern
BIOS / CMOS settings come back automatically with
a good working default set and it's usually not to
difficult to select any special settings that
might be desirable. Still, it would be helpful
to have a record of original settings without
having to resort to pen & paper in this day and age.
--------------------------------------------
What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?
Would re-formating it help? There'd be around 20 GB
to move off first in that case.
Thanks in advance for any assist with this - and I really
would appreciate someone re-posting this for me, under it's own
title so that the mvp's specializing in this kind of issue might see
it and hopefully respond.
I'll have another read thru this thread now to see if anything
might apply directly...
