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boot disk write error

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by captainamigo

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I had diagnosed a computer as having a bad hard drive. It was getting disk write errors on boot and also running extremely slow. I ran scandisk on the hard drive and it said that it could not repair the file allocation tables. I replaced the harddrive in the machine with a brand new 20gb 7200rpm western digital drive. Within 2 day the new hard drive is experiencing the same exact symptoms. I have a diagnostic software called quicktech pro put out by ultra x. It locked up on the hard drive test. I rebooted and reran the tests and it ran overnight with no errors. Before the lockup, the software reported no errors. All of the hardware in the machine is new expcept for the drives, video, and modem. We put those in a barebone case c.1 month ago.

12 replies

by shanghai sam

Sorry, some banalities:

1 - Check your BIOS settings: should be set to Auto for everything related to HDDs, including for PIO number, DMA. As a last resort, write down (Print Screen if works) all your settings and try BIOS default.

2 - carefully prepare your HDD:
run FDISK /MBR from a Win98 StartUp floppy, then format with the /U option (unconditional);
- or in case of WinNT/2K/XP the best way to partition and format a new HDD from another working WinNT/2K/XP machine accordingly; - or partition and format a new HDD during the process of installation by booting from Installation CD.

3 - double-check the connections, try to swap ribbon-cables;
sometimes a faulty CD-ROM or another IDE device creates a problem for harddrives.

Some new HDDs (Maxtor, for example) have compatibility issues with some makes of motherboards.
That's the reason why IBM's storage website provides with a compatibility list.

by zlitocook

Make sure the cables support the hard drive. New hard drives have faster speeds and need new cables. Check the manuals for the mother board and hard drive. Also check the jumper settings and how cool the system runs. There is free ware that lets youcheck the CPU and system temp.

by thechas

1. Have you scanned for viruses?

2. Do you have up to date drivers for the chipset on the motherboard?

If you do not have the correct IDE driver installed, the motherboard and hard drive may not be properly communicating.

3. Is the CPU speed correct?
I have seen several "strange" problems with socket A motherboards where the BIOS set the CPU speed slow.
While the BIOS detects the CPU correctly, it sets the clock wrong.

I would also install a new 80 pin IDE cable just to eliminate the cable as an issue.

Chas

by qballrail

Two things come to mind: One technical, the other not.

1) Be sure to use the interface cable that comes with the drive. The new ATA100 drives have an 80pin interface cable (blue connector to the MB) which better facilitates the faster access times. Also, some of the newer drives just don't "play well" with the older cables. So, be sure you are using the new cables.

2) In some ways, this seems a little suspicious. Possible user error or, god forbid, user malice. I've seen users go through 3 or 4 machines in a MONTH. Once in a while, you just run into those that "know enough to be dangerous." The best way to approach this is, first and foremost, DO NOT be accusatory. Remember, in a company environment, the user is your internal CUSTOMER. Never let the user know you may be suspicious of their activities. If there is ANY way to monitor what they do with the PC discreetly, do it. Document the service performed on the PC (actually wouldn't hurt to do this generally anyway-- a practice I encourage all my techs) and leave a copy in the case for the next tech. Unfortunately, in these cases, you have to play spy or have someone you trust very well to watch. This is a very touchy situation, hopefully I'm wrong on this count. But never rule out the possibility.

by qballrail

The comment above about Maxtor's incompatibility with some boards is actually a fallicy. This was an earlier issue with Quantum which has recently been acquired by Maxtor. However, the issue was resolved long before the acquisition. I live by Maxtor, always used that brand with no difficulties. Each of my drives are Maxtor. Just a little FYI :)

by captainamigo

Ended up being a combination of two things. The jumper setting on the wd hdd. It had to be set to single drive. I also upgraded from win98fe to win98se and that fixed my file allocation tables.

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