Hard Drive Problems (Internal Hard drives)
Problem: You can’t access the full capacity of a hard drive that’slarger than 8.4 GB.
Cause: This a common problem with older computers when thehard drive is upgraded. BIOSes on older machines were writtensuch that they could only recognise hard drives of up to 8 GBcapacity. When one tries to attach a higher-capacity hard drive,the system either recognises it as an 8 GB drive, or fails to recogniseit altogether.
Solution: The most commonsolution to this problem is toflash the motherboard BIOS.However, since such motherboardsare really dated, it isquite unlikely that you’ll beable to get hold of new BIOS. Ifyou’re lucky, you might find anew BIOS on the manufacturer’sWeb site. If you don’t, you have the option of installing anIDE-PCI card—a card that fits into the PCI slot and offers two IDE connectorsfor hard drives. These IDE-PCI cards have a separate BIOS,which allows you to attach higher-capacity hard drives. It shouldn’t cost more than Rs 500.
Problem: FDISK in Windows 98 misidentifies the capacity of adrive over 64 GB.
Cause: This generally occurs when your bootable floppy has an olderversion of the FDISK tool.
Solution: FDISK is a hard drive partitioning tool often used forpreparing the hard drive before installing an OS. This tool is oftenbundled with the Windows CD, and is an essential part of thebootable floppy created using any Windows machine. If you haveyour original Windows 98 CD then boot the machine via it and thenuse the FDISK tool from the CD. Else you can also use the Ranish Par-Use an IDE-PCI card as the last option tition Manager- a free tooland excellent at that too. Goto www.ranish.com/part todownload it.
Problem: A UDMA/66 orUDMA/100 drive runs atUDMA/33 on systems thatsupport UDMA/66 or UDMA/100.
Cause: This problem was common with IDE drives, but seldomoccurs with SATA drives. The troublemaker used to be the cablethat connected the drive to the motherboard.
Solution: For drives supporting UDMA/100, one needs to use an 80-pin conductor cable to make it work at its full potential. As a ruleof thumb, use 80-pin conductor cables for connecting IDE drivesunless the drive is older than, say, four years: back then, UDMA 33and 66 were the de facto standard.
Problem: You get an “IDE drive not ready” error at startup.
Cause: The BIOS flashes this message during startup. The problemgenerally occurs when the hard drive fails to spin up quickly enough.
Solution: Hard drives have mechanical components that need toattain a certain threshold rotational speed before they are readyfor data transfer. There is a motherboard setting in the BIOS knownas “Hard Disk Pre-delay”. Activating this setting determines theamount of threshold time offered to the drive before the BIOS pollsit for the requisite information. You can increase or decrease thissetting with some motherboards. In most cases, increasing the harddisk pre-delay time works.
Problem: The boot sector is corrupt.
Cause: You’ll face this problem when a boot sector virus corruptsthe MBR (Master Boot Record). Boot sector corruption can generallybe attributed to viruses, but sometimes, tweaking the boot loadercan also leave the system with a corrupt boot record.
Solution: For Windows 9x/ME and DOS, one can use the FDISK commandto repair the boot sector. Boot the system from a bootable floppy or CD-ROM and locate the FDISK command. Once located,type in “FDISK /MBR” and hit [Enter]. Wait for the process to complete,and your boot sector should be fixed.For Windows NT/2000/XP, boot via the bootable CD-ROM andenter the repair console. Here, type in “FIXMBR” and hit [Enter] torestore the boot sector.
Problem: You get an error that says, “Immediately back up yourdata and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.”
Cause: A failure could indeed be imminent. The error is displayedduring the boot process only when you have a hard drive that isSMART-enabled. “SMART” stands for “Self-Monitoring Analysis andReporting Technology,” and is an industry-wide standard forincreasing the reliability of hard drives to prevent loss of data.
Solution: When you get such an error, it is advisable to back upthe data on your hard drive. If your drive is in the warrantyperiod, it should be immediately sent to the service centre forreplacement or repair. As of now, the SMART tool can detect upto 70 per cent of drive errors—the warning should therefore betaken seriously.
Problem: The system refuses to boot after installing a newhard drive.
Cause: The hard drive may not be connected properly, i.e., the data connectorand the power connector could be improperly connected.
Solution: When installing a new hard drive, always double-checkthe connection of the data cable. Pin number one on the motherboardshould coincide with pin number one on the hard drive. Oneedge of the data cable is marked red to indicate it as pin number one.While connecting it to the drive, make sure the red line coincideswith pin number one of the drive and motherboard. Usually, the red lineon the cable and the red wire of the power connector will be side by sidewhen connected to the drive—this indicates a proper connection.
Problem: Hard drive letters after C: are pushed ahead when asecond drive is attached.
Cause: This generally happens when the second drive has a primarypartition on it. Since primary partitions take precedence overextended ones, it will take up a drive letter immediately after theprimary partition of the first drive, i.e., C:.
Solution: After installing the second drive, make sure the drive isformatted and that all partitions created are extended. If the seconddrive contains data, move the data to the first drive and thenremove all the partitions before creating new (extended) ones.
Problem: You get an “Invalid media type” error.
Cause: This generally occurs when one tries to view a non-formatted,non-partitioned drive in Windows, or when you try to viewa different file type in an OS that does not support that particularfile type. For example, trying to view an NTFS partition in Windows98 will result in this error.
Solution: First use a bootable floppy or CD-ROM, and then use FDISKto see what type of partitions are present on the drive. The fourthoption in FDISK lets you do that. If a non-Windows partition exists,delete it and create a new FAT32 or NTFS partition that Windowscan recognise. If the drive is brand new, then creating new partitionsand subsequently formatting them should help.
Problem: Your hard drive is not detected in the BIOS.
Cause: This is the most common problem with hard drives, and ithas a simple solution too. Improper connection of the power cableresults in this problem. Also, current-generation drives requiremore power to run, so if your power supply isn’t powerful enough,the hard drives will fail to start up.
Solution: Check whether the power connector is connected properly;if you think it is, then touch the drive. A powered drive willalways vibrate a little because of the high-speed spinning of theplatters. If the drive doesn’t seem to vibrate, the platters aren’tspinning, and the drive requires more power to work—in whichcase, you’ll need to change your power supply. If it is vibratingand still the drive isn’t recognised then probably there is someproblem with the data cable connection, or the BIOS is not setup properly.
Problem: The system can’t detect either of two drives connectedon the same channel.
Cause: This occurs when both drives are set to either Master orSlave.
Solution: Check the jumper connection on both devices and set oneas the Master and the other as the Slave. In newer motherboards,you can set both the devices to cable select—this takes care of theproblem in an efficient manner.
Problem: There is a large number of .CHK files in the root directory of the drive.
Cause: .CHK files are created by the SCANDISK and CHKDSK utilitieswhen they scan the system for lost allocation units.
Solution: You can safely delete all .CHK files after searching forthem. It’s only when the PC is not shut down properly that these.CHK files are created by the two scanning utilities. Hence, alwaysswitch off the PC properly, i.e., don’t reboot the machine by pressingthe reset button on the front panel.
Problem: You’re unable to view a SATA hard drive duringWindows XP installation.
Cause: Windows XP loads the required drivers before it begins tocopy the files necessary for installation. Motherboard chipsetslacking native support for SATA drives are not recognised duringthe installation. You’ll have to manually load the drivers before thefile copying starts.
Solution: Such motherboards come bundled with a floppy drivethat contains the necessary SATA drivers. While loading WindowsXP, at a certain stage, i.e., before loading generic driversinto memory, you’re prompted to press [F6] for installing additionaldevice drivers. Press [F6] once the generic drivers areloaded. The system will prompt for the floppy disk containingthe SATA drivers; insert the floppy disk and then load the appropriatedriver for XP. Once this is done, Windows XP will recogniseSATA drives during setup.
Cause: This a common problem with older computers when thehard drive is upgraded. BIOSes on older machines were writtensuch that they could only recognise hard drives of up to 8 GBcapacity. When one tries to attach a higher-capacity hard drive,the system either recognises it as an 8 GB drive, or fails to recogniseit altogether.
Solution: The most commonsolution to this problem is toflash the motherboard BIOS.However, since such motherboardsare really dated, it isquite unlikely that you’ll beable to get hold of new BIOS. Ifyou’re lucky, you might find anew BIOS on the manufacturer’sWeb site. If you don’t, you have the option of installing anIDE-PCI card—a card that fits into the PCI slot and offers two IDE connectorsfor hard drives. These IDE-PCI cards have a separate BIOS,which allows you to attach higher-capacity hard drives. It shouldn’t cost more than Rs 500.
Problem: FDISK in Windows 98 misidentifies the capacity of adrive over 64 GB.
Cause: This generally occurs when your bootable floppy has an olderversion of the FDISK tool.
Solution: FDISK is a hard drive partitioning tool often used forpreparing the hard drive before installing an OS. This tool is oftenbundled with the Windows CD, and is an essential part of thebootable floppy created using any Windows machine. If you haveyour original Windows 98 CD then boot the machine via it and thenuse the FDISK tool from the CD. Else you can also use the Ranish Par-Use an IDE-PCI card as the last option tition Manager- a free tooland excellent at that too. Goto www.ranish.com/part todownload it.
Problem: A UDMA/66 orUDMA/100 drive runs atUDMA/33 on systems thatsupport UDMA/66 or UDMA/100.
Cause: This problem was common with IDE drives, but seldomoccurs with SATA drives. The troublemaker used to be the cablethat connected the drive to the motherboard.
Solution: For drives supporting UDMA/100, one needs to use an 80-pin conductor cable to make it work at its full potential. As a ruleof thumb, use 80-pin conductor cables for connecting IDE drivesunless the drive is older than, say, four years: back then, UDMA 33and 66 were the de facto standard.
Problem: You get an “IDE drive not ready” error at startup.
Cause: The BIOS flashes this message during startup. The problemgenerally occurs when the hard drive fails to spin up quickly enough.
Solution: Hard drives have mechanical components that need toattain a certain threshold rotational speed before they are readyfor data transfer. There is a motherboard setting in the BIOS knownas “Hard Disk Pre-delay”. Activating this setting determines theamount of threshold time offered to the drive before the BIOS pollsit for the requisite information. You can increase or decrease thissetting with some motherboards. In most cases, increasing the harddisk pre-delay time works.
Problem: The boot sector is corrupt.
Cause: You’ll face this problem when a boot sector virus corruptsthe MBR (Master Boot Record). Boot sector corruption can generallybe attributed to viruses, but sometimes, tweaking the boot loadercan also leave the system with a corrupt boot record.
Solution: For Windows 9x/ME and DOS, one can use the FDISK commandto repair the boot sector. Boot the system from a bootable floppy or CD-ROM and locate the FDISK command. Once located,type in “FDISK /MBR” and hit [Enter]. Wait for the process to complete,and your boot sector should be fixed.For Windows NT/2000/XP, boot via the bootable CD-ROM andenter the repair console. Here, type in “FIXMBR” and hit [Enter] torestore the boot sector.
Problem: You get an error that says, “Immediately back up yourdata and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.”
Cause: A failure could indeed be imminent. The error is displayedduring the boot process only when you have a hard drive that isSMART-enabled. “SMART” stands for “Self-Monitoring Analysis andReporting Technology,” and is an industry-wide standard forincreasing the reliability of hard drives to prevent loss of data.
Solution: When you get such an error, it is advisable to back upthe data on your hard drive. If your drive is in the warrantyperiod, it should be immediately sent to the service centre forreplacement or repair. As of now, the SMART tool can detect upto 70 per cent of drive errors—the warning should therefore betaken seriously.
Problem: The system refuses to boot after installing a newhard drive.
Cause: The hard drive may not be connected properly, i.e., the data connectorand the power connector could be improperly connected.
Solution: When installing a new hard drive, always double-checkthe connection of the data cable. Pin number one on the motherboardshould coincide with pin number one on the hard drive. Oneedge of the data cable is marked red to indicate it as pin number one.While connecting it to the drive, make sure the red line coincideswith pin number one of the drive and motherboard. Usually, the red lineon the cable and the red wire of the power connector will be side by sidewhen connected to the drive—this indicates a proper connection.
Problem: Hard drive letters after C: are pushed ahead when asecond drive is attached.
Cause: This generally happens when the second drive has a primarypartition on it. Since primary partitions take precedence overextended ones, it will take up a drive letter immediately after theprimary partition of the first drive, i.e., C:.
Solution: After installing the second drive, make sure the drive isformatted and that all partitions created are extended. If the seconddrive contains data, move the data to the first drive and thenremove all the partitions before creating new (extended) ones.
Problem: You get an “Invalid media type” error.
Cause: This generally occurs when one tries to view a non-formatted,non-partitioned drive in Windows, or when you try to viewa different file type in an OS that does not support that particularfile type. For example, trying to view an NTFS partition in Windows98 will result in this error.
Solution: First use a bootable floppy or CD-ROM, and then use FDISKto see what type of partitions are present on the drive. The fourthoption in FDISK lets you do that. If a non-Windows partition exists,delete it and create a new FAT32 or NTFS partition that Windowscan recognise. If the drive is brand new, then creating new partitionsand subsequently formatting them should help.
Problem: Your hard drive is not detected in the BIOS.
Cause: This is the most common problem with hard drives, and ithas a simple solution too. Improper connection of the power cableresults in this problem. Also, current-generation drives requiremore power to run, so if your power supply isn’t powerful enough,the hard drives will fail to start up.
Solution: Check whether the power connector is connected properly;if you think it is, then touch the drive. A powered drive willalways vibrate a little because of the high-speed spinning of theplatters. If the drive doesn’t seem to vibrate, the platters aren’tspinning, and the drive requires more power to work—in whichcase, you’ll need to change your power supply. If it is vibratingand still the drive isn’t recognised then probably there is someproblem with the data cable connection, or the BIOS is not setup properly.
Problem: The system can’t detect either of two drives connectedon the same channel.
Cause: This occurs when both drives are set to either Master orSlave.
Solution: Check the jumper connection on both devices and set oneas the Master and the other as the Slave. In newer motherboards,you can set both the devices to cable select—this takes care of theproblem in an efficient manner.
Problem: There is a large number of .CHK files in the root directory of the drive.
Cause: .CHK files are created by the SCANDISK and CHKDSK utilitieswhen they scan the system for lost allocation units.
Solution: You can safely delete all .CHK files after searching forthem. It’s only when the PC is not shut down properly that these.CHK files are created by the two scanning utilities. Hence, alwaysswitch off the PC properly, i.e., don’t reboot the machine by pressingthe reset button on the front panel.
Problem: You’re unable to view a SATA hard drive duringWindows XP installation.
Cause: Windows XP loads the required drivers before it begins tocopy the files necessary for installation. Motherboard chipsetslacking native support for SATA drives are not recognised duringthe installation. You’ll have to manually load the drivers before thefile copying starts.
Solution: Such motherboards come bundled with a floppy drivethat contains the necessary SATA drivers. While loading WindowsXP, at a certain stage, i.e., before loading generic driversinto memory, you’re prompted to press [F6] for installing additionaldevice drivers. Press [F6] once the generic drivers areloaded. The system will prompt for the floppy disk containingthe SATA drivers; insert the floppy disk and then load the appropriatedriver for XP. Once this is done, Windows XP will recogniseSATA drives during setup.
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