Follow-up from the original poster
 

Thanks a lot for those who tried to help me. Here is the history of what
happened next.
First, to follow Ben's suggestion, I yesterday downloaded Max Power and
tested the problem disk. To my surprise, it passed all the test and thus
it appears the disk does not bear any problem as far as Maxtor Power was
concerned.
Secondly, to test Don's suggestion, when I used it as the primary, the
computer BIOS did not recognize it.and failed to boot.(I also tested it
with another computer but the result is the same.)
When I used floppy disk to boot the computer followed by FDISK, it
responded that there is no hard drive. Accordingly I am unable to
examine its partion status.

Today, when I booted the computer with anothe drive as the primary and
the problem disk as a slave, the BIOS recognized the primary disk as
expected but did not detect the slave. This is a different situation
from the time when I posted initially when BIOS recognized both drives
and later the device manager listed both as working properly. It appears
the problem somewhat worsened since then.
After the above setting the computer booted to Windows, but Windows did
not recognize the problem disk as judged by Windows Explorer obviously
because the device manager now did not list it, either.

Now I wonder if there is any way to correct the problem without
reformatting the problem disk. I do not even know if reformatting is
possible because floppy-booted computer does not recognize the presence
of this disk. As the last resort I tried the Maxtor Plus installation
disk, but it conveyed that there is no harddrive. In my long computer
experiences, I never encountered a situation like this.
If anyone still can offer suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

"Chiropter" wrote in message
...

When I used floppy disk to boot the computer followed by FDISK, it
responded that there is no hard drive. Accordingly I am unable to
examine its partion status.

Today, when I booted the computer with anothe drive as the primary and
the problem disk as a slave, the BIOS recognized the primary disk as
expected but did not detect the slave. . . .
As the last resort I tried the Maxtor Plus installation
disk, but it conveyed that there is no harddrive. In my long computer
experiences, I never encountered a situation like this.

So three independent tests suggest this
hard drive does not work. What do you conclude?

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

See if Maxblast can do anything with it.

http://downloads.maxtor.com/_files/m.../maxblast3.exe

Ben

"Chiropter" wrote in message =
...
Thanks a lot for those who tried to help me. Here is the history of =
what=20
happened next.
First, to follow Ben's suggestion, I yesterday downloaded Max Power =
and=20
tested the problem disk. To my surprise, it passed all the test and =
thus=20
it appears the disk does not bear any problem as far as Maxtor Power =
was=20
concerned.
Secondly, to test Don's suggestion, when I used it as the primary, the =

computer BIOS did not recognize it.and failed to boot.(I also tested =
it=20
with another computer but the result is the same.)
When I used floppy disk to boot the computer followed by FDISK, it=20
responded that there is no hard drive. Accordingly I am unable to=20
examine its partion status.
=20
Today, when I booted the computer with anothe drive as the primary and =

the problem disk as a slave, the BIOS recognized the primary disk as=20
expected but did not detect the slave. This is a different situation=20
from the time when I posted initially when BIOS recognized both drives =

and later the device manager listed both as working properly. It =
appears=20
the problem somewhat worsened since then.
After the above setting the computer booted to Windows, but Windows =
did=20
not recognize the problem disk as judged by Windows Explorer obviously =

because the device manager now did not list it, either.
=20
Now I wonder if there is any way to correct the problem without=20
reformatting the problem disk. I do not even know if reformatting is=20
possible because floppy-booted computer does not recognize the =
presence=20
of this disk. As the last resort I tried the Maxtor Plus installation =

disk, but it conveyed that there is no harddrive. In my long computer=20
experiences, I never encountered a situation like this.
If anyone still can offer suggestions, I would really appreciate it.
=20

Chris:

Sometimes the partition table of a drive gets FUBARDed so bad that none
of the standard tools can sort out what is going on. Assuming there is
no physical damage to the disk's surface erasing the partition table
will let you use FDISK / FORMAT to get the disk back in service. You
will loose all the data however.

There are two ways to do this. Get the ZAP utility from he

http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/...-wipe-zap.html

It will blindly write zerows to the partition table and you should then
be able to partition and format the drive.

You can also go the old school route and use the DEBUG script from here
to do the same thing:

The DEBUG script to "wipe" a HDD can be found he

http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/HardDrive.htm

or

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;106419


Good Luck

John

--
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