Cannot access hard drive on laptop

A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C. Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.
Any ideas?

Thanks.

"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

You could try this.

Download and run maxblast, from maxtor.com, to create a bootable floppy.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=57

Boot the laptop with the floppy. When/if is asks to setup the drive answer NO.
You're just interested in the drive specs, so don't let it set up anything. Choose
"Hard disk information". Then choose "Display technical information". Note the
CHS parameters under the "ATA information" tab.

What does that report? If it reports 192 x 16 x 0, then it means the software
is just asking the BIOS, or it may be that the drive's controller has failed. If it shows
close to (less than or equal to) 4095 cyls and exactly 16 heads, 63 sectors ,
I would believe the numbers.

Entering incorrect parameters could mean massive data loss. The only thing
I can really advise is to contact IBM for the correct parameters.
The fact that "Auto" is displaying incorrect parameters isn't a very good sign.




"Alberto" wrote in message news
Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

Downloaded MaxBlast 4 to a CD, then ran it on a desktop to create the
bootable floppy because the laptop wouldn't run the Maxtor application
(needed Win32 environment). Booted the laptop from the floppy, but all I got
was "Starting Caldera DR-DOS..." and nothing happening, no sounds, nothing.

I'm trying each command from the floppy to see if I can get anything to
happen.

Albert

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

You could try this.

Download and run maxblast, from maxtor.com, to create a bootable floppy.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=57

Boot the laptop with the floppy. When/if is asks to setup the drive answer NO.
You're just interested in the drive specs, so don't let it set up anything. Choose
"Hard disk information". Then choose "Display technical information". Note the
CHS parameters under the "ATA information" tab.

What does that report? If it reports 192 x 16 x 0, then it means the software
is just asking the BIOS, or it may be that the drive's controller has failed. If it shows
close to (less than or equal to) 4095 cyls and exactly 16 heads, 63 sectors ,
I would believe the numbers.

Entering incorrect parameters could mean massive data loss. The only thing
I can really advise is to contact IBM for the correct parameters.
The fact that "Auto" is displaying incorrect parameters isn't a very good sign.




"Alberto" wrote in message news
Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

I was afraid that might happen. It probably has a problem with the fact that
you don't have any Maxtor drives on the system. It seems to sometimes
work and sometimes not, if so. Try Seatools (Seagate), it's basically the
same program with a slightly different interface. The docs state that
it requires a Seagate drive to work, but I just ran it on a system with
a Maxtor and a WD with no problem.

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html

Go into "diags" select the drive and hit i (for "info") or right click if the
mouse is working.


Just a thought..you are "saving" the BIOS after setting it as "Auto"?


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
Downloaded MaxBlast 4 to a CD, then ran it on a desktop to create the
bootable floppy because the laptop wouldn't run the Maxtor application
(needed Win32 environment). Booted the laptop from the floppy, but all I got
was "Starting Caldera DR-DOS..." and nothing happening, no sounds, nothing.

I'm trying each command from the floppy to see if I can get anything to
happen.

Albert

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

You could try this.

Download and run maxblast, from maxtor.com, to create a bootable floppy.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=57

Boot the laptop with the floppy. When/if is asks to setup the drive answer NO.
You're just interested in the drive specs, so don't let it set up anything. Choose
"Hard disk information". Then choose "Display technical information". Note the
CHS parameters under the "ATA information" tab.

What does that report? If it reports 192 x 16 x 0, then it means the software
is just asking the BIOS, or it may be that the drive's controller has failed. If it shows
close to (less than or equal to) 4095 cyls and exactly 16 heads, 63 sectors ,
I would believe the numbers.

Entering incorrect parameters could mean massive data loss. The only thing
I can really advise is to contact IBM for the correct parameters.
The fact that "Auto" is displaying incorrect parameters isn't a very good sign.




"Alberto" wrote in message news
Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

I am currently saving the BIOS as USER - I tried using your numbers as
starting points for cyl, heads, etc and when I entered 4095 the size
instantly showed up as 2.2+ Kb ( a 2.1 Mb drive). The I saved, like I said,
and rebooted and the drive was accessed. Win98 startup screen came up (an old
one with a square-ish pattern) but it couldn't gete any farther because it
said there was a data problem on the C drive (or problem reading data).

I will try setting the mode to AUTO this afternoon to see what happens.

Albert

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

I was afraid that might happen. It probably has a problem with the fact that
you don't have any Maxtor drives on the system. It seems to sometimes
work and sometimes not, if so. Try Seatools (Seagate), it's basically the
same program with a slightly different interface. The docs state that
it requires a Seagate drive to work, but I just ran it on a system with
a Maxtor and a WD with no problem.

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html

Go into "diags" select the drive and hit i (for "info") or right click if the
mouse is working.


Just a thought..you are "saving" the BIOS after setting it as "Auto"?


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
Downloaded MaxBlast 4 to a CD, then ran it on a desktop to create the
bootable floppy because the laptop wouldn't run the Maxtor application
(needed Win32 environment). Booted the laptop from the floppy, but all I got
was "Starting Caldera DR-DOS..." and nothing happening, no sounds, nothing.

I'm trying each command from the floppy to see if I can get anything to
happen.

Albert

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

You could try this.

Download and run maxblast, from maxtor.com, to create a bootable floppy.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=57

Boot the laptop with the floppy. When/if is asks to setup the drive answer NO.
You're just interested in the drive specs, so don't let it set up anything. Choose
"Hard disk information". Then choose "Display technical information". Note the
CHS parameters under the "ATA information" tab.

What does that report? If it reports 192 x 16 x 0, then it means the software
is just asking the BIOS, or it may be that the drive's controller has failed. If it shows
close to (less than or equal to) 4095 cyls and exactly 16 heads, 63 sectors ,
I would believe the numbers.

Entering incorrect parameters could mean massive data loss. The only thing
I can really advise is to contact IBM for the correct parameters.
The fact that "Auto" is displaying incorrect parameters isn't a very good sign.




"Alberto" wrote in message news Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.

I tried to set the BIOS to AUTO today, and was sent back to square 1; it
doesn't boot from the C drive and doesn't know it's there. I tried going back
to USER with the settings from last night, but still no boot to Windows.
I don't know what's different about today from yesterday.

I will try the SeaTools next.

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

I was afraid that might happen. It probably has a problem with the fact that
you don't have any Maxtor drives on the system. It seems to sometimes
work and sometimes not, if so. Try Seatools (Seagate), it's basically the
same program with a slightly different interface. The docs state that
it requires a Seagate drive to work, but I just ran it on a system with
a Maxtor and a WD with no problem.

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html

Go into "diags" select the drive and hit i (for "info") or right click if the
mouse is working.


Just a thought..you are "saving" the BIOS after setting it as "Auto"?


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
Downloaded MaxBlast 4 to a CD, then ran it on a desktop to create the
bootable floppy because the laptop wouldn't run the Maxtor application
(needed Win32 environment). Booted the laptop from the floppy, but all I got
was "Starting Caldera DR-DOS..." and nothing happening, no sounds, nothing.

I'm trying each command from the floppy to see if I can get anything to
happen.

Albert

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

You could try this.

Download and run maxblast, from maxtor.com, to create a bootable floppy.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=57

Boot the laptop with the floppy. When/if is asks to setup the drive answer NO.
You're just interested in the drive specs, so don't let it set up anything. Choose
"Hard disk information". Then choose "Display technical information". Note the
CHS parameters under the "ATA information" tab.

What does that report? If it reports 192 x 16 x 0, then it means the software
is just asking the BIOS, or it may be that the drive's controller has failed. If it shows
close to (less than or equal to) 4095 cyls and exactly 16 heads, 63 sectors ,
I would believe the numbers.

Entering incorrect parameters could mean massive data loss. The only thing
I can really advise is to contact IBM for the correct parameters.
The fact that "Auto" is displaying incorrect parameters isn't a very good sign.




"Alberto" wrote in message news Thanks for your help.
As you enter "Basic Settings" in the BIOS, the list on the left are the
parameters and the info on the right are the settings that are present. The
line for hard drive has (0 Mb ) in parenthesis, the selection is Auto, the
cylinders is 192, heads are 16, and sectors are 0. I don't know if he messed
with that portion or not, he can't remember. The actual HD is 2.1 Gb by IBM.

I can't figure out what he could have done to disable Auto detecting, or if
I just need to configure it myself as a "User" - but I wouldn't know the cyl,
heads, sectors to put in there.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:

Are you sure that is what "Auto" is reporting? How big is the drive supposed
to be? ("don't remember" equals "heads"). Sectors should probably be 63.
Having 0 sectors defined means 0 size. Cylinders and heads, one or both,
looks low too. Though "Auto" should detect it correctly.

I wouldn't suspect a virus did that. It may be the HDD failed, but given the
fact that he was messing around in the BIOS points more to config problems.



"Alberto" wrote in message ...
The setting in BIOS was Auto, 192 Cyl, 16 ? (don't remember), 0 sectors.
I tried "User" with the same settings but to no avail. Curiously though, in
the BIOs as you step down to that line, I notice the size of the drive is
listed as 0 Mb. Is it not detecting the true size? Has it been disabled by an
infection? I read in the KB that some viruses can do something like that.

The reinstallation failed and did not continue so I don't think that changed
much - I still need the WIN98 Boot Floppy in an external drive to be able to
get anywhere. At that point I have access to the CD-ROM, which gives me some
MS-DOS commands.

Any help is appreciated.


"Bill Blanton" wrote:


"Alberto" wrote in message ...
A coworker was messing around with his laptop yesterday (he thinks BIOS
settings) and now can no longer boot WIN98 from his hard drive. When we use
an external floppy (IBM ThinkPad 310ED - because there isn't one on board)
and a WIN98 boot floppy, we can't get to drive C. I can get to D - CDROM, but
not C.

To get into the BIOS hit F2 when the IBM logo appears.
http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/0/47ba2a4526661a92482566ca00122e24/$FILE/lac2_cus.pdf

Go into "Basic System Settings"
Look under "Hard drive". Is it set to "Auto" (the default and probably correct setting)
or "User"? If "User, what parameters and how big is the drive?


Also it boots to a command prompt.
Tried to reinstall WIN98 but it says there isn't enough room for temp files
and to check if the disk is NTFS. If so it needs an MS-DOS partition. Can't
partition cause I can't access it.

You really shouldn't have done that. No telling what state the file system is in if
the cause turns out to be that he changed the drive parameters in the BIOS.