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General discussion

Starting classes next week and this happened...

Aug 25, 2006 1:22AM PDT

Operating System: Win XP
Memory 512 KB
120 GB Master drive /60 GB slave both unpartioned
4 yr old Custom Built computer

I am experiencing this problem with my slave/ second hard drive. Last night while surfing, my system just froze. It has never done that except on hot days. So when I turned if off and then reboot it went into CHDISK mode. I let it do that it says it found no errors but ut also doesn't seem to allow for my Anti Virus to complete it's scan task. So when I turned it on this morning it did the CHDISK screen again then it finally booted. This time I decided to for some reason look at My Computer and that is when I discovered that my second hard drive went missing. It was also missing when I checked in 'device manager' & BIOS.

I haven't did a system resore yet but ironically when I was just about to do a system restore to an earlier point, the system restore put up a message that said "Changes made to drive G after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was either excluded from System Restore monitoring or was turned off or removed" The "G" drive is the 60GB slave drive that disappeared. Is my backup drive a lost cause? What can I do?

Discussion is locked

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Don't use system restore.
Aug 25, 2006 1:27AM PDT

Since the drive is missing in the BIOS you need to fix that first.

"Is my backup drive a lost cause?"

Given only this information, yes. But do check your connections, the drive is spinning and that you used the proper IDE 80 conductor cable with the jumpers on CS.

Bob

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Oh Man...
Aug 25, 2006 5:49AM PDT

Hi Robert,

Okay your response naturally gears up alot of questions like:

1.) Why shouldn't I use System Restore? What would it harm?

2.)What made the drive just disappear? Could it possibly be a driver or software update? The reason I ask is because I did also get a brief error last night about Device driver error but I don't know if that is related. And I haven't had any problems on that drive before. It only is about an 1/8 th full...

3.) How do I fix the BIOS?

4.) Why is it responding negatively to my virus scan?


3.)

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Answers...
Aug 25, 2006 7:41AM PDT

1.) Why shouldn't I use System Restore? What would it harm?

Because it's not XP at issue here. If the BIOS doesn't note the drive all that you can do with System Restore is make more issues.

2.)What made the drive just disappear? Could it possibly be a driver or software update? The reason I ask is because I did also get a brief error last night about Device driver error but I don't know if that is related. And I haven't had any problems on that drive before. It only is about an 1/8 th full...

That's many questions so ...

a. The drive is dead.
b. The drive is not spinning.
c. The connector fell off.
d. The power connector failed.
e. It's not Windows at fault here.
f. Read item e again.
g. It doesn't matter how full the drive is to the BIOS.


3.) How do I fix the BIOS?

I doubt it's the BIOS. What we want is the BIOS to show the drive which means we check for spinning drive, connections and such. And NO! Just because it worked before does not mean the jumpers were proper. BTDT.

4.) Why is it responding negatively to my virus scan?

Because nobody's home.

Bob

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BTW --
Aug 25, 2006 5:52AM PDT

Can I do any disk checks /diagnostics?

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Diagnostics won't help.
Aug 25, 2006 8:44AM PDT

If the bios does not see the drive then the operating system and any utilities running under that operating system cannot see it either and cannot operate on it. There are a limited number of possibilities for a drive not to be seen by the bios: (1) the jumper(s) are set incorrectly (e.g., both drives set to master), (2) the power cable is disconnected or bad, (3) the data cable is disconnected or bad and (4) the drive electronics (internal to the drive) have failed. Please check the first three. You might try installing the drive in another computer to see if it is recognized there.

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Okay
Aug 25, 2006 9:51AM PDT

Looks like my work is cut out for me. I will take all of those suggestions and see what I come up with. I shall return...

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Might be about time for a CMOS battery...and setting all the
Aug 25, 2006 2:28PM PDT

hard drives in the BIOS to "AUTO"