Error message when booting

  • Thread starter Thread starter sbailey
  • Start date Start date
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sbailey

When trying to boot my PC, the first thing that displays right after
turning on the PC is the following message:

A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Consult the
Troubleshooting section of your user's manual.

After pressing the Enter key, the system will continue to boot. After
logging in, the PC is running really slow and I get an hour-glass when
I place the cursor over the menu bar. Does this mean there is a
problem with the hard drive.

I ran the recovery console and ran the chkdsk program. It doesn't
complete saying that there is a problem with the drive.
Does this mean the drive is going bad?

Thanks!
 
When trying to boot my PC, the first thing that displays right after
turning on the PC is the following message:

A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Consult the
Troubleshooting section of your user's manual.

After pressing the Enter key, the system will continue to boot. After
logging in, the PC is running really slow and I get an hour-glass when
I place the cursor over the menu bar. Does this mean there is a
problem with the hard drive.

I ran the recovery console and ran the chkdsk program. It doesn't
complete saying that there is a problem with the drive.
Does this mean the drive is going bad?
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
I am sure everyone reading your plight will agree that even if they
want to make a suggestion they don't know where to start.

You don't have to write an essay but, at least tell use if you
added/removed components, if you were inside the box and rearranged
jumpers and wiring, or if the system started behaving badly out of the
blues.

I can tell you a few things though. When a hard drive is going bad you
hear a sound like rolling marbles or clicking/knocking inside the box
when it is powered-up. Also, a dead hard drive will not allow the PC to
boot to the point of seeing the desktop on the system.

My feeling however is; you probably have a configuration problem and
the hard drive is not "dead". I would suggest that you peek inside the
box and make sure your jumpers are all in the correct position. If you
have a CDROM/DVD ROM drive on the same cable with the hard drive,
please double check to see if the jumper on the hard drive is set to
master and that the jumper on the CDROM/DVD ROM is set to slave. If you
have two hard drives on the same cable make certain one is set to
master and the other is set to slave.

When that is done, go into your BIOS Settings and make sure all drives
are recognized in the BIOS and that IDE-0 is set as the first boot
device.

If you reboot the PC and you still get the same error I suggest you use
an 80-pin data cable and enable smart drive within your BIOS. If you
already have 80-pin data cable and the problem still occurs, then you
should try another cable because it might just be that the cable is
bad.

If you do all that and the problem is still there, I suggest that you
repartition the hard drive and re-format. During the format process, if
you notice the message "bad sectors" or "recovering lost
allocation units", I suggest that you change the hard drive because
if the allocation units are fully recovered during the process of
formatting, you will still get intermittent problems later on when
using the computer.

NOTE: Before going into all of the above, open your box and make sure
that all connectors to the IDE controllers on the board are snug and do
the same at the connectors where the drives are. You might just have a
partially loose connector, but who knows?
 
En (e-mail address removed), modiftek va
escriure:
I am sure everyone reading your plight will agree that even if they
want to make a suggestion they don't know where to start.
Click to expand...

I do not know for you.
To the OP: please backup ASAP everything you can.

Also, a dead hard drive will not allow the PC to boot to the point
of seeing the desktop on the system.
Click to expand...

I had to deal with 4 "dead" HD over the last 2 years (not a great stat, I
know). 3 out of 4 were not "dead enough" and allowed me to back up almost
all the datas (using plain GUI and so on) before going completely unusable.
Should it be Near Death Experience according to you?

All you are saying in addition is correct (at least at first sight). But you
should consider death of the disk as a eventuality; and you should consider
the counter measures in case it happens; and I am not sure fiddling cables
or BIOS settings is the very thing to do when one disk is having bad time.


Antoine
 
When trying to boot my PC, the first thing that displays right after
turning on the PC is the following message:

A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Consult the
Troubleshooting section of your user's manual.
Click to expand...


From...

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Security/Win_Security/Q_21240959.html

Comes...

Comment from SheharyaarSaahil
Date: 12/13/2004 02:29PM PST
Comment
troubleshooting section of your user's manual
hmmmmmm some problem with the hard drive itself.... have you run Chkdsk /f
/r on it yet to verify what's going on ??
Or Try to get the Diagnostic tool for your hard drive from the list below
and Run it to check what's it reporing about it :)

Fujitsu >> http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/download/hard-drives/#diagnostic
IBM and Hitachi >> http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
Maxtor/Quantum >> http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products/index.htm
Samsung >>
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/hdd/support/utilities/utilities_index.html
Seagate >> http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html
Western Digital >> http://support.wdc.com/download/ >>
www.westerndigital.com
 
I am sure everyone reading your plight will agree that even if
they want to make a suggestion they don't know where to start.
Click to expand...
You don't have to write an essay but, at least tell use if you
added/removed components, if you were inside the box and rearranged
jumpers and wiring, or if the system started behaving badly out of the
blues.
Click to expand...
I can tell you a few things though. When a hard drive is going bad you
hear a sound like rolling marbles or clicking/knocking inside the box
when it is powered-up.
Click to expand...

Not always. Drives vary a lot on how they sound when
recalibrating which is what they normally do when they
cant read a sector off the platter after a few retrys.
Also, a dead hard drive will not allow the PC to boot
to the point of seeing the desktop on the system.
Click to expand...

There's a difference between dead and dying.
My feeling however is; you probably have a configuration problem and
the hard drive is not "dead". I would suggest that you peek inside the
box and make sure your jumpers are all in the correct position.
Click to expand...

Wouldnt produce those symptoms.
If you have a CDROM/DVD ROM drive on the same cable with the hard
drive, please double check to see if the jumper on the hard drive is set to
master and that the jumper on the CDROM/DVD ROM is set to slave.
Ditto.

If you have two hard drives on the same cable make
certain one is set to master and the other is set to slave.
Ditto.

When that is done, go into your BIOS Settings and make sure all drives
are recognized in the BIOS and that IDE-0 is set as the first boot device.
Ditto.

If you reboot the PC and you still get the same error I suggest you use
an 80-pin data cable and enable smart drive within your BIOS. If you
already have 80-pin data cable and the problem still occurs, then you
should try another cable because it might just be that the cable is bad.
Click to expand...
If you do all that and the problem is still there, I suggest
that you repartition the hard drive and re-format.
Click to expand...

Makes a hell of a lot more sense to run the hard drive
manufacturer's diagnostic on the drive at this stage.
 
Antoine:
We can all go into semantics and use different adjectives to describe
the problems we have with our computers. My idea of a "dead" hard
drive is one that does not spin-up and eventually become unrecognizable
by the system BIOS.

The four "dead" hard drives you said you worked on were not
actually dead,they were "defective". A defective hard drive can
still work intermittently and if you are lucky you might be able to
perform some data recovery tasks.

Also, I am amazed that you would think "fiddling cables or BIOS
settings" is out of bounds when troubleshooting hard drive issues. I
don't know what type of training you have but, if on first boot the
system BIOS tells you that the hard drive is unrecognizable, are you
not going to look at BIOS settings to make certain the correct drive is
selected, and make necessary changes within the BIOS to correct that
issue? And won't you look at your data cables to make sure they are
connected properly because, good connections play an integral role in
data transfer inside the box?

That is exactly what is expected of any good technician.

If you do not know what I am talking about, let me give you a brief
lesson about data cables and the importance of proper connections.

There is certain firmware placed on the controller boards on those hard
drives. The BIOS is located on the system board inside the box, and the
only communication link between the hard drive and the system board is
through the data cable. Now, isn't it logical that a person who knows
about fixing computers would look under the hood to see if there is
continuity between the hard drive and the IDE controller on the system
board to find out whether or not the cables/connection might be
problematic thus; those BIOS messages indicating hard drive issues?

And finally, if you look at the last paragraph in my initial response
you will see I mentioned "eventuality", and read carefully because
you might not see it if you are unfamiliar with repartitioning /
formatting, bad sectors and recovery of lost allocation units.
 
En (e-mail address removed),
modiftek va escriure:
Antoine:
We can all go into semantics and use different adjectives to
describe the problems we have with our computers. My idea of a
"dead" hard drive is one that does not spin-up and eventually
become unrecognizable by the system BIOS.
Click to expand...

So, it does not match the description of the OP, does it?
He was able including to /start/ a Chkdsk over the letter, he said.

Also, I used quotes to highlight that the word was improper. As you said,
this is just semantics. Please feel free to correct my post reading
"defective" instead.

Also, I am amazed that you would think "fiddling cables or BIOS
settings" is out of bounds when troubleshooting hard drive issues.
Click to expand...

OK, I was expressing myself badly. Sorry, English is not my native language.
I meant that if the drive is still (in part) readable, one should try to
recover the datas before opening the hood. At least, this is what I was
taught. And when I went the other way (opening the hood as first measure) I
got worse results. I am not really a technician, in fact. Not much cases to
deal with (and I am happy this way: I do not like being called as the guy to
recover the datas despite no backups, while the disks are now "defective"
.... or "dead"; people are happy when /luckily/ I might help, but I feel it
is better to not have to call me and just use the backup).

if on first boot
Click to expand...

I was not considering the case it was the first boot of the drive.
If it really is so, you are probably right. And in this case there are no
data to save, so my advice would have been useless anyway.


And finally, if you look at the last paragraph in my initial
response you will see I mentioned "eventuality", and read
carefully because you might not see it if you are unfamiliar
with repartitioning / formatting, bad sectors and recovery of
lost allocation units.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? Now you are intriguing me. I did not see the word
"eventuality" in the message I answered, only suggestions. I am perhaps not
as knowledgeable as you are; furthermore, I never saw messages about
"recovering lost allocation units" while _formatting_ (of course, this has
to do that I usually use systems in other language than English, and
translations are usually bad). _Particularly_ not if I changed the partition
scheme before (which means "quick" format is not an option). So I would
welcome an explanation of you about the subtlety you put there initially.

Also, what do you really mean by "repartition", as an advice to a guy that
is not versed in the black arts of playing with partitions?
My view is that if Joe User uses windisk or fdisk or anything similar to
"repartition" a disk, it will end basically with the same setup as he had
while starting (less access to the datas): whole disk assigned as one big
partition, usually.
Or is it just a way to ensure "not quick" format erasing the boot sector?


Thanks for the explanations,


Antoine
 
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