bb202 said:
It all started because its always in the Safe Mode cycle. So suspecting the
hdd is failing, I ran the Seatool test and result confirm that all the ide
connectors are ok but the hard disk is failing. So I took out the hdd and
attachedinto another pc to retrieve all my data.
So I bot a new Hitachi Ide 160 gb hdd and try to do the window installation.
Thats where it hang at the message checking NVRAM and sometimes it has the
sentence 'Delete to enter set up.
After many times of trying to install and changing of parts like ram, ide
cable, it still does not work.
So I took out the 160gb and put back the original hdd (it says
82.3gb/hitachi/ide, sorry a mistake in OP, model HDS728080PLAT20, manufactued
DEC2006) but now it hang at the same message (even using the original data
cable).
The latest status as said in the last post is that, when the ide(1 or 2) not
connect to mobo, it complete the POST, it is the pc will say whatever it
detect which in this case 'none' because nothing is connected.
Just tried, put this 80gb hdd as Pri master in a working computer > blue
screen with message to check for virus and do CHKDSK /F and
stop: 0x0000007B (0XF993F528,...)
I am going to get this hdd replace but I dont think its due to the different
in hdd size.and see what happen next. Many thanks for all the input,
You cannot attempt to boot the 80GB disk in another computer,
because the hardware there likely won't match. Depending on the drivers
needed to access the disk, the boot process may not complete. And
if it did, you'd see the new hardware wizard pop up, asking for
drivers etc. It is OK to connect the old 80GB disk, as a data disk
to another computer (i.e. not boot from it). That will give you
access to the files. so you can back them up. (The Hitachi site
doesn't seem to offer any data transferring application, as otherwise,
you could connect the 80GB and the 160GB, and copy the old
C: to the new drive. Seagate offers a tool to their customers,
as long as one of the drives is a Seagate etc. If I had
your Hitachi problem, I'd use "dd" and a Linux LiveCD, to
attempt the copy. "dd" just copies all the sectors, without
regard to the file system present. There are obviously other
commercial software solutions, like Acronis etc that could
also do it if desired.)
For the new drive, Hitachi has a tech library for each product.
http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/products/Deskstar_7K160
To get the "straight goods" on jumpers, don't download the quick
start guide, get the "Deskstar 7K160 Specification v1.8" as an
example of detailed tech info. Go to section "7.1.4 Jumper positions".
There, you can see they take a (dishonest) stab at labeling the
jumper block. The GND pins are used to change the state of the
other pins. There is a DS pin (seems like Master), a CS/SP
(cable select or slave present), plus two mystery pins
named as RSV (reserved) on the end. If you go to
section "7.1.4.3 Capacity clip to 32GB", you can see putting
a jumper across D and B, leads to capacity clip. So the bottom
"RSV" pin, is the clip pin. When connected to ground, the drive
reports reduced capacity (suitable for testing a BIOS where
you think there is a capacity limit causing a problem).
I'm guessing the 7K160 PATA is what you bought, but you'll have to
check the hitachigst.com site and get the right one for your drive.
I'm still not sure what to make of your "NVRAM" symptoms.
The BIOS has the ability to store info in two places. The
CMOS (256 bytes of RAM in the Southbridge) is volatile, and
can be cleaned out by the clear CMOS procedure. The other
storage area, is actually part of the BIOS Flash EEPROM.
The DMI/ESCD hardware inventory information, is stored in
the flash chip. If the flash chip is wearing out, attempts
to update DMI/ESCD can fail. That could be a reason for the
message.
To fix that, you'd go to badflash.com and purchase a new
flash chip. That would be based on the theory that the
flash chip is bad. They need to know the chip type, the
motherboard name, to try and select a pin compatible chip.
Chips for older motherboards like that, may not be in
production any more, so they may have to substitute something
they suspect will work. You also need to provide a pointer
to the web page with the BIOS file to use to program the chip.
You have a couple options as to the order of your next experiments.
I'm assuming you have another computer to use, if you brick this one.
1) Do the "clip jumper" test. Make the 160GB drive report it is a
32GB drive. See if you can get past the NVRAM stage. You'll need
the tech manual from Hitachi, to figure out the jumpering.
2) Reflash the BIOS. If the chip is bad, the flash attempt could
fail, bricking the board. Reflashing the BIOS in fact, won't
be doing anything productive, as far as I know. It would be
mainly an attempt to see if the BIOS chip is really bad or not
(failing in other areas as well as the DMI/ESCD). If the flash
tool is set up to erase the whole chip (main BIOS, boot block,
DMI/ESCD), then the BIOS will recompute the DMI/ESCD info on
the first boot, and update the table in the chip.
3) Go to badflash.com and get a new BIOS chip. You could do this
instead of (2), in which case the old chip could still be used
if conditions do not improve. Badflash is only an option, if the
old BIOS chip can be removed. Some nasty motherboard designs,
solder the chip in place. The latest "innovation" on modern
boards, is the move to serial EEPROM chips - smaller, using
fewer pins, but *soldered* in place.
4) Install a PCI IDE controller board, and connect the new
160GB drive to that. The NVRAM step may still fail, because
there is still going to be a need to update the NVRAM block.
The advantage of using a card can be - ability to handle
137GB disks, ability to operate at ATA133. An example would
be a Promise Ultra133 TX2, but there are also cards with
a SIL0680 chip, or some cards with combined PATA and SATA connectors
(VIA6421A). Cards like that have a BIOS chip, that the main BIOS
consults, in order to allow booting from the card. Drivers
need to be installed for cards like that, so when reinstalling
WinXP, you may have to press F6 and offer a driver on a floppy.
There are a number of options, some of which cost money, and
some of which have some risk of bricking the motherboard.
But if the NVRAM problem doesn't improve, I don't see much
beyond changing the flash chip, that is going to make it
fully functional again. I don't see anything in your symptom
report so far, to suggest an IDE port failure.
I notice on the GA-6VX-4X web page, there is no notice about
the capacity limit for disks connected to the board. The
last BIOS date is 2001/10/04 (Oct4,2001). If we compare the
date to the link I provided, the BIOS for the GA-6VX was
2000/06/07 that supported 64GiB, so it is quite possible your
board supports up to 128GiB. The year 2003 was where >128GiB/137GB
support came in, and that is why I suspect the 160GB drive
might be a little too much for it. This is why at this point,
I'm suggesting the usage of the clip jumper, at least until
the NVRAM problem goes away.
Oh, I thought of another one you can try.
5) Turn off all power (unplug). Disconnect disk drive cables.
Pull RAM sticks and store in an antistatic bag. Allow the
board to attempt to start, with no RAM present. Theory is,
this will invalidate the NVRAM. Remove power again. Install
RAM, connect old hard drive. Test to see if NVRAM update
succeeds. If this works, then connect the new drive with
the clip jumper installed, and test whether that one passes
the NVRAM step.
HTH,
Paul
