HDD works as slave but won't boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter rAD
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rAD

It's an old WD 3.2 GB. Could trying to run it in DMA mode somehow have
damaged the boot sector? Can't even run fdisk /mbr cuz it refuses to run as
master
 
master as in 'single' or as in master in a slave /master set up? WD's have a 'single' setting on them for the last few generations
of drives, not sure if it goes back that far however.
 
Doesn't work either way. They do give you warning when you enable DMA in
Win98. I didn't think it would damage the drive tho. I've seen other drives
that would not reliably boot but would work perfectly as slaves. BTW, I've
tried a different cable, PSU and mobo.

JAD said:
master as in 'single' or as in master in a slave /master set up? WD's have
Click to expand...
a 'single' setting on them for the last few generations
 
rAD said:
Doesn't work either way. They do give you warning when you enable DMA in
Win98. I didn't think it would damage the drive tho. I've seen other drives
that would not reliably boot but would work perfectly as slaves. BTW, I've
tried a different cable, PSU and mobo.

have
a 'single' setting on them for the last few generations run
Click to expand...

Looks like I only have 2 choices if I want full functionality: request
network channels from Direct TV or, if they can't get them, learn to hack.
Can a Direct Tivo be hacked like a regular converter?

God, I hate the gov't. All they do is tax me and make my life inconvenient
and give me nothing back (well, roads, that's about it).
 
Running with DMA turned on only allows the drive to work faster. It won't
damage the drive. It may not work properly if you mobo won't support DMA,
but it won't cause damage.

Have you verified that there is an active partition on the drive?
 
I have an old 3.2 gb wd drive like that. It is model number AC23200. Yours
is probably very similar. If your intention is to make it a boot drive, it
must be fdisked and set active as you most likely know. However, if you
already have a booting disk in the system, this drive must be hooked up as
the only drive (disconnect everybody else), connect it as master with no
jumpers on it at all, fdisk, format and sys it from your floppy disk.
Windows fdisk will only allow one "boot active" drive and if it sees another
active drive, it will not allow you to make another one active.

NOTE: Don't forget to prepare your boot floppy disk with fdisk and format on
it.

Once you have the thing fdisked, formatted and set active you can then hook
up your other drives and carry on with what you want to do.

I don't recall if I had dma mode set on it or not (I think I did), but it is
an ata33 drive in any case.

HTH

Regards, Bob "hopelessly insane machine warrior" Troll
 
rAD said:
It's an old WD 3.2 GB. Could trying to run it in DMA mode somehow have
damaged the boot sector? Can't even run fdisk /mbr cuz it refuses to run as
master
Click to expand...
Seems like I remember a good while back that some WD's required a Cable
Select jumper setting (could've been 'single') but have you tried CS? Seems
at this point one would have nothing to lose? HTH & good luck, sdlomi.
 
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