Is it HighPoint, is it Seagate, or is it Windows 2000 Professional

  • Thread starter Thread starter JayC BuzzWord
  • Start date Start date
J

JayC BuzzWord

The state of Play
=================

Okay guys: a few weeks ago, while using my beloved
desktop, it crashed to "blue screen error".


*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x81482E50, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000,
0x00000000)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I am completely new to the 'seriously crashed machine'
scene. And really shaken-up, I tried a Norton Recovery
diskette
(which went and wrote a Windows Millenium "boot block"
onto my hard drive, by way of "system recovery").
Then I tried to boot my system: Windows reported
an "invalid disk array".
Then with my heart in my mouth ( 'cos things seemed to
have gotten worse) I learnt from the internet that Norton
(System) Recovery Diskettes are made to recover Win9x and
WinME systems -- Ouch!

So, what could cause Windows to suddenly change its mind
about a set of Seagate
Barracuda disk running off a HighPoint HPT370A RAID
controller (processor), in RAID 0
configuration ? Or, more accurately, what is
an "inaccessible boot device"?

My Norton Anti-virus guard had the latest virus
definitions and was operational. And one day or so
before, I had done
a full system virus check which found no viruses. I also
have a fully working firewall, which also was operational.
And, and I had my Windows service packs installed and up-
to-date.


The Resulting situation:

a) My desktop could no longer boot-up through to the
Windows desktop.
b) BIOS could "see" my hard drive and the HighPoint RAID
Controller (RAID 0).
c) BIOS could boot my system up to: "invalid
disk" "please insert disk and press any key"
d) The "posting" process for BIOS boot-up allows boot-up
from:

i) floppy, on drive A:
ii) CD, on drive D:

I then attempted Windows Recovery from the Windows CD-ROM.
The result of this was:

i) Windows Setup kept needing to be supplied
with the driver for the HighPoint RAID controller.
ii) Windows Setup could not do an "emergency"
system repair -- it needs a previously prepared
"Emergency Diskette" to be able to do that.
And I never knew about this. I never made one.
iii) Windows Setup said that it couldn't find
the "existing Windows operating system"
iiii) Windows Setup said that it was unable to
format my hard drives (which have one large partition
(38MB) and one small partition (4MB). [I
never new that my drives were set up this way. My
desktop was factory assembled. I bought it
complete. That company went bust this January gone!)

Really, I wanted to recover three years worth of my work
which I had on my hard drive (and I still want to). When
I consulted
one of the tech support guys over at a Microsoft
technical support center (£70 per hour), the guy there
said to me:

"There is no way that the work and information on the
hard drive can be saved (recovered)" He then strongly
advised that I "reformatted" my drives for the purpose of
doing a "fresh install of Windows". I asked him again
if there was another way to recover my system so that I
would not loose my precious work. He repeated: "No.There
isn't." As I am new to the innards of a computer -- and
frankly, I was panic striken -- I went with his advice.

The formatting process proceeded for some minutes
(and, it formatted over 80% of drive C), then
Windows 2000 Professional Setup program stopped and
reported
that:

"Setup was unable to format drive C. The hard disk may be
damaged.
Make sure the disk is on and properly connected to your
computer.
If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices
are
PROPERLY TERMINATED.

See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more
information.

setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3."

v) Windows Setup said that it was unable to (do
anything) and I quit it.


Another Questions: Did the format process wipe any of my
data? It did abort, didn't it? Can I rescue my data?


B. I then tried the Windows Console tool:

i) Windows Console's CHKDSK /R reported
that: "... unrecoverable errors"

Well, what does that mean?



While you are all scratching your heads, here is the
current state of play:

A.
I contacted HighPoint and asked for a bootable diagnostic
software tool. I got this, used it and sent the results
back
to HighPoint Technologies.

This is their reply:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Testing UDMA 5 on ST320414A: fail --- the hard disks
can't work with ATA100 normally.
The verification is OK---It means that the hard disks
doesn't have bad sectors.

"Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue ..
Error loading operating system.
Setup cannot continue... "

You can ignore the above information. Each logical hard
disk will have this information.

All ZEROS from word address [000] through to word
address [1F0]

As you create RAID0 with the hard disk. And this hard
disk is the second member of the RAID0. So you can't see
the "Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue"

We think your hard disks can't work normally. You had
better not plug them into the HPT370 controller and
create RAID with them.

Regards,
HighPoint Technologies Inc."

Now, I nowadays find that I have to ask this
question: "Do these guys know what they are talking
about?"
And: "What does it mean -- what they have said. What does
it mean?" Anybody know?


and B.

Take a look at this from Seagate Technologies:

"Mr (xxxxxxxx),


The reason Seatools is not seeing the drives is because
of the Highpoint
RAID controller. Seatools can not test the drives on a
RAID controller
other than the Generic mode. I would suggest running a
Windows 2000
Repair. What are the results.


Best Regards,

Stefan M.
Seagate Technical Support"

Okay guys, what's he saying? Just so you guys know: only
one of the software tools on the SeaTools software
package failed.
Six other software tools worked. And they correctly
identified the HPT370A controller, and the two hard
disks.


Any ideas -- anybody? Good, workable advice and
instruction will be especially welcome.
Thanks


----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------

Motherboard: EPoX 8KTA3+ with HighPoint IDE RAID
CPU: Socket A AMD Athlon 1.2GHz 266 FSB
Memory: 128MB SDRAM PC133
Hard disk (Master: Channel 1): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A
Hard disk (Slave: Channel 2): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A

Graphics Card: 32MB GE-Force II MX -- HER
Sound Card: Video Logic Sonic Fury (Turtle Beach)

CD Drive: 16x 10x 40 OEM Mirai BurnProof CD-RW
DVD/CD Drive: 16x Pioneer Slot Loading drive
 
It probably all means that one of yr hd's is faulty/failed.
As you've discovered Raid 0 has no fail safe redundancy, one fails its all
gone.
If youve tried to reinstall Win you are aware of the F6 requirement to
install other (Raid) drivers during the install process?
If it was precious work you had no backup?
If you are desperate to recover give yr disks to a recovery specialist , no
recovery no fee

The state of Play
=================

Okay guys: a few weeks ago, while using my beloved
desktop, it crashed to "blue screen error".


*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x81482E50, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000,
0x00000000)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I am completely new to the 'seriously crashed machine'
scene. And really shaken-up, I tried a Norton Recovery
diskette
(which went and wrote a Windows Millenium "boot block"
onto my hard drive, by way of "system recovery").
Then I tried to boot my system: Windows reported
an "invalid disk array".
Then with my heart in my mouth ( 'cos things seemed to
have gotten worse) I learnt from the internet that Norton
(System) Recovery Diskettes are made to recover Win9x and
WinME systems -- Ouch!

So, what could cause Windows to suddenly change its mind
about a set of Seagate
Barracuda disk running off a HighPoint HPT370A RAID
controller (processor), in RAID 0
configuration ? Or, more accurately, what is
an "inaccessible boot device"?

My Norton Anti-virus guard had the latest virus
definitions and was operational. And one day or so
before, I had done
a full system virus check which found no viruses. I also
have a fully working firewall, which also was operational.
And, and I had my Windows service packs installed and up-
to-date.


The Resulting situation:

a) My desktop could no longer boot-up through to the
Windows desktop.
b) BIOS could "see" my hard drive and the HighPoint RAID
Controller (RAID 0).
c) BIOS could boot my system up to: "invalid
disk" "please insert disk and press any key"
d) The "posting" process for BIOS boot-up allows boot-up
from:

i) floppy, on drive A:
ii) CD, on drive D:

I then attempted Windows Recovery from the Windows CD-ROM.
The result of this was:

i) Windows Setup kept needing to be supplied
with the driver for the HighPoint RAID controller.
ii) Windows Setup could not do an "emergency"
system repair -- it needs a previously prepared
"Emergency Diskette" to be able to do that.
And I never knew about this. I never made one.
iii) Windows Setup said that it couldn't find
the "existing Windows operating system"
iiii) Windows Setup said that it was unable to
format my hard drives (which have one large partition
(38MB) and one small partition (4MB). [I
never new that my drives were set up this way. My
desktop was factory assembled. I bought it
complete. That company went bust this January gone!)

Really, I wanted to recover three years worth of my work
which I had on my hard drive (and I still want to). When
I consulted
one of the tech support guys over at a Microsoft
technical support center (£70 per hour), the guy there
said to me:

"There is no way that the work and information on the
hard drive can be saved (recovered)" He then strongly
advised that I "reformatted" my drives for the purpose of
doing a "fresh install of Windows". I asked him again
if there was another way to recover my system so that I
would not loose my precious work. He repeated: "No.There
isn't." As I am new to the innards of a computer -- and
frankly, I was panic striken -- I went with his advice.

The formatting process proceeded for some minutes
(and, it formatted over 80% of drive C), then
Windows 2000 Professional Setup program stopped and
reported
that:

"Setup was unable to format drive C. The hard disk may be
damaged.
Make sure the disk is on and properly connected to your
computer.
If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices
are
PROPERLY TERMINATED.

See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more
information.

setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3."

v) Windows Setup said that it was unable to (do
anything) and I quit it.


Another Questions: Did the format process wipe any of my
data? It did abort, didn't it? Can I rescue my data?


B. I then tried the Windows Console tool:

i) Windows Console's CHKDSK /R reported
that: "... unrecoverable errors"

Well, what does that mean?



While you are all scratching your heads, here is the
current state of play:

A.
I contacted HighPoint and asked for a bootable diagnostic
software tool. I got this, used it and sent the results
back
to HighPoint Technologies.

This is their reply:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Testing UDMA 5 on ST320414A: fail --- the hard disks
can't work with ATA100 normally.
The verification is OK---It means that the hard disks
doesn't have bad sectors.

"Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue ..
Error loading operating system.
Setup cannot continue... "

You can ignore the above information. Each logical hard
disk will have this information.

All ZEROS from word address [000] through to word
address [1F0]

As you create RAID0 with the hard disk. And this hard
disk is the second member of the RAID0. So you can't see
the "Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue"

We think your hard disks can't work normally. You had
better not plug them into the HPT370 controller and
create RAID with them.

Regards,
HighPoint Technologies Inc."

Now, I nowadays find that I have to ask this
question: "Do these guys know what they are talking
about?"
And: "What does it mean -- what they have said. What does
it mean?" Anybody know?


and B.

Take a look at this from Seagate Technologies:

"Mr (xxxxxxxx),


The reason Seatools is not seeing the drives is because
of the Highpoint
RAID controller. Seatools can not test the drives on a
RAID controller
other than the Generic mode. I would suggest running a
Windows 2000
Repair. What are the results.


Best Regards,

Stefan M.
Seagate Technical Support"

Okay guys, what's he saying? Just so you guys know: only
one of the software tools on the SeaTools software
package failed.
Six other software tools worked. And they correctly
identified the HPT370A controller, and the two hard
disks.


Any ideas -- anybody? Good, workable advice and
instruction will be especially welcome.
Thanks


----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------

Motherboard: EPoX 8KTA3+ with HighPoint IDE RAID
CPU: Socket A AMD Athlon 1.2GHz 266 FSB
Memory: 128MB SDRAM PC133
Hard disk (Master: Channel 1): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A
Hard disk (Slave: Channel 2): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A

Graphics Card: 32MB GE-Force II MX -- HER
Sound Card: Video Logic Sonic Fury (Turtle Beach)

CD Drive: 16x 10x 40 OEM Mirai BurnProof CD-RW
DVD/CD Drive: 16x Pioneer Slot Loading drive
 
The state of Play
=================

Okay guys: a few weeks ago, while using my beloved
desktop, it crashed to "blue screen error".


*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x81482E50, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000,
0x00000000)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I am completely new to the 'seriously crashed machine'
scene. And really shaken-up, I tried a Norton Recovery
diskette
(which went and wrote a Windows Millenium "boot block"
onto my hard drive, by way of "system recovery").
Then I tried to boot my system: Windows reported
an "invalid disk array".
Then with my heart in my mouth ( 'cos things seemed to
have gotten worse) I learnt from the internet that Norton
(System) Recovery Diskettes are made to recover Win9x and
WinME systems -- Ouch!

[snip]

Any ideas -- anybody? Good, workable advice and
instruction will be especially welcome.

Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------
Jay -

My advice is to: contact a qualified restoration/recovery company -
especially if this 3 years of data
is of high value (e.g. business, client).
It is not advisable to work on computers in a restoration mode -- when you
are emotionally charged (shaken) --
this inevitably leads to mistakes or steps taken that make the situation
worst -- or leads to inability to recover this data.

Ontrack Data Recovery is a company that I have utilized for over 20 years
for complex or difficult recovery situations.
They have offices worldwide.
http://www.ontrack.com/

The failure could be a RAID controller or one of the 2 hard drives itself

gb
 
Well DL and others,

I have really learnt about the uses and limits of RAID.
Unfortunate? yes. Backwards? Yes.

Funny how things work in this Universe -- backwards.
If only I had REALLY know, before the ... .

Hard disk "Mean Life" for however many "Hours of
Operation" don't mean squiddle.

I 've become a full practioner of:

1. Back up (all) the system software and data. And that's
a double back up.

2. Use all the manufacturer recommended system recovery
provisions -- Emergency Disk, have a DOS boot disk ready,
get all the diagnostic software for all the motherboard
components for which the component (or motherboard)
manufacturer does make a diagnostic tool for.

3. Have a working minimum of at least one spare computer.
Two backup computers (or their equivalent in device
spares) are even better.

4. Network the computers.

5. Keep all software updated (and device drivers).

6. Have an effective and working anti-
virus/trojan/scumware/spyware system operating.


DL (and others),

I did all F6 stuff. And I found that each time I boot
from the Win CD-ROM I have to the F6 thing -- and re-
provide Win Setup with the driver (from floppy) for the
HighPoint RAID controller. What a nuisance.

I have considered giving my disk to a specialist Data
Recovery company. But then I reckon that as I have come
this far from "novice" to "knows something and can do
something for himself", well, I consider now that I will
go build myself a new desktop! And that is something I've
never done. And have previously been too afraid to do.

Then I will learn how to recover my own data of my own
hard disk drives. That's the plan. How quickly I execute
this plan will be the difference between time well spent
and time wasted.

Okay?

-----Original Message-----
It probably all means that one of yr hd's is faulty/failed.
As you've discovered Raid 0 has no fail safe redundancy, one fails its all
gone.
If youve tried to reinstall Win you are aware of the F6 requirement to
install other (Raid) drivers during the install process?
If it was precious work you had no backup?
If you are desperate to recover give yr disks to a recovery specialist , no
recovery no fee

The state of Play
=================

Okay guys: a few weeks ago, while using my beloved
desktop, it crashed to "blue screen error".


*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x81482E50, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000,
0x00000000)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I am completely new to the 'seriously crashed machine'
scene. And really shaken-up, I tried a Norton Recovery
diskette
(which went and wrote a Windows Millenium "boot block"
onto my hard drive, by way of "system recovery").
Then I tried to boot my system: Windows reported
an "invalid disk array".
Then with my heart in my mouth ( 'cos things seemed to
have gotten worse) I learnt from the internet that Norton
(System) Recovery Diskettes are made to recover Win9x and
WinME systems -- Ouch!

So, what could cause Windows to suddenly change its mind
about a set of Seagate
Barracuda disk running off a HighPoint HPT370A RAID
controller (processor), in RAID 0
configuration ? Or, more accurately, what is
an "inaccessible boot device"?

My Norton Anti-virus guard had the latest virus
definitions and was operational. And one day or so
before, I had done
a full system virus check which found no viruses. I also
have a fully working firewall, which also was operational.
And, and I had my Windows service packs installed and up-
to-date.


The Resulting situation:

a) My desktop could no longer boot-up through to the
Windows desktop.
b) BIOS could "see" my hard drive and the HighPoint RAID
Controller (RAID 0).
c) BIOS could boot my system up to: "invalid
disk" "please insert disk and press any key"
d) The "posting" process for BIOS boot-up allows boot-up
from:

i) floppy, on drive A:
ii) CD, on drive D:

I then attempted Windows Recovery from the Windows CD- ROM.
The result of this was:

i) Windows Setup kept needing to be supplied
with the driver for the HighPoint RAID controller.
ii) Windows Setup could not do an "emergency"
system repair -- it needs a previously prepared
"Emergency Diskette" to be able to do that.
And I never knew about this. I never made one.
iii) Windows Setup said that it couldn't find
the "existing Windows operating system"
iiii) Windows Setup said that it was unable to
format my hard drives (which have one large partition
(38MB) and one small partition (4MB). [I
never new that my drives were set up this way. My
desktop was factory assembled. I bought it
complete. That company went bust this January gone!)

Really, I wanted to recover three years worth of my work
which I had on my hard drive (and I still want to). When
I consulted
one of the tech support guys over at a Microsoft
technical support center (£70 per hour), the guy there
said to me:

"There is no way that the work and information on the
hard drive can be saved (recovered)" He then strongly
advised that I "reformatted" my drives for the purpose of
doing a "fresh install of Windows". I asked him again
if there was another way to recover my system so that I
would not loose my precious work. He repeated: "No.There
isn't." As I am new to the innards of a computer -- and
frankly, I was panic striken -- I went with his advice.

The formatting process proceeded for some minutes
(and, it formatted over 80% of drive C), then
Windows 2000 Professional Setup program stopped and
reported
that:

"Setup was unable to format drive C. The hard disk may be
damaged.
Make sure the disk is on and properly connected to your
computer.
If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices
are
PROPERLY TERMINATED.

See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more
information.

setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3."

v) Windows Setup said that it was unable to (do
anything) and I quit it.


Another Questions: Did the format process wipe any of my
data? It did abort, didn't it? Can I rescue my data?


B. I then tried the Windows Console tool:

i) Windows Console's CHKDSK /R reported
that: "... unrecoverable errors"

Well, what does that mean?



While you are all scratching your heads, here is the
current state of play:

A.
I contacted HighPoint and asked for a bootable diagnostic
software tool. I got this, used it and sent the results
back
to HighPoint Technologies.

This is their reply:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Testing UDMA 5 on ST320414A: fail --- the hard disks
can't work with ATA100 normally.
The verification is OK---It means that the hard disks
doesn't have bad sectors.

"Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue ..
Error loading operating system.
Setup cannot continue... "

You can ignore the above information. Each logical hard
disk will have this information.

All ZEROS from word address [000] through to word
address [1F0]

As you create RAID0 with the hard disk. And this hard
disk is the second member of the RAID0. So you can't see
the "Invalid partition table. Setup cannot continue"

We think your hard disks can't work normally. You had
better not plug them into the HPT370 controller and
create RAID with them.

Regards,
HighPoint Technologies Inc."

Now, I nowadays find that I have to ask this
question: "Do these guys know what they are talking
about?"
And: "What does it mean -- what they have said. What does
it mean?" Anybody know?


and B.

Take a look at this from Seagate Technologies:

"Mr (xxxxxxxx),


The reason Seatools is not seeing the drives is because
of the Highpoint
RAID controller. Seatools can not test the drives on a
RAID controller
other than the Generic mode. I would suggest running a
Windows 2000
Repair. What are the results.


Best Regards,

Stefan M.
Seagate Technical Support"

Okay guys, what's he saying? Just so you guys know: only
one of the software tools on the SeaTools software
package failed.
Six other software tools worked. And they correctly
identified the HPT370A controller, and the two hard
disks.


Any ideas -- anybody? Good, workable advice and
instruction will be especially welcome.
Thanks


--------------------------------------------------------- -
-----------------------------

Motherboard: EPoX 8KTA3+ with HighPoint IDE RAID
CPU: Socket A AMD Athlon 1.2GHz 266 FSB
Memory: 128MB SDRAM PC133
Hard disk (Master: Channel 1): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A
Hard disk (Slave: Channel 2): 20GB UDMA (RAID 0) Seagate
Barracuda ATA ST320414A

Graphics Card: 32MB GE-Force II MX -- HER
Sound Card: Video Logic Sonic Fury (Turtle Beach)

CD Drive: 16x 10x 40 OEM Mirai BurnProof CD-RW
DVD/CD Drive: 16x Pioneer Slot Loading drive


.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your response G.Beat,

Yes, being out of my knowledge zone and emotionally upset
did result in one main error on my part.

There is the error occassioned by a seasoned Microsoft
tech operative also to consider. He did not have the same
emotional "charge" as I had at the prospect of losing my
valuable possession. His technical knowledge was more
authoritative than actual. And his instruction was that I
should "reformat" my hard drive. It is at this point that
the factual loss of my three years of work data and
various paid for software applications (stored on my hard
drive) became "unrecoverable" by simple means and now
require an expensive job of "recovery" to be done by data
recovery professionals.

How would you deal with the Microsoft tech support guy's
dismissive manner ("dismissive" is one way to describe
his manner.) And the fact that the tech support guy said
to me that the data on my hard drive was unrecoverable ?

What's you take on this?
 
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