This is obviously a hardware problem, but the question is where. The likely
suspects are the IDE controller on the motherboard, the cable connecting the
drive to the mobo, and the power supply. The "sometimes" nature of the
problem makes the power supply an attractive guess ... I've had similar
problems in the past, due to a weak connector. With the case open, this is
easy to spot, as you can hear that the drive is not spinning.
BTW, the POST test for memory is not an adequate test. I've had many DIMMs
fail in actual use when they pass the POST test (and memtest). The best ways
i've found to test memory are by running:
a large ftp transfer, of a file that's 100 megs or so
compiling something big; a kernel usually will do.
I doubt that your problem is memory, though.
At 09:44 AM 8/4/00 -0500, Jim Reimer wrote:
>After 30 minutes or so of "drive not ready" messages, the thing finally
>did a successful reset (without me touching anything) and finished booting
>into the install program.
>Hmmmm....
>
>(original message follows)
>
>The computer has a new drive, and I've swapped the memory (was 16meg,
>now 32meg). Condition of memory is unknown - came out of an old
>machine - but it passes the POST ok.
>
>RH6.2 installed ok, and I left it sitting at the login prompt. A while
>later, I had the "drive not ready for command" messages scrolling up the
>screen again. Computer would not respond to CTRL-ALT-DEL. Pressed reset,
>and the computer wouldn't boot (just like with the old drive). Cycled
>power, it started booting, but now I have a corrupted file system again.
>
>It's been turned off all night, just turned it on, and it won't boot at
>all from the hard drive. Boots ok from floppy.
>
>Booting from the floppy (with the install disk) goes ok until it starts
>checking for drives, then I get "hda: lost interrupt" over and over
>and over.......
>
>P90, Award BIOS v4.50G, on-board IDE & floppy controllers.
>Everything related to APM in the BIOS is either 'off' or 'disabled'.
>
>Where do I go now?
--
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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