C. Tresenriter wrote:
I'm trying to determine if my hard disk is bad or if the problem is
motherboard related or something else entirely.
When booting 10. CE, after running POST, I occasionally get:
Disk boot failure: Insert systems disk and press enter to continue
Yesterday I received a replacement mobo from ASUS, plugged
everything in, Mandrake started up - everything worked.
I switched to another machine via KVM switch where I was installing
Slackware. When that install was complete, I switched back to the
mdk machine to do some googling only to find the above mentioned error
on the screen.
I downloaded seagate's diagnostic tools and ran the long test on the hd.
Three or four hours later, it informed me that the drive and cable had passed all
the tests.
Since the install was new and untweaked I thought I'd try to re-install
mdk. The partitioning and install was flawless but on reboot I received
the error message again.
Later, on a whim I put the drive in the secondary slave position on the
primary channel (it was installed as hda and the jumper is set to the master position)
and lo and behold it booted and ran.
I then put it back on the master connecter IDE cable and again it started the OS.
I've switched them back and forth several times this morning and it has booted and
run every time.
On the seconday channel I get the error whtaever the position on the cable.
My #2 machine is not in a state, at present, that I can use it to check the drive there.
The Seagate techs told me that the error message would indicate a
damaged boot sector and *I* thought that if the boot sector was bad
(if, in fact it is) that it would never get to the stage where lilo runs.
In an effort to figure out where to go next, I'm wondering if it's
possible that *if* the boot sector *is* bad, could it still work on occasion?... or
sholud I just exchange the drive to be safe?
Since the behavior is intermittent, I'm thinking that the mobo may be the problem -
although I'd expect that ASUS checked it out before sending it to me.
Also... why does the drive run in either master or slave position on the cable
(primary IDE channel only) with the hd jumper set to master?
...and yes, I'm sure it's not at the cable select position.
The cable is a Cables Unlimited 18" 2 device ATA 133 rounded - shielded cable.
Specs:
A7V8X-X
Athlon XP 2700+
512 MB DDR
Seagate ST380013A 80G hard disk
Enlight model EN 8420934 ATX 420W power supply
I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone might have before I tear out what little hair I
have left.
Curt
Dumb question time - Are the connectors on that cable labeled for where
they should be plugged in? (Motherboard, drive 0, drive 1) If so, are
you plugging things in the correct place? You may also have to try
cable select instead of master/slave...
Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
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