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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 10/21/2003 12:53 PM
Posts: 22, Visits: 1 |
| Hey All..
I just wanted to confirm with the masses on what the potential cause of this type of message popping up during POST. I am running a P4 (2.4b) with a Giga-Byte GA-8SQ800 Mobo, with a 80GB Maxtor HDD (7200/2mb/ATA133) as a Primary Master, and a 20GB Maxtor HDD (7200/2mb/ATA66) as a Secondary Master. In addition, I am running with an Antec Smart Power 400W PSU, ATI Radeon 9700Pro, Lite- On CD-RW, etc, and using WINXP Home as my O/S. And, nothing is O'clocked. This setup has been stable for over 2 years now.
As the title details, the Error Message details is for the 20GB Maxtor drive, and appeared when I turned on the computer this morning during POST. I was given the option to continue (F1) and was able to go into Win Xp without issue since it was not the drive with the O/S.
Now, I have a clear idea what to look for when I get home, and this drive is a little over 3 years old. But, what else could I be missing:
1 : HDD Failed - time has come - it happens - try freezer trick - if no work, lost data - move on
2 : Check IDE cable connectors to ensure they are secure and weren't bumped out of place
3 : Confirm jumpers, although I seriously doubt this would cause a problem since it has been running fine for over 2 years.
4 : Check Mobo, as the IDE channel could have gone the way of the do-do
Now, I am going to try to hook it up in another PC, but is there anything else you guys can think of?
Man With The Plan |
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| | | Forum Advisor
Group: Advisor
Last Login: 12/24/2007 8:51 AM
Posts: 1,076, Visits: 1,044 |
| other possibilities:
harddisk drive is not setup in cmos properly.
if you set detection to manual is easier for your
bios.It has not to search.
a failing cmos battery (not very often)
boot sector damage
virus.
or this took place once and never again
I hope so,
Rudolf |
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Forum Advisor
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 1/1/2004 11:06 AM
Posts: 992, Visits: 1 |
| Would a BIOS-based application called 'Smart Monitoring' be installed or active in your BIOS? This little utility placed on later vintage motherboards is meant to 'anticipate' hard drive failure by some mystical algorithm.
It has been my experience that this is a very crude and often flawed diagnostic capability that seems to cause more trouble than it's worth - I've disabled the diagnostic on a couple of PCs because it was halting my start-up like you describe on a hard-drive (brand new retail model after one month of operating) that has now been running for over two years.
Having said all of that -- wouldn't hurt to have off location back-ups -- just in case!
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