Very strange problem with a harddrive.

[Jorden]

Hi all,

Here's an odd one. Maybe that someone of you knows what a short-time solution is. (Before I call the dealer again tomorrow )

I've got a Quantum 9.1Gb KA 7200rpm hdd. At first it worked fine in my system, until it suddenly went awol from Windows although my BIOS could still find it. Ofcourse that was odd already.

Booting to DOS didn't make a difference, the drive wouldn't show up, and I hadn't changed anything about my configuration.

Okay, so I sent the drive back to the dealer, who sent it back to Quantum. To have it fixed... or.. at least... try to fix it...

Today I got it back, installed it in my PC, first on it's own as master. Booted... no drive found. Hmm, 'k. Changed it to slave, connected my 10.8Gb (master) and rebooted, 10.8Gb was found a-okay, the 9.1Gb is staying dead, not found through BIOS.

The drive light does show though, both on the underside of the drive and on the front of the PC! Do I hear it start up though? No.

AAAARGGGHHH!!

Okay, so then what? Setting the second hdd to none in the BIOS but leaving the flatcable connected, won't get my PC past POST, it just hangs there...

I've tried to switch flatcable, which isn't the problem. Tried to have only that drive on the IDE connector, no boot...

I guess that either Quantum has ****ed up my drive good this time, or maybe someone knows what I done wrong?

System Specs:
P3-450 no OC
Asus P2B 10.11
256Mb PC-100 RAM
G400 32Mb DH
Fujitsu 10.8Gb HDD
Quantum FireBall Pro 9.1 KA 7200rpm HDD
Asus 50x Max
LS-120

Jorden.

[merchant2112]

just for the heck of it, have you tryed it on another computer maybe something is buggy with your controler.

[R-u-Ready]

Have you tried setting the bios settings for User defined? The sectors and all that other good stuff should be labeled on the HD.

[Gurm]

Several possibilities:

1. Certain Quantum hard drives (for example, a 12GB bigfoot I used to own) didn't auto-detect properly. Thus you have to manually specify the hard drive parameters in the BIOS. See if that works.

2. Your controller really dislikes Quantum drives. Try it in another machine to see.

3. The drive is screwed up beyond hope of repair. Yell at the dealer, and demand a new drive, not a badly refurbished one.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Jorden]

Thanks guys,

I'll try user define (how could I miss that?? ) now... otherwise it'll have to wait til tomorrow to check in another computer (got only one PC here Merchant ).

Will keep you posted.

Jord.

[RAB]

Jorden,
Congradulations on your new MURC forum page! I think everyone agrees you deserve it.

If the user defined doesn't work, and there is nothing particularly important on the drive, you might try the old command: FDISK /MBR to recreate the master boot record.

RAB

[Jorden]

Thanks RAB, buit the problem is: I can't get onto the drive in the first place

Tried the User define settings, and hey first time ever I hear it boot... though very faint... (quiet drive I suppose).

Still nothing though, so will test it in another PC tomorrow.

Jord, posting with the mod-nick as the other mysteriously gives Internal Server Erorrs, and this one doesn't

[Taz]

Have you updated the BIOS on your motherboard recently?

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You can't always get what you want, but if you try some times you just might find you get what you need.

{The Rolling Stones}

[Jorden]

Not since the official 1011 BIOS came out, no. Though I'll have to check if a newer version is out one of these days.

Jord.

[Alegria]

Hi Jorden,
first of all, congrats on your new forum.
So the drive does not spin up at all?
The reason why the bios still detects your drive is that the drive's electronics still works and gives the bios information about its geometry out of its non-volatile memory.
But if it does not spin up it is a problem with the spindle motor. There are two possibilities what could be wrong.
First thing to check: Is the power supply connector from your PS giving both 5 and 12V?
Try another PS outlet or use another drive on the connector just to make sure it works.
You might also have a cold soldering spot on the connector of the drive.
If that is not the problem, the motor of your drive could be broken. The only way to fix this is to send in the drive to a Quantum service center.
Bad news though.

Alegria


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The pump don't work, 'cause the vandals took the handle...
Bob Dylan

[Jorden]

Thanks Algeria, but it was quite the opposite. The drive spun up, BIOS wouldn't detect it etc.

At least I can send it back to the dealer again and get another drive (maybe have to pay a little extra). Believe it or not, but apparently this Quantum 9.1 was a brand new drive... Okay... but it wasn't my PC only that couldn't find it, as I installed it in 3 different PC's (2 at work, 1 at a colleague) today, and neither of them could find the drive.

It's now actively MIA, as BIOS reports: Primary slave harddrive fail...

Back to the dealer with the thing, and maybe I'll post with the new one again (sorry for the pun)

Jorden.

P.S: raise hands who actually read my forum, next to Algeria (who's post will appear as soon as I get it in my email )

[RAB]

Jorden,
Good work on the FAQ's so far. If I could make a request, how about a FAQ on the correct uninstall procedure for Matrox drivers? This would make it easier for new users to find and incorrect uninstalls are is a problem we see often. Its been about a year since Maggi's original post about the procedure.
RAB

[Jorden]

Will do RAB, will do

Any further requests are more than welcome.

Jord.

[Jorden]

Hmmm, nr. 13 again

But with good news, no april foolsday joke: I got a new working Seagate 9.1Gb harddrive... At least this dealer is fast when it comes to swapping hardware, for they sent me the new drive the same day they received my faulty one!!

I set it up using the Seagate Discwizard 2000 program. This program is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST

Thanks for all the help, guys.

Jord.