Computer Problem

[fitzner3]

I know our forum is not a place for this problem but this might have happened to one of you guys.

My windows 98 second edition has two HD "C and D" one night the D drive just went by by, gone just dissapeared along with the CD-ROM CD player. I had to use a paper clip to get the CD out.

I use this web site called ( Annoyances.org ) I am getting some advice.

I have gone to My computer, R clicked, properties and device manager and checked the CD-ROM and it shows a NEC NR-7800A player.

I checked the disk drives and it shows:

Generic ide disk type 47

Generic nec floppy disk

No device problems listed.

They said (annoyances) that if you D drive and CD rom are on the same controller channel (I am thinking how do I know this and what is a controller) and the CD rom has taken a dump, it could be effecting the D drive.

All I know is that something has effected the D drive.

So, any ideas?

Do you think that if I opened the tower and umpluged the D rive and pluged it in again that might reset it?

Or do I have to re-configure the D drive. There is no evidence that the D drive ever existed on the computer.

Now this is interesting!! When I turn on the computer in the morning and the boot cycle begins I do not here that beep from the A drive even though the A drive works and I do eventually get a full boot up.

Well that's it another continuing saga from Harry. Any ideas of course will be appreciated.

[think(box)]

Greetings Harry - I've encountered many hard drive crashes on many computers. Only once ever was the drive repairable. You have provided sufficiently complete information that I can predict that your second hard drive, drive D: is history. Your CD-ROM drive is probably OK.

STOP where you think these steps are going too far beyond what you believe you should be doing and seek assistance.

If this were my system I would put a Hard Drive Installation/Diagnostics diskette in drive A: and see what it says about hard drives installed and their "health". If you're up to it, figure out what brand of drive you have for second drive and go to the manufacturer's web site and download the installation diskette contents. Follow web site instructions to get files copied onto a diskette, insert it and restart the system. Of course if you or someone you know put the second drive in the system, see if they have the diskette. Usually when you put a second drive in a system you make it drive C: for its speed and capacity, and you move the "old" drive to the second drive position and it becomes drive D:. So you may be stuck loading a diskette.

Follow instructions for things like BIOS check and NON-DESTRUCTIVE diagnostics (be sure you read what is data-destructive and what it not before running any diag's). If only ONE drive is found and you believe this is C: drive, then you have to remove the bad drive and see that your CD-ROM drive starts working, in order to have high confidence that the hard drive removed is history. Most likely you won't even get so far as to be running diagnostics, since the failure should be detected right away. I suggest extreme care about anything that they say may cause data loss. Be sure you know what drive you are diagnosing and working on.

If your second drive has failed and manufacturer diagnostics say it is not repairable, return it for replacement under warranty (usually up to 3 years) if you can. Contact the manufacturer for that. If this is the case, your data is lost if not backed up. The manufacturer will not recover it.

If your second hard drive is repaired by the drive diagnostics it may be OK for use once again, but all data will likely be lost.

Some tech terms and info taylored to your system age and your Windows software:

• IDE cable is "Integrated Drive Electronics" cable; controllers operate drives attached to gray cables.
  
• IDE controllers exist for "primary" and "secondary" IDE interfaces, each with its own gray ribbon cable.
  
• Each IDE cable has two IDE "ports" or connectors to plug into hard drives, CD/DVD, ZIP etc. (NOT diskettes).
  
• Unless your system uses jumpers to configure drives, the end connector is "Master", middle is "Slave".
  
• Master and Slave are stupid terms. They may as well be "First" and "Second" system start-up ordering.
  
• Drive C: MUST be connected to the "Master" connector (at end of cable these days) on the "Primary" cable.
  
• If your system was UPGRADED to Win98 2nd ed. then it is older and may use jumpers to set drive as Master/Slave.
  
• If your system uses jumpers (little connecting devices pushed onto pins on drive) to set drive as Master and Slave then NO jumpers will be installed in the position labelled "Cable select". "Cable select" is better (must be supported by a system) because you never have to change jumper positions in your drives. Look for jumper diagrams on hard drive paper label, or instructions if you have them, or from help on manufacturer's installation diskette.
  

To confirm diagnosis and get your CD-ROM drive working until you have a new hard drive, EJECT DISKETTE, if any, to avoid later confusion and follow these steps:

SHUT DOWN AND UNPLUG POWER CORD FROM BACK OF COMPUTER. DO NOT JUST "SHUT DOWN".

ALWAYS KEEP ONE HAND FIRMLY IN CONTACT WITH BARE METAL OF FRAME TO PREVENT STATIC DAMAGE.

1. Open the system box and determine which of the two drives is installed as drive D:

• It is very likely that your second drive is sharing a gray ribbon cable with the CD-ROM drive.
  
• It is very likely that the CD-ROM drive has the center connector of the ribbon cable plugged into it.
  
• If that is true, the end of the ribbon cable will be plugged into the second hard drive.
  

2. Disconnect the gray ribbon cable from the second hard drive by VERY GENTLY PULLING ON CABLE PULL TAB, IF PROVIDED, OR THE CABLE ITSELF FROM NEAR THE CONNECTOR AT DRIVE. If your system was sold new with Windows 98 second edition then it should be new enough to figure out what is attached to the gray IDE ribbon cables all by itself after you make a change.

3. Disconnect the white plastic connector also plugged into hard drive (has four thick wires that supply power to drive).

4. Push in any loose cable connectors that you may have disturbed, close box, plug in and start system.

5. See if CD-ROM drive is now available in Windows (should be).

If any of these steps stops fitting your system's description and you aren't 100% confident about what to do, stop and read about it or ask friends or the forum for help before proceeding. Be safe and good luck.

[fitzner3]

Bill, I will bring all this to a friend at church and work on this mater. That test to see the health of the drives, where would I get this and what is the name.

Harry

[fitzner3]

Well, my friend doesn't no that much so eventually I will just have him take out the D drive and just drive a nail through it. i will use just the C drive and save my presentations, pictures and files on a cd using my E drive via Roxio.

Harry

[think(box)]

Good luck with the nail Harry - they use a hard stainless steel casing. Be sure to wear all applicable safety gear and see if you can find a weak spot. I've thought about throwing bad hard drives against a concrete wall, though I've never actually done it. Aren't computers fun?

More seriously, if you think you will want to increase hard drive space (new drive) and make other minor changes from time to time, you might want to consider learning more. There are books for newbies about this at all big computer stores, and when you buy a hard drive they tell you just what to do in helpful installation sheets and booklets.